The Dark Forest Era: Why I'm Self-Hosting Again

I've been talking a lot about how the dark forest is coming, and AI is definitely ushering that in. Teams that are vulnerable on the internet right now are suffering in the AI era.

Vibe coding has different flavors

I was building an application for my own personal use. Totally vibe coding. I'll admit it.

But those of us in the vibe coding community have vastly different experiences depending on what level of coder you were. One's ability to go into deep settings and create nested fractal monsters is not for the faint of heart.

Me? I built my own.

When your app feels too personal for the cloud

As it came to fruition, I started thinking, I want this available anywhere I go.

I'm a homebody and a high-performance remote worker. My app is very personal — it involves journaling and personal life. Not credit cards, but treasures nonetheless.

The self-hosting epiphany

If I want some of my agentic application exposed to the internet, I'll have to compartmentalize and install certain parts in the cloud. But I've got heavy localized processes, and I enjoy not paying for cloud compute.

And I just thought, what am I even thinking?

All I want is access for me. I'm on fiber, and the internet's a totally different thing with 5G mobile.

Why don't we go back in time to go forward in time? What if I just host it myself?

Tools like Tailscale make this possible

Tools like Tailscale make it so I can create a VPN and host locally. My machines are underutilized at home. And the cloud is — if I do my backup solutions right — this could be a new era.

The dark forest requires trusted networks

I was even thinking about adding paid customers to my VPN to see if they enjoy the app.

I really think this dark forest era is coming quickly. I really think publishing all your information is quickly coming to an end.

The trust economy

A colleague years ago said we're entering the trust economy. That's 100% true with AI.

We want to work with people we trust. And by God, if it takes creating VPNs and closing ourselves off, maybe we will.

Going inward

When I expose my life and value to the world these days, I feel like I'm just a target. It makes me want to go inward and work with people I trust.

The invitation

If you have any interest in high levels of at-home productivity using agentic apps, being home-built by a 25-year technologist, hit me up.

I have more than one engineered for my own needs. Necessity is the mother of invention, right? All these gadgets are extensions of my life at this point, but I'm starting to get ready to share.