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+++ title="Self-Hosting for All" mediatype="key" conference="seattle-2022" date="2022-11-16T12:00:00-08:00" description="Make self-hosting actually desirable" thumbnail=""

videos title="Memory Strategies" embed="https://player.vimeo.com/video/774890907" service="vimeo" download_link="https://player.vimeo.com/progressive_redirect/playback/774890907/rendition/720p/file.mp4?loc=external&oauth2_token_id=1777364455&signature=3c443137144bf46966f5607ab00f818dfa5f98e1ac7643e62160f55e0bb27792"

speakers name="Abner Coimbre" bio="" image="" +++

Prev | Contents | Next (Appendix)

You can’t realistically own every app or service you use, but you should aim to get closer to that ideal over time. The more of your computing you can run on your own servers—even if they’re initially hosted on something like a DigitalOcean Droplet, AWS instance, or Azure—the more self-sufficient you’ll become. And self-sufficiency is a core trait of a Handmade dev.

By 2030, our goal is to make self-hosting a desirable and mainstream idea in the software industry. Even if we don’t convince everyone, we must inspire enough developers to make the broader industry blink and take notice.

What Handmade Cities is Doing:

  • Built a replacement to Ticketmaster/Eventbrite for selling conference tickets

  • Self-hosting Revolt for live conference chat

  • Actively replacing meetup.com

  • Created our own newsletter infrastructure for mass emails

  • Migration Off Discord: While Discord is still in use by us, it’s fallen prey to enshitification and we can be shut down too easily. We’ve begun migrating to Revolt for year round discussions, not just live conference chat. The full migration will be completed by the end of 2025.

What You Might Try:

  • Join the Indie Web
  • Host your personal website off a Raspberry Pi
  • If you use AI models, learn to run local ones and fine-tune them
  • Browse curated self-hosted apps, adopt one, and contribute back to the project (e.g., by submitting thoughtful GitHub issues or PRs)
  • When self-hosting isn’t practical go for privacy-respecting companies: ProtonMail instead of Gmail, Kagi instead of Google, Obsidian instead of Notion, Ghost instead of Mailchimp, and so on
  • Advanced: Build and ship your own alternative to a service that’s been enshitified

Notes on UX:

For self-hosting to become desirable, the UI/UX of (most) self-hosted software needs a massive overhaul—it’s utter garbage. This is the Key Objective keeping the founder up at night. Making self-hosting accessible will require more than just programmers too. Artists and designers are essential to this mission.

References

  • A great starting point is the Self Host Weekly newsletter, an expertly curated resource for getting into self-hosted software.