de-clouding

Guides

One service at a time. Each guide says what you gain, what you'll still rent, what it looks like at each budget, and ends with a prompt you can hand to Claude.

Start with Backups — it’s the safety net under everything else. After that, pick whichever bothers you most.

  1. Backups replaces trusting the cloud to never lose it

    Once your data lives in your house, losing it is your problem. Make that a solved problem before moving anything else.

  2. Photos & files replaces Google Photos, iCloud, Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive

    The biggest pile of personal data most people have, and the easiest to bring home.

  3. Email, calendar & contacts replaces Gmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo

    The one guide that says: don't run this yourself. Own the address instead.

  4. Passwords & notes replaces LastPass, 1Password cloud, Evernote, Notion, Apple/Google Notes

    Small data, high value. An afternoon's work.

  5. Smart home & voice replaces Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, a dozen vendor apps

    Keep the speakers and bulbs. Replace the brain.

  6. Music, movies & TV replaces the streaming-app pile, and the TV that watches you back

    Own what you've bought. Stop the television from reporting on you.

  7. Cameras & doorbells replaces Ring, Nest, Arlo, Wyze subscriptions

    Video of your front door should live in your house, not in a data center with a subscription attached.

  8. Remote access & your network replaces port forwarding, vendor 'cloud relay' features, and a flat home network

    The foundation under every other guide: reach your stuff from anywhere without opening your house to the internet.

  9. Your own AI assistant replaces a monthly chatbot subscription that reads everything you tell it

    The models were built from everyone's data. The open ones are yours to run — on a laptop today, on something bigger if you want.

  10. Roadmap: devices you own all the way down replaces glasses, watches and speakers that only work with one company's cloud

    The last layer of the stack is the thing on your face or wrist. It's early, but the architecture is already in place — and you're already building it.