Introduction

Over the past few years, my homelab has gone through many iterations. New virtual machines, new Kubernetes clusters, new experiments — all built with the intention of learning, breaking things, and building them back better. Recently, I made a deliberate decision to tear everything down. This wasn’t because the setup was broken, outdated, or unsuccessful. In fact, it worked well. But as my professional and personal goals evolved, I realized that continuing in the same direction no longer served the purpose I originally built the homelab for.

A New Chapter at Work

I recently started a new role where I work closely with Kubernetes and Azure on a daily basis. Debugging clusters, solving platform issues, and thinking deeply about infrastructure reliability has become part of my routine. While this has been an exciting step forward in my career, it also changed how I felt when I came home and opened my homelab. What used to feel like curiosity and exploration started to feel like more of the same problems, just in a different environment.

When Familiar Problems Become a Loop

My homelab was heavily Kubernetes-focused:

  • Multiple clusters
  • Security hardening
  • TLS everywhere
  • GitOps workflows
  • Observability stacks

All valuable learning experiences — but also very similar to what I was already dealing with during the day.

Instead of feeling energized, I noticed myself getting stuck in a mental loop:

fixing Kubernetes issues at work → fixing Kubernetes issues at home → repeating the same thought patterns

It wasn’t burnout, but it felt like a spiral of familiarity that left little room for creativity.

The Purpose of a Homelab

A homelab, at least for me, is not meant to mirror production exactly.

It’s meant to be:

  • A playground for curiosity
  • A space to explore ideas without pressure
  • A place to connect technology to daily life

At some point, my setup drifted away from that purpose.

Choosing to Start Over

Instead of incrementally changing things, I chose the cleaner option:
tear everything down and start fresh.

That meant:

  • Powering off and deleting VMs
  • Removing clusters
  • Archiving old repositories
  • Letting go of setups I had invested a lot of time in

It felt uncomfortable at first — but also freeing.

A New Direction: AI in the Homelab

This time, I want my homelab to be more personal and human-centered.

The new focus is integrating AI into everyday life, starting with ideas like:

  • A local AI assistant for my home
  • Natural language interfaces for home automation
  • AI-driven reminders, summaries, and personal workflows
  • Self-hosted models that respect privacy

Kubernetes may still play a role — but it won’t be the centerpiece.

The goal is no longer to build clusters for the sake of building clusters, but to build systems that meaningfully interact with my daily routines.

Growth Sometimes Looks Like Deleting Things

Tearing down infrastructure can feel like losing progress. In reality, it’s often a sign that you’ve outgrown a phase.

Everything I built before still matters:

  • The lessons
  • The mistakes
  • The confidence gained from repetition

Starting fresh doesn’t erase that — it builds on it.

What Comes Next

This new homelab will be slower, more intentional, and more experimental.

There will be fewer dashboards and fewer YAML files — and more questions like:

  • How can AI reduce friction in my day?
  • What should a “personal assistant” actually do?
  • How much infrastructure is enough?

I don’t have all the answers yet, and that’s the point.

Closing Thoughts

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do as an engineer is not to optimize — but to pause, delete, and rethink.

This teardown wasn’t an ending.
It was a reset.

And I’m excited to see what grows in the empty space.