About

Hi, I'm Charles

Systems engineer running a production homelab with 174TB of storage, 35+ Docker containers, 45+ Home Assistant automations, local voice control, and an ESP32 sensor mesh. I deploy local AI infrastructure on dual V100 GPUs, orchestrate multi-agent development with Claude Code, and build the same systems I use every day.

This homelab started as a personal exploration into home automation, IoT development, and self-hosted infrastructure. It's evolved into a production environment that runs 24/7, handling everything from media streaming to local AI inference to smart home control.

The Setup

Server Hardware

  • Model: Dell R7525
  • CPU: 2x AMD EPYC 7282 (32 cores total)
  • RAM: 64GB DDR4 ECC
  • Storage: 174TB array (12 disks + parity)
  • Cache: 4TB NVMe (Crucial T500)
  • OS: Unraid Pro

Network

  • Router: UniFi Dream Machine Pro
  • VLANs: Trusted, IoT, Guest, Streaming, Camera
  • Remote Access: Tailscale VPN

Key Technologies

Home Automation

Home Assistant with local voice control, ESP32 sensor mesh, and 45+ YAML automations

Containerization

Docker containers for services, applications, and development environments

Local AI

Ollama for LLM inference, Whisper for speech recognition, Piper for TTS

IoT & Sensors

ESP32 mesh network with ESPHome, distributed sensors, and local processing

AI-Assisted Development

Multi-worker Claude Code orchestration with custom coordination system

Philosophy

  • Self-hosted first: Prefer local solutions over cloud dependencies
  • Privacy-focused: Data stays on-premises when possible
  • Open source: Using and contributing to open source projects
  • Learning by doing: Building to understand, not just using

Experience

Infrastructure & DevOps

5+ years

Unraid, Docker, VMs, networking, backups

Home Automation

3+ years

Home Assistant, YAML automations, IoT devices

Mobile Development

2+ years

React Native, Expo, TypeScript

AI/ML Integration

1+ years

Local LLMs, Ollama, Claude API, automation

Want to Work Together?

I'm available for freelance development work — homelabs, home automation, networking, and mobile app development. Everything I build for clients is battle-tested on my own production systems.

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