MakerFLOSS/slides/tappaas/one-year-in/index.md

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title: TAPPaaS one year in — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
description: Sommerhack 2026, Taler Teltet — 27 August, 15:30
---

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# TAPPaaS — one year in

## The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

**Lars Rossen** · Sommerhack 2026 · Taler Teltet
27 August, 15:30

<!--
Sixty minutes. Roughly: 8 opening, 18 Good, 14 Bad, 14 Ugly, 6 close.
Leave the last 5 for questions from the tent — this crowd will have them.

Tone: this is a confession, not a product pitch. The proof is the mess.
-->

---

## Last year, in this tent, I pitched a dream

> Everyone needs a cloud in their basement.
> A **T**rusted, **A**utomated, fully **P**rivate **P**latform **a**s **a** **S**ervice.

On commodity hardware:

- your data, your hardware
- no hidden fees
- no reliance on closed source
- **no reliance on the Internet**

A year later I am back with the messy proof that it is real —
and to make the case that you should build one too.

<!--
Read the four bullets slowly. The fourth is the one that sounds mad and turns
out to be the whole point — come back to it in the AI section.
-->

---

## The receipts, up front

| | |
| --- | --- |
| First commit | **10 May 2025** — "Initial commit" |
| Commits when I submitted this abstract | **1,091** |
| Commits standing here today | **1,507** |
| Contributors | 3 (I am ~77% of it) |
| ADRs written | **24** |
| **Modules** — 8 foundation · 12 apps · 21 community | **41** |
| Lines of code (bash · TypeScript · Python · Nix) | **126,699** |
| Of which **test** code | **34,490** — 27% |
| Lines of documentation | **~39,500** |

Everything in this talk is in two public repositories. You can check my homework.

<!--
The 1091 → 1507 jump is the joke that lands: I wrote the abstract in the
spring and the project kept going. Point at it.

The 41 is the other one worth pausing on: 8 foundation + 12 apps in the
TAPPaaS repo, plus 21 modules other people wrote in the Community repo.
That last number is the one that says this stopped being my hobby.

Figures recomputed 2026-08-25 from the tree (a module = a directory with
its own <name>.json contract), using the methodology in src/STATISTICS.md.
Community repo: codeberg.org/TAPPaaS/Community.
-->

---

## What I am actually going to do to you

1. **The Good** — it runs. Here is what "it runs" means, and one surprise.
2. **The Bad** — what it really costs, and why that only works if it is shared.
3. **The Ugly** — the confession. I gave an AI root on every node.
4. **Your turn** — why you should build one, and how to start small.

I am not selling anything. There is nothing to buy.

---

<!-- _class: invert lead chapter -->

# The Good

It runs.

<!--
Deliberately short divider slide. Say "it runs" out loud and pause.
-->

---

<!-- _class: invert diagram -->

## The iron: three boxes, a switch, an AP and a modem

```mermaid
flowchart TB
  n1["<b>tappaas1</b> — ASUS · EPYC 4464P<br/>12c/24t · 64 GB ECC<br/>tanka1 2×4 TB NVMe <b>mirror</b><br/>tankb1 12 TB HDD"]
  n2["<b>tappaas2</b> — Minisforum MS-S1 MAX<br/>Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 · 16c/32t<br/><b>128 GB unified</b> · Radeon 8060S<br/>tanka1 2 TB NVMe"]
  n3["<b>tappaas3</b> — TianBei WTR PRO<br/>Ryzen 7 5825U · 8c/16t · 32 GB<br/>tanka1 1 TB NVMe<br/>tankc1 5 TB HDD — PBS"]
  sw["<b>UniFi USW Pro XG 10 PoE</b><br/>10.0.0.201<br/>trunk: mgmt untagged +<br/>VLAN 200 310 410 420 430 510 610"]
  ap["UniFi Nano HD<br/>access point · port 9"]
  modem["ISP modem<br/>port 5 · VLAN 100 = wan"]
  n1 -- "10G · p12" --> sw
  n2 -- "10G · p2" --> sw
  n3 -- "2.5G · p3" --> sw
  sw --- ap
  sw --- modem
```

<!--
Every number here was read off the running cluster, not a wiki page.
Worth saying out loud: only tanka1 on tappaas1 is a mirror. tappaas2 and
tappaas3 run single NVMe — deliberate, they are rebuildable from backup.
The 10G links are direct-attach copper; tappaas1 and tappaas3 have a second
NIC on VLAN 100 straight to the modem, which is how OPNsense gets a WAN.
-->

---

<!-- _class: invert diagram -->

## The software: foundation underneath, stacks on top

<svg viewBox="0 0 1200 470" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" role="img" aria-label="TAPPaaS running VMs, layered"><defs><marker id="ar" viewBox="0 0 10 10" refX="9" refY="5" markerWidth="7" markerHeight="7" orient="auto-start-reverse"><path d="M0,0 L10,5 L0,10 z" fill="#fdf6e3"/></marker></defs><rect x="0" y="0" width="700" height="212" rx="10" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.05)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5" stroke-dasharray="6 4" opacity="0.9"/><text x="16" y="26" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="18" font-weight="700" opacity="0.95">AI stack — tappaas2, on the GPU</text><rect x="14" y="46" width="214" height="148" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="121.0" y="76" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">vllm-amd · 312</text><text x="121.0" y="101" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">LXC · Radeon 8060S</text><text x="121.0" y="123" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">128 GB unified</text><rect x="240" y="46" width="214" height="148" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="347.0" y="76" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">litellm · 310</text><text x="347.0" y="101" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">gateway · keys</text><text x="347.0" y="123" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">4 GB</text><rect x="466" y="46" width="214" height="148" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="573.0" y="76" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">openwebui · 311</text><text x="573.0" y="101" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">the chat window</text><text x="573.0" y="123" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">4 GB</text><rect x="730" y="0" width="470" height="212" rx="10" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.05)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5" stroke-dasharray="6 4" opacity="0.9"/><text x="746" y="26" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="18" font-weight="700" opacity="0.95">Productivity — tappaas1</text><rect x="744" y="46" width="214" height="148" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="851.0" y="76" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">nextcloud · 340</text><text x="851.0" y="101" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">files · calendar</text><text x="851.0" y="123" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">8 GB · 80 GB</text><rect x="970" y="46" width="214" height="148" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="1077.0" y="76" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">euro-office · 343</text><text x="1077.0" y="101" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">documents</text><text x="1077.0" y="123" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">8 GB</text><line x1="350" y1="216" x2="350" y2="300" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="2.5" marker-end="url(#ar)"/><line x1="965" y1="216" x2="965" y2="300" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="2.5" marker-end="url(#ar)"/><rect x="0" y="306" width="1200" height="164" rx="10" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.05)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5" stroke-dasharray="6 4" opacity="0.9"/><text x="16" y="332" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="18" font-weight="700" opacity="0.95">Foundation — every app above rests on these</text><rect x="15" y="344" width="183" height="110" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="106.5" y="374" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">network · 110</text><text x="106.5" y="399" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">OPNsense</text><text x="106.5" y="421" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">8 GB</text><rect x="210" y="344" width="183" height="110" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="301.5" y="374" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">tappaas-cicd · 130</text><text x="301.5" y="399" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">mothership</text><text x="301.5" y="421" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">16 GB</text><rect x="405" y="344" width="183" height="110" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="496.5" y="374" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">identity · 140</text><text x="496.5" y="399" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">Authentik</text><text x="496.5" y="421" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">4 GB</text><rect x="600" y="344" width="183" height="110" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="691.5" y="374" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">logging · 150</text><text x="691.5" y="399" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">2 GB</text><rect x="795" y="344" width="183" height="110" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="886.5" y="374" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">unifi-os · 811</text><text x="886.5" y="399" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">switch · AP</text><text x="886.5" y="421" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">6 GB</text><rect x="990" y="344" width="183" height="110" rx="8" fill="rgba(255,255,255,0.10)" stroke="#fdf6e3" stroke-width="1.5"/><text x="1081.5" y="374" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="19" font-weight="700">backup · PBS</text><text x="1081.5" y="399" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">on tappaas3</text><text x="1081.5" y="421" text-anchor="middle" fill="#fdf6e3" font-size="16" opacity="0.85">tankc1</text></svg>

<!--
The point of the picture: the top two boxes are the only part anyone in my
house notices, and they are the small part. Everything below the line is
what makes them survive a year unattended.
vllm-amd is the one LXC in the estate — a container, not a VM, because the
GPU has to be passed through to reach the 8060S.
-->

---

## I promised you eight. There are forty-one.

| Where | # | What is in there |
| --- | ---: | --- |
| **Foundation** — TAPPaaS repo | 8 | `cluster` `network` `templates` `tappaas-cicd` `identity` `backup` `logging` `satellite` |
| **Apps** — TAPPaaS repo | 12 | `nextcloud` `euro-office` `vaultwarden` `litellm` `openwebui` `vllm-amd` `hass` `deconz` `coturn` `nextcloud-hpb` `netbird-client` `windows-server` |
| **Community** repo — *other people* | **21** | `immich` `jellyfin` `wordpress` `forgejo` `mailserver` `hosting` `sonos` `hue` `synology` `reolink` `solaredge` `alfen` `unifi` `shelly-fleet` … |

Twenty-one of those forty-one are **not mine**. Erik wrote 13, Andreas 6.

That is the number I did not dare put in the abstract.

<!--
The abstract promised eight services. Give the 41 a beat before explaining it.
Then be honest about what "in the tree" means versus "live in my basement":
a module existing and a module your family depends on are different claims.
The Community repo is codeberg.org/TAPPaaS/Community — one directory per
person, no gatekeeping, and it is the only slide in this deck that is
evidence the project outgrew me. Say that plainly; do not undersell it.
-->

---

## "It runs" is a bigger claim than it sounds

Every one of those services, without me:

- **updates itself** on a schedule — and the update is gated by a test
- **backs itself up** nightly to Proxmox Backup Server, and off-site
- **reports its own health**, so I find out before my family does
- **has a certificate** that renews
- **has one login** — my identity provider, not eight password fields

The interesting engineering is not installing Nextcloud.
It is Nextcloud still being there, patched, in eighteen months, unattended.

<!--
This is the core argument of the whole project. Slow down here.
Self-hosting is easy. Self-hosting you can forget about is not.
-->

---

## One idea does all the work: everything is a module

```text
nextcloud/
├── nextcloud.json  # the contract — what it is, needs, provides
├── nextcloud.nix   # the NixOS machine
├── install.sh      # put it there            (once)
├── update.sh       # keep it patched         (on schedule)
├── test.sh         # prove it still works    (gates the update)
└── README.md
```

The firewall is a module. The backup server is a module.
The mothership that installs the modules is a module.

**One model to learn, not eight.**

---

## `dependsOn` — the trick the whole thing rests on

```json
{
  "description": "Nextcloud — files, calendar, contacts",
  "vmname": "nextcloud", "vmid": 210,
  "dependsOn": ["cluster:vm", "templates:nixos", "backup:vm",
                "network:proxy", "identity:identity"],
  "config": {
    "cluster:vm": { "cores": 4, "memory": "8192", "diskSize": "64G" },
    "network:proxy": { "proxyPort": 443 }
  }
}
```

Install **order** is computed from these declarations. Nobody maintains a list.
Add a module, and the platform works out that it needs a VM, an OS, a VLAN,
a certificate, a login and a backup job — in that order.

<!--
If someone asks "is this just Ansible/Terraform?" — the answer is: those are
how you build one machine. This is about a machine estate that has a shape.
-->

---

## Reduce flexibility. On purpose.

> A key design goal is to **REDUCE** flexibility.
> There is value in decisions having been taken up front.

Some use cases will not fit TAPPaaS. That is the trade.
For what fits, it is dramatically easier.

Zones, VLANs, naming, storage roles, backup policy, identity model — decided.
You get to pick the applications, and where they live.

<!--
This is the least popular slide with hackers and the most important one.
Every hour you spend re-deciding VLAN layout is an hour not spent on services.
Expect pushback; welcome it.
-->

---

<!-- _class: invert lead chapter -->

# The surprise

My basement grew a brain.

---

## Local AI. Private, offline, mine.

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Silicon | AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 — Radeon 8060S (Strix Halo) |
| Memory | **128 GB unified** — the GPU sees nearly all of it |
| Largest model tested | `gpt-oss-120b` — **120B parameters** |
| Speed | ~50 tok/s at 7B FP16 · ~20 tok/s at 30B 4-bit |
| API | OpenAI-compatible, on my own VLAN |
| Data leaving the building | **none** |

One commodity box. Not a rack, not a hyperscaler, not a monthly bill.

<!--
Stress "unified memory" — that is what makes a 120B model possible on a box
that fits under a desk. This is a genuinely new thing as of this year.
-->

---

<!-- _class: invert punch -->

## The demo I have been waiting a year to do

<br>

# Pull the cable out.

<br>

Then ask it something.

<!--
DEMO. Physically unplug the uplink. Visible. Then a real question in OpenWebUI.
Have a screen-recorded fallback ready — the tent's projector will betray you.
If it works live, this is the moment of the talk. Do not rush it.
-->

---

## Why this is the point, not a party trick

Sovereignty is not a checkbox you tick at a vendor.

- The model runs on hardware **you** own
- Your documents are indexed on **your** VLAN
- Nobody re-prices it, deprecates it, or reads it
- It works when the fibre is cut, the account is suspended,
  or the terms of service change on a Tuesday

`litellm` in front means apps ask for "a model" — local today,
someone else's tomorrow, **your choice, revocable**.

<!--
Tie back to bullet four from the dream slide: "no reliance on the Internet".
That was the mad-sounding one. Here it is, cashed in.
-->

---

<!-- _class: invert lead chapter -->

# The Bad

What it actually cost.

---

## The quiet months are the honest part

**September–October 2025: 15 commits in two months.**

`TODO: what actually happened here — say it plainly, it is the most relatable slide in the deck`

The lesson I take from it: a self-hosted platform that needs *you* every week
is not a platform, it is a pet.

Those two months are the real test. The services stayed up.
Because updates, backups and tests do not need me to be enthusiastic.

<!--
Strong point: the automation is not a nice-to-have, it is what makes the
project survivable by a human with a life.
-->

---

## June 2026: 351 commits. Something changed.

That is not me getting three times better at typing.

That is the month I leaned all the way into AI-assisted development —
which is exactly the confession in part three.

Hold that thought.

<!--
Deliberate hook into The Ugly. The commit spike is the evidence, and the
audience will already be suspicious. Good. Let them be.
-->

---

## The iceberg under every "simple" service

| | Files | Lines |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| **Foundation** — the platform | 575 | **114,138** |
| **Apps** — the things you actually use | 144 | **15,726** |

For every line in an app module, there are **seven lines of platform underneath**.

`tappaas-cicd` alone — the mothership — is **81,942 lines**, 72% of the
foundation. Inside it: 8 TypeScript managers (36,920 lines) and the
controller layer that talks to Proxmox, OPNsense and the switch (29,352).

<!--
The 7:1 platform-to-app ratio is the single most useful number in this talk
for anyone thinking "I'll just spin up Docker Compose". That works — until you
want it to still work next year without you.
Source: src/STATISTICS.md, regenerated 2026-08-23.
-->

---

## It is a lot of work. That is the argument for sharing it.

Building this was not cheap, and I will not pretend otherwise:
**112,000 lines**, 1,507 commits, 24 ADRs, six unfamiliar stacks, a year of evenings.

But look at *where* that cost sits:

| Paid **once**, by whoever writes it | Paid by **you**, per site |
| --- | --- |
| the 8 foundation modules | a box and an afternoon |
| 195 test suites that gate every update | `module-manager module add <app>` |
| every install, update and repair script | nothing — patches arrive tested |

A hyperscaler amortises a datacentre across a million tenants.
**We amortise a platform across a thousand basements.**

Erik's 13 modules and Andreas's 6 cost me nothing and made my system better.
Yours would too. That is the economic case: not that self-hosting is cheap,
but that **the expensive part only has to happen once.**

<!--
This is the slide that turns The Bad from a complaint into an invitation.
The honest concession first — it IS a lot of work — then the pivot: almost
none of it is per-site work. Land on the last line and pause.
If someone objects "a thousand basements do not exist yet" — agree, and say
that is precisely why you are standing here.
TODO: your own hours-per-week number makes the concession land harder.
-->

---

## Did I get it all right?

**No. There have been at least two large rewrites — and a whole system before this one.**

- **The predecessor.** I ran a hand-built setup for a few years before TAPPaaS
  existed. Every design decision here is an argument I already lost once, at home.
- **Rewrite 1 — ADR-007.** Foundation modules used to be *numbered*:
  `05-ProxmoxNode`, `10-firewall`, `30-tappaas-cicd`. The number **was** the
  install order. Retired: order is now computed from `dependsOn`.
- **Rewrite 2 — ADR-014.** Zone tiers lived in prose in a README. Now `tier` and
  `isolated` are state, and four invariants are machine-checked on every reconcile.

Both times the same lesson: something I had encoded as a **convention**
had to become a **declaration**.

`TODO: name the predecessor, and say how long you ran it`

<!--
This is the credibility slide. Do not soften the "No" — an audience that has
just been told you gave an AI root needs to hear that you rebuild things when
they are wrong. The ADR-007 and ADR-014 stories are both in the repo if
anyone wants to check.
-->

---

<!-- _class: invert lead chapter -->

# The Ugly

The confession.

---

<!-- _class: invert punch -->

# I used AI to build it.

# And I gave it root on every node.

<br>

Not "AI-assisted autocomplete".

Root. `ssh`. `nixos-rebuild`. `qm`. `pvesh`. The firewall. The secrets.

<!--
Say it flatly and then be quiet for three full seconds. Let the tent react.
This is the slide people came for and the one they will argue with afterwards.
-->

---

## Why on earth would you do that

Because the alternative was that it never got built.

- One retiree, evenings and weekends, six unfamiliar technology stacks
- 112,000 lines of platform code for thirteen app modules
- The plumbing is *tedious*, not clever — the exact shape of work to hand over

The graph does not lie: **May 190, June 351.** That is what handing over the
tedium looks like.

And the honest part: I could not have hand-written the last third of this.

<!--
Do not be defensive. The result is on the projector; the method is the price.
-->

---

<!-- _class: invert punch -->

# So the real question is not "did you"

# It is: **what did you fence it with?**

The guardrails are not vibes. They are written down, in the repo,
loaded on every single session, and they override anything the model
would otherwise default to.

<!--
This is the pivot from confession to engineering. Everything after this is
transferable to anyone in the tent using these tools.
-->

---

## Guardrail 1 — nothing starts with a prompt

By the time the AI is allowed to type, three humans-only artefacts exist:

1. **An Issue** — a well-defined problem and a proposed fix. No issue, no change.
2. **An ADR**, for anything non-obvious — reviewed by **at least two people**.
   Usually me and Erik. 24 of them so far.
3. **A design and implementation plan** — including **how this will be tested**,
   written *before* a line is written.

*Then* the AI takes over — as eight specialist roles: architect, bash, python,
nix, tester, security, infra, PM.

The model does not decide what to build, or what "done" means. It never has.

<!--
This is the most transferable slide in the talk, and the one people actually
need. The order matters: problem, decision, plan, and only then code.
Two reviewers on an ADR is the part that keeps me honest — Erik has killed
several of my ideas, and the ADR is where that argument is recorded.
-->

---

## Guardrail 2 — the line it may never cross

> **Never run `git commit` or `git push` — full stop.**
> The operator performs ALL commits and pushes themselves.
> This holds even when a request seems to imply it — "land it", "ship it",
> "move this to main" — and even when a previous turn involved committing.
> That is NOT standing authorization.

The AI may change any file on disk. It may not make a change **permanent**.

Every single line that entered history passed under my eyes.

<!--
Verbatim from CLAUDE.md. The distinction — mutate freely, persist never — is
the single most useful idea in this section. Say why: git is the undo button,
so the undo button is the thing it must not touch.
-->

---

## Guardrail 3 — the blast radius is designed

| Layer | What it bounds |
| --- | --- |
| **Modules** | A mistake lands in one VM, not "the server" |
| **Zones** | A compromised VM cannot reach what its VLAN forbids |
| **Proxmox snapshots** | Minutes-old rollback, per machine |
| **PBS + off-site** | Nightly, immutable, pull-based |
| **NixOS** | `nixos-rebuild test` before `switch` — a bad config dies at reboot |
| **34,490 lines of tests** | The update does not land unless the service proves it works |

Root access is only terrifying if the system underneath is a snowflake.
Mine is disposable by construction.

<!--
This is the actual answer to "you gave an AI root?!". The architecture that
makes unattended updates safe is the same architecture that makes an
over-eager agent survivable. Same property, two beneficiaries.
-->

---

## Guardrail 4 — confirm before the irreversible

The standing rules, as written:

- **Confirm before destructive ops** — deleting a VM it did not create,
  dropping a storage pool, force-pushing `main`/`stable`, wiping `/etc/secrets`
- **Fix root causes, not symptoms** — no `--no-verify`, no silenced errors,
  no bypassed CI to make an install "succeed"
- **Read before you rebuild** — `nixos-rebuild test` before `switch`

Note what these have in common: they are all rules about **honesty**,
not about capability.

<!--
The failure mode with a capable agent is not malice. It is an agent that
makes the red thing turn green by removing the check. Name that explicitly.
-->

---

## Guardrail 5 — the tests decide, not the agent

Every module ships **two** test levels:

| | When it runs | What it is for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **quick** | every change, every scheduled update | is this service still itself? |
| **deep** | `test-module.sh <module> --deep` | the full behaviour, too slow for every commit |

And around them:

- the **test plan is written in the ADR**, before the implementation exists
- after implementation, a **full regression** across every module — not just the one touched
- **195 test suites · 34,490 lines · 27% of all source**

An agent that can edit code can also edit the test that would catch it.
That is exactly why a human writes the test plan first, and why the
regression sweep is the thing that says "done" — not the agent.

<!--
This closes the loop opened in Guardrail 1: the plan said how it would be
tested, and this is where that promise is collected.
The last two lines are the answer to the sharpest question in the room —
"how would you even know if it cheated?"
-->

---

## Am I still in control? Honestly.

**Yes — but "control" moved.**

I no longer control every line. I control:

- the **architecture** — modules, zones, contracts
- the **gate** — commits, pushes, releases
- the **proof** — 195 test suites, 27% of the source, that must be green
- the **exit** — it is all open source, on my hardware, in my hands

That is a real answer, not a comfortable one. Ask me the hard version in Q&A.

<!--
Do not claim more than this. If someone says "that's not control, that's
supervision" — agree, and say supervision with a hard gate and a working undo
is what control has always meant in operations.
-->

---

<!-- _class: invert lead chapter -->

# Your turn

Build one too.

---

## Why you, specifically, should

**European sovereignty is not a policy problem you can wait out.**

It is thousands of small boxes, in basements and back offices,
running software nobody can withdraw.

- Your data has to live *somewhere*. Somewhere can be here.
- A skill you own beats a subscription you rent.
- Every basement cloud makes the next one cheaper to build.

`TODO: your one-sentence version of this — say it in your own words, not mine`

---

## Start smaller than I did

| Step | What you get |
| --- | --- |
| 1. One box, evaluation tier | 4 cores / 16 GB / a disk. Nested virt is fine. |
| 2. Proxmox + OPNsense | Zones, VLANs, DNS, certificates that renew |
| 3. The mothership | `tappaas-cicd` — the thing that installs the rest |
| 4. **One** service | Vaultwarden. Small, useful, immediately missed. |
| 5. Backup **before** service two | Non-negotiable. Ask me why. |

No public IP? A satellite VPS is the escape hatch.
No GPU? Skip local AI, keep everything else.

---

## Where to find all of it

- **tappaas.org** — docs, work in progress, honest about it
- **codeberg.org/TAPPaaS/TAPPaaS** — the code, the 24 ADRs, the commit graph
- **sovereigncomputing.org** — the wider argument
- **This deck** — slides.makerfloss.eu/tappaas/one-year-in
- **MakerFLOSS** — Orange Makerspace, bi-weekly FLOSS jam. Come build one with us.

Contributions welcome. Open an issue before you open a pull request —
somebody may already be packaging your app.

---

<!-- _class: invert lead chapter -->

# Questions

The harder, the better.

<!--
Prepared answers to have loaded:
- "Isn't this just Ansible?"          → estate vs. machine; dependsOn
- "Why NixOS?"                        → reproducible rebuild is the undo button
- "You gave an AI root — seriously?"  → guardrail 2, blast radius by design
- "What if you get hit by a bus?"     → open source, docs, ADRs, TODO: honest answer
- "Cheaper than Google?"              → no. Ownable, though.
- "Can I run it on one Raspberry Pi?" → no. Evaluation tier, x86, be realistic.
-->