#personalvault

Personal Vault #011 I came across an interesting BBC article today about the return of digital cameras, iPods and wired earphones. At first glance, it looks like a nostalgia piece. But the part that caught my attention was much deeper. One of the people quoted in the article, Professor Andrew Przybylski from Oxford, talks about people wanting more control over their experiences. He contrasts modern digital services, where content is constantly pushed at us, with older devices where you deliberately choose what goes onto them. And then comes the point that really matters: People want more than simply renting the things they are passionate about. That is very close to the reason I started building Personal Vault. I am not trying to go backwards technologically. Quite the opposite. Personal Vault uses modern web technology, automation, AI-assisted tools and eventually its own authentication system. But all of that technology is supposed to work for me. My films should be mine. My photos should be mine. My documents should be mine. My memories should not depend on whether a company changes its subscription, closes a service, removes a feature or decides I am no longer allowed access. Maybe the renewed interest in old technology is not really about old technology at all. Maybe it is about control, ownership and intentionality. And if that is the case, then perhaps the idea behind Personal Vault is not quite as unusual as I thought. BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly599xlllyo #PersonalVault #SelfHosting #DigitalOwnership #DigitalIndependence

Personal Vault #008 Today, Personal Vault reached its first major milestone. The proof of concept is complete. It can now upload, organise and access real content. Movies, photos and files all make it into the Vault through the front end, and the end-to-end workflow works. That's more important than it sounds. When a project is just an idea, you're constantly asking, "Will this actually work?" Today, that question was answered. From this point on, the challenge isn't proving the concept. It's building the platform. Next stop: Vault Master. The Vault is no longer a prototype. It's becoming a real system. #PersonalVault #DigitalIndependence #SelfHosting #OpenSource

Personal Vault #007 – Security continued The Vault now has a proper front entrance. The public site at pv-hq.com remains open, but the Enter the Vault button leads to a separate private application at vault.pv-hq.com. I have been developing the front end and login page so entering the Vault feels deliberate—not like opening another generic admin panel. The design is dark, simple and consistent with the rest of the project. The login is now connected to my own backend, private pages are protected, and the site has been tested for HTTPS redirection and browser security headers. Why expose the entrance publicly at all? Because I want access to my own files wherever I am. The door needs to be reachable from the internet. What is behind it must remain private. The entrance works. Now I can start building what belongs behind it. #PersonalVault #SelfHosted #DigitalIndependence

Personal Vault #006 I've released the first short podcast about Personal Vault. Rather than talking about hardware or software, this one explores an idea: Vault Key. What if logging in didn't require a username, email address or password? What if your identity stayed with you, instead of being scattered across hundreds of online accounts? This is just the beginning of that conversation, and I'd genuinely like to hear what others think. 🎙️ Is it time to rethink how we prove who we are online? #PersonalVault #VaultKey #DigitalIndependence #CyberSecurity

Personal Vault #005 – Learning to Say “Not Yet”

One thing I’ve learned during this project is that building isn’t just about deciding what to do.

It’s also about deciding what not to do.

This week I was very tempted to start building Mission Control—the interface that will eventually tie the whole Personal Vault together.

It would have been fun.

It also would have been the wrong decision.

Instead, we finished the boring bits:

• fixed the storage architecture,
• hardened the server,
• agreed that Personal Vault owns the data while services like Jellyfin and Immich are just replaceable tools,
• and resisted adding new software simply because it looked interesting.

The more this project grows, the more I’m realising that discipline is part of the build.

Every shiny new idea now has to answer one question:

“Which phase is that?”

If it doesn’t have a good answer, it can wait.

It’s a surprisingly effective way of stopping a hobby project turning into a collection of half-finished ideas.

Progress isn’t always adding something new.

Sometimes progress is deciding not to.

#PersonalVault #DigitalIndependence #SelfHosting #OpenSource #Linux #HomeLab

Personal Vault #003 — We Have a Front Door Every house starts with foundations. But sooner or later, someone has to build the front door. This week Personal Vault got its first public home: 🌐 https://pv-hq.com Right now it's intentionally simple. No login. No media library. No clever features. Just a place that explains what Personal Vault is and where the project is heading. The funny thing is... I've probably spent more time building this landing page than installing Debian, Docker and Jellyfin combined. Not because it's technically difficult. Because first impressions matter. One day I want people to arrive there, click "Enter the Vault", and forget they're using half a dozen different pieces of software underneath. The website is the first visible piece of that vision. Everything else can evolve behind it. And it is obviously SELF HOSTED. #PersonalVault #SelfHosting #HomeLab #Docker #Debian #OpenSource

Personal Vault #002 — The Product One thing I want to make clear early in this project: I'm not building a Jellyfin server. I'm building Personal Vault. Today Jellyfin handles media playback. Tomorrow it might be something else. If that day comes, I want to replace one component—not rebuild the entire system. That's why one of the first design principles I wrote was: Personal Vault is the product. Everything else is infrastructure. The library matters more than the player. The data matters more than the software. And every important decision goes into a Build Guide—not because I'll forget next week, but because in three years I want to rebuild the whole platform in a single afternoon. One step at a time. #PersonalVault #SelfHosting #HomeLab #Docker #Debian #DataIndepndece

Personal Vault #001 – Bye Bye Windows Operation "Bye Bye Windows" has officially begun. 👋🪟 Today, an old HP desktop took its first step towards a new life. Windows is gone. Debian 13 (Trixie) is taking over. The end goal isn't just "running Linux." This machine is going to become Personal Vault – my own self-hosted platform for media, photos, documents, backups, and whatever else I decide to build along the way. I've used Windows for decades, so this is very much a learning journey. Expect mistakes, questions, and probably a few moments of wondering why Linux has seventeen different ways to do the same thing. Today's achievement: ✅ Windows removed. ✅ Debian installed. ✅ No explosions. Let the adventure begin. #Debian #Linux #SelfHosting #Docker #HomeServer #PersonalVault #ByeByeWindows