Build log

The Devbox Build, Part 5: Watching It and Keeping It

Four dashboards, two backup targets, one mail relay, and the reboot test that catches what the rest missed.

By Brian Mars · Oct 22, 2026 · 3 min

The Log

Recent, briefly

OCT 21The Devbox Build, Part 4: Source Control and CI. Forgejo goes in easily. The runner is where every network decision from parts 2 and 3 gets tested at once.¹
OCT 20The Devbox Build, Part 3: Containers and a Front Door. Docker goes on, then Caddy goes in front of it, and the tailnet starts to push back.
OCT 19The Devbox Build, Part 2: Reachable From Anywhere, Visible to No One. Tailscale finds the box, mosh keeps the connection, tmux keeps the session, and the firewall only answers on the tailnet.²
OCT 18The Devbox Build, Part 1: Metal and OS. Two drives, one of them in the wrong slot, and a Debian install that only touches one disk.³
OCT 18Resurrection Sunday 2026.10.18.
OCT 17A Boring Box on Purpose. A small server for git and CI that nobody on the internet can see, built from boring parts and written up one card at a time.⁴
OCT 11Resurrection Sunday 2026.10.11.
OCT 06Aspie Supremacy Has a Grain of Truth and a Mountain of Ego.

Build log

Forgejo goes in easily. The runner is where every network decision from parts 2 and 3 gets tested at once.

Oct 21, 20262 min

Build log

Docker goes on, then Caddy goes in front of it, and the tailnet starts to push back.

Oct 20, 20263 min

Build log

Tailscale finds the box, mosh keeps the connection, tmux keeps the session, and the firewall only answers on the tailnet.

Oct 19, 20263 min

Paid for by the day job, more or less.

Fine print

1Forgejo's first-run screen is reachable before Caddy is set up, through an SSH tunnel to port 3000.
2If a network blocks UDP, mosh can't connect at all. Plain ssh with tmux still works, and Eternal Terminal gives a TCP connection that survives a network change.
3Values in the commands are placeholders. The list is at /reference.
4The names and addresses in this series are placeholders. The full list is at the bottom of the reference index.