🛠️ Open Source Tool of the Week: Syncthing

Keep your files synchronized across your computers and mobile devices—without relying on a cloud provider.

✅ End-to-end encrypted
📁 Automatic file synchronization
💻 Linux • Windows • macOS • Android
🔒 Your data stays under your control.

How do you use Syncthing?

#Linux #OpenSource #Privacy #SelfHosting

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Modern Canadian home office featuring a Linux desktop computer, laptop, tablet, and smartphone running Syncthing. Glowing lines connect the devices to illustrate secure file synchronization without the cloud. The Linux Association of Canada logo is displayed on the wall and on a coffee mug, while a Canadian flag is visible outside the window. The workspace includes subtle green, red, and white accents representing open source, privacy, and Canadian digital innovation.

Want a YouTube experience without the recommendation algorithm?

YT Zero is an open-source, self-hosted YouTube frontend that focuses on subscriptions instead of recommendations. Follow channels without a Google account, organize videos locally, and optionally download them for offline viewing with yt-dlp integration.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=ytzero

#OpenSource #SelfHosting #Privacy #YouTube #FOSS #DeGoogle

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Screenshot of the YT Zero project page. It features the YT Zero logo, the tagline "A self-hosted YouTube inbox for people who want subscriptions, not recommendations," and badges for the latest release, Docker image, AGPL-3.0 license, documentation, and GitHub stars. The description highlights a recommendation-free YouTube experience with no Google account or API key required.

Disposable and custom-domain email addresses can be really tricky to deal with as an admin of Mustard, because sometimes you simply can't tell them apart.

We've had plenty of spam accounts that randomly mention users, as well as AI bot accounts that appear to be scraping data from the server. At first, you can usually spot the suspicious ones pretty easily. But after a while, you start seeing accounts using all kinds of unusual email domains, and it becomes much harder to tell who's legitimate.

Sometimes I've ended up suspending accounts simply because their email domains looked suspicious—even when their profiles, including their profile pictures, looked like they belonged to real people.

It's one of those #moderation problems where you don't really have enough information to make a confident decision.

#selfhosting #community #mastodon #mastoadmin

LiveContainer is an open-source app launcher that lets you manage unlimited IPA files, switch between app versions, supports multitasking, and integrates with AltStore and SideStore.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=livecontainer

#OpenSource #iOS #Privacy #SelfHosting #FOSS

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Screenshot of the LiveContainer GitHub repository. A large blue app icon appears at the top above the project name "LiveContainer." The description reads: "An app launcher that runs iOS apps without actually installing them!" Below are badges showing translation progress (86% localized) and a link to the documentation at livecontainer.github.io. The page uses GitHub's dark theme.

Come join me and @Gina in Luxembourg this October!

#OSCL26 (Open Source Conference Luxembourg) has a brand new track devoted to “Decentralized Technologies for Digital Sovereignty”:

🔗: https://conference.opensource.lu

We are looking for speakers interested in discussing these topics:

• Federated technologies in the public sector
• Decentralized platforms for video, chat, communications, code, etc.
• Fediverse successes and challenges
• Self-hosted solutions for individuals and institutions
• Interoperability for resilience

Apply here:

🔗: https://pretalx.com/open-source-conference-luxembourg-2026/cfp

The conference takes place on Wednesday October 7th in Belval, Luxembourg.

Please share! 🚀​

#Fediverse #FediAdvocacy #conferences #OpenSource #FOSS #FLOSS #TheFutureIsFederated #selfhosting #interoperability #DigitalSovereignty #activism

If you're into photography, there is a free open Flickr-style photography platform which you can host yourself called Vernissage. It also has Fediverse compatibility so people can follow Vernissage accounts from Mastodon, Pixelfed etc. More info at:

🌱 https://joinvernissage.org

You can follow at:

🌱 @vernissage

For techy people who want to install their own Vernissage manually, docs are at:

🌱 https://docs.joinvernissage.org/documentation/vernissageserver

#SelfHosting #Fediverse #ActivityPub #Flickr #Alternatives #Photography

Gotify is a lightweight, open-source notification server that delivers real-time push notifications to your devices. It supports REST APIs, WebSockets, plugins, Docker, a web dashboard, and an Android app.

A great fit for developers, homelab users, and self-hosters.


More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=gotify

#OpenSource #SelfHosting #Homelab #Docker #Notifications #Privacy #FOSS

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Screenshot of the Gotify GitHub repository. The page shows the Gotify logo, project name (gotify/server), status badges, and an introduction describing Gotify as a lightweight, self-hosted server for sending and receiving real-time notifications over WebSockets.

Hmmm... it looks like @Stuxhost may fit the bill. https://Stuxhost.com says they're based in the Netherlands 👍 and that you can choose servers in Germany / Finland 👍 and @stux is here on the Fedi 👍 . (Sidenote, when I've talked to Stux, they've been lovely 👍 👍 )

The only thing I'm wondering about is if there's any easy way to install / upgrade / maintain Mastodon? 🤔 If I need to I can install Yunohost like on my other servers, but I'd really like to avoid having to maintain yet another server for a service that sounds trickier than most to maintain...

#Mastodon #Hosting #Selfhosting #StuxHost #Yunohost

Need to share a terminal session securely?

TermPair is a free, open-source tool that lets you share a live terminal in your browser with end-to-end encryption. Choose read-only or interactive access, with no Docker, Node.js, or Python required.

https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=termpair

#OpenSource #Terminal #Linux #SelfHosting #Privacy #DevOps #CyberSecurity #FOSS

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TermPair terminal generating a secure, end-to-end encrypted browser link for sharing a live terminal session.

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TermPair web interface showing a live shared terminal session with end-to-end encryption and interactive read/write access.

I'm slowly approaching the Immich setup, which I want to use, but I need to setup it in a zone per component instead of docker containers and compose.
And this toot is a minute rant that so much of the self-hostable software doesn't suggest such an approach even at documentation level, not mentioning the scripts and binaries.
That means that at first I'd need to deconstruct containers to use only relevant bits.

#SmartOS #Immich #SelfHosting

Want to detect intruders before they reach your real systems?

OpenCanary is a free, open-source network honeypot that emulates common services and sends instant alerts when someone interacts with them. It's lightweight, easy to deploy, and works on Linux, macOS, Docker, and Raspberry Pi.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=opencanary

#OpenSource #CyberSecurity #InfoSec #Honeypot #SelfHosting #Privacy #Linux #Homelab #FOSS

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Screenshot of the OpenCanary project page describing the lightweight network honeypot with passing GitHub test, Docker build, and PyPI badges.

macUSB is a free, open-source utility for creating bootable macOS, Windows, and Linux USB drives directly from your Mac.

It supports Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, includes a built-in macOS downloader, verifies checksums, and makes creating installation media much easier than using Terminal commands.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=macusb

#OpenSource #macOS #Linux #Windows #SelfHosting #Privacy

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Screenshot of the macUSB homepage showing the app's description, supported Mac architectures, and a preview of its bootable USB creation interface.

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macOS Full Disk Access settings with macUSB granted permission to access protected files and folders.

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macOS Login Items & Extensions settings showing macUSB enabled to run background tasks.

Cal[.]diy is a community-driven fork of Cal[.]com that's 100% MIT licensed and removes proprietary enterprise features.

Unlike the open-core version, there are no license keys, locked features, or closed-source components. Self-host it to keep full control over your scheduling data and infrastructure.


More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=caldiy

#OpenSource #SelfHosting #Privacy #FOSS #Calendar #Scheduling #Linux #DigitalEscapeTools

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Screenshot of the Cal.diy project page in dark mode. The header describes it as a "community-driven, open-source scheduling platform" with links to GitHub, Issues, and Contributing. Badges show the MIT license, 47k GitHub stars, contributor information, and commit activity. Below, an "About Cal.diy" section displays a dark-themed scheduling interface with a monthly calendar, appointment details on the left, and a weekly time grid for booking and managing meetings.

Secluso is an open-source home security system that runs on a Raspberry Pi, giving you encrypted remote access to live video, recordings, and alerts without relying on cloud surveillance.

If you want a privacy-first alternative to cloud-connected security cameras, Secluso keeps your camera data under your control.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=secluso

#OpenSource #SelfHosting #Privacy #HomeSecurity #RaspberryPi #Linux #FOSS #DigitalEscapeTools

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Screenshot of the Secluso website in dark mode. A banner reads “Private home security without cloud surveillance” with mentions of end-to-end encrypted remote viewing, alerts, and recordings on Raspberry Pi. The page title “Secluso” appears above the description: “Private DIY home security for Raspberry Pi, with encrypted remote access and a 5-minute software setup.” Blue links are shown for deployment, build guide, security model, and website. The text explains that Secluso is a private home security camera system for Raspberry Pi that allows live video viewing, alerts, and access to recordings from a phone without uploading footage to a cloud provider.

Mobilizon is a Fediverse-compatible free open source events platform, developed as a libre alternative to Facebook Events. You can find out more at:

🌱 https://mobilizon.org

You can follow the official account at:

🌱 @mobilizon

If you're a techy person there are manual installation instructions for self-hosting at:

🌱 https://docs.mobilizon.org/3.%20System%20administration/install

#SelfHosting #CommunityHosting #Fediverse #ActivityPub #FacebookEvents

If you are #selfhosting / #homelabbing: you have my utmost respect. Do not trust other parties to have your back - because they don't.

However, few words to the wise: if you operate a minimalist setup - eg everything running in VMs on a single host: please do consider the consequences of downtime.

You probably don't want to run your critical services on one machine without a fallback. If those services include your smarthome foundation, DNS and firewalling: you don't want to troubleshoot in the dark because everything is down and you can't even turn on the light anymore.

You aren't the first nor won't be the last to learn this lesson when disaster strikes though

Just stumbled upon Internet Cube.

Looks very interesting.

https://internetcu.be/

#InternetCube #SelfHosting

Linkwarden is a free, open-source bookmark manager that helps you save, organize, and preserve webpages. It can automatically archive pages as screenshots, PDFs, and HTML files, supports collaboration, includes browser extensions and mobile apps, and can be self-hosted for full control over your data.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=linkwarden

#OpenSource #SelfHosting #Bookmarks #Privacy #Productivity #FOSS #DigitalOwnership

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Screenshot of the Linkwarden project page featuring its logo and the tagline "Bookmarks, Evolved." The page highlights GitHub Trending (#3 Repository of the Day), an active Discord community, Hacker News mentions, the latest release, localization progress, and project sponsors.

I am pretty amazed, how fast and power efficient even those older Intel N4100 Mini PCs are.
My old Wyse 3040 unfortunatelly died recently, so I had to migrate everything to the more power hungry N4100 system.
But turns out, when you disable the TurboBoost, it's average power consumption is around 1,5 - 2,5W running with Debian and a Podman container with my Website, and some custom scripts for fetching stats by bluetooth and usb for the BMS and Solar Charger. Neat!
#selfhosting #solar #diy

Need a password manager for your team?

TeamPass is a free, open-source password manager built for teams and organizations. Securely share credentials, manage role-based permissions, integrate with LDAP/Active Directory, and self-host everything on your own infrastructure.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=teampass

#OpenSource #PasswordManager #SelfHosting #CyberSecurity #Privacy #DevOps #FOSS

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Screenshot of the TeamPass 3 project page describing it as an on-premise collaborative password manager. The page highlights GitHub badges showing approximately 1.8k stars, GPL-3.0 license, 1.9 million Docker pulls, the latest release, a passing build status, and code intelligence support.

PictShare is a free, open-source file sharing platform you can host yourself. It supports images, GIFs, videos, audio, Markdown, and text snippets, automatically strips EXIF metadata, and gives you full control over your uploads.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=pictshare

#OpenSource #SelfHosting #Privacy #FileSharing #FOSS #PrivacyTools #DigitalEscapeTools

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Screenshot of PictShare, a self-hosted file sharing platform, highlighting support for hosting images, GIFs, MP4 videos, and text bins. Below the banner is an example shared image displayed through a direct PictShare link.

If you want to give phanpy a try, I run an instance of it here.

#fediverse #selfhost #selfhosted #selfhosting

Good morning Fedi friends,

I have been feeling a rising anxiety over the state of the open web and the fediverse - after seeing efforts by politicians all over the world (in Europe too!) to introduce age verification laws for social media.

My way of coping?

Teaching people how to self-host their own Fediverse profile (using the superb #GoToSocial) via #YunoHost.

Chapter 1 in this series is available here:

🔗 : https://blog.elenarossini.com/a-newbies-guide-to-self-hosting-gotosocial-part-1-installation-and-set-up/

#resist #blog #ActivityPub #selfhosting

Google admits they block emails from getting into your inbox, even those from friends and family that are in your address book.

In my opinion, if the email sender is known and saved in the #Gmail user's address book, their emails should never be blocked, but #Google does not agree. And their technical requirements for an email to get through are past the average user's understanding or ability.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126

#censorship #SelfHosting

Gmail blocks emails, even from friends and family, if they use another email host without the technical settings they demand. This means people who self-host their email can be blocked from communicating with #Gmail users.

One solution: Gmail users could move to an email host that does not block from known contacts in your own address book!

I suspect many Gmail users are unaware of this change beginning in 2024.

https://m-chrzan.xyz/blog/sending-mail-to-gmail.html

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126

#censorship #SelfHosting

@SecondChanceLemon
The other big corporations are doing the same. I had to migrate away from Microsoft's hotmail for their cell phone requirement.

http://john1126.com/44

#email #SelfHosting #microsoft #hotmail

I thought scaling Tor meant adding more relays.

What it actually meant was multiplying failure modes...

I now operate 24 Tor relays and bridges across 15 locations, 11 ASNs and 6 operating systems.

Every new relay brings another provider, firewall, IPv6 route, service manager, identity key, backup and recovery plan.

Some things I learned along the way:

🌍 More countries don’t automatically mean real diversity
🔑 The server is replaceable, the relay identity isn’t
🛠️ Linux, BSD and SunOS need the same outcomes, not the same commands
📊 What I configured isn’t always what the Tor network currently sees

A large fleet is easy to count. A resilient one is much harder to keep alive.

I wrote about what operating Tor across 15 locations actually taught me:

🔗 https://brokenbotnet.com/2026/07/17/non-eu-relays/

#Tor #Privacy #OpenSource #SelfHosting #Infosec