Digital Independence

Take back control of your digital life, one container at a time.

📌 What is Digital Independence?

Digital Independence is a complete self-hosting solution that provides podman-compose configurations for 23+ popular open-source services. It eliminates dependency on third-party cloud services by giving you full control over your data and infrastructure.

Core Philosophy:

🔒 Total Data Ownership — Your data stays on your hardware, always
💰 Zero Recurring Costs — Pay once for hardware, free forever
🔄 Complete Freedom — Switch, modify, or replace any service anytime
🎯 Practical Learning — Build real DevOps skills through hands-on experience
🚀 Ready to Deploy — Just clone, install, and run

🏗️ Architecture Support

Architecture	Platforms	Status
`linux/amd64`	Intel/AMD, x86_64	✅ Supported
`linux/arm64`	Raspberry Pi 4/5, Apple M1/M2/M3, AWS Graviton	✅ Supported

📦 Available Services (23 Services)

🔐 Security & Authentication

Service	Directory	Port	Purpose
Wazuh	`wazuh/`	443	Security monitoring and threat detection
Pi-hole	`pi-hole/`	53, 8080	Network-wide ad blocking and DNS filtering
Vaultwarden	`vaultwarden/`	8000	Lightweight Bitwarden-compatible password manager
Authentik	`authentik/`	9000, 9443	Complete identity and access management (SSO)

🤖 AI & Machine Learning

Service	Directory	Port	Purpose
Open WebUI	`open-webui/`	3000	Chat interface for Ollama LLMs

Configure with OLLAMA_BASE_URL in .env

🖥️ Management & Monitoring

Service	Directory	Port	Purpose
Dashdot	`dashdot/`	3001	Modern server dashboard with system metrics
Homarr	`homarr/`	7575	Clean and customizable home page dashboard
ntfy	`ntfy/`	8010	Simple pub/sub notification service
Uptime Kuma	`uptime-kuma/`	9442	Self-hosted uptime monitoring
Portainer	`portainer/`	9444	Container management UI for Podman/Docker

💬 Communication (Matrix Ecosystem)

Service	Directory	Port	Purpose
Synapse	`synapse/`	8008, 8448	Matrix homeserver for decentralized chat
Element Web	`element-web/`	8009	Web client for Matrix
Mautrix Bridges	`synapse/mautrix/`	-	Telegram & WhatsApp bridges (single compose.yaml)

🌐 Search & Translation

Service	Directory	Port	Purpose
LibreTranslate	`libretranslate/`	5001	Open-source machine translation
SearXNG	`searxng/`	8888	Privacy-respecting metasearch engine

📁 Media & Content Management

Service	Directory	Port	Purpose
Immich	`immich/`	2283	Google Photos alternative (self-hosted)
Navidrome	`navidrome/`	4533	Music streaming server (Subsonic-compatible)
Nextcloud	`nextcloud/`	5000	Complete productivity suite (files, calendar, contacts)
Jellyfin	`jellyfin/`	8096, 8920	Full-featured media server (Plex alternative)

🔗 Link Management

Service	Directory	Port	Purpose
YOURLS	`yourls/`	8001	URL shortener with analytics
LinkStack	`linkstack/`	8003	Link-sharing and bookmark manager

📚 Knowledge Management

Service	Directory	Port	Purpose
MediaWiki	`wiki/`	8002	Wikipedia-style wiki engine

🐘 Social Media

Service	Directory	Port	Purpose
Mastodon	`mastodon/`	4000, 4001	Federated social network (Twitter alternative)

Mastodon requires both .env (Podman) and .env.production (Mastodon configuration)

Important Notes:

📖 Full setup guides available in docs/ directory
🔧 Use dipen env <service> to automatically create and edit .env files
🏷️ Services use latest tag by default — pin versions for stability if needed
🌐 Services bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost) by default for security

📋 Prerequisites

Requirement	Minimum Version	Notes
Podman	5.4+	Rootless container engine
podman-compose	v1.3+	Compose orchestration for Podman
Git	Latest	Version control
OS	Linux / macOS / WSL2	Any POSIX-compatible system
Memory	4GB+	Depends on services running
Storage	50GB+	Based on services and data volume

🚀 Quick Start (3 Steps)

Step 1: Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/ricalnet/digital-independence.git
cd digital-independence

Step 2: Install Everything

./install-podman-on-debian.sh

What the installer does:

Updates and upgrades system
Installs Podman and podman-compose
Installs supporting packages (uidmap, slirp4netns, dbus-user-session, fuse-overlayfs)
Enables linger for user (allows services to run after logout)
Configures container registries (Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry, Matrix)
Enables podman.socket for API access
Creates dipen alias (service orchestration)
Creates chantik alias (backup tool)

Step 3: Start Services

# List available services
dipen list

# Configure environment (auto-creates .env from .env.example)
dipen env nextcloud

# Start your service
dipen up nextcloud

# Start all services
dipen all up

⚙️ dipen: Service Orchestration

dipen is the central command-line tool for managing all services.

Usage Examples

# Wildcard matching
dipen env n*              # Edit all services starting with 'n'
dipen up n*               # Start all services starting with 'n'

# Multiple services
dipen env nextcloud immich authentik

# Custom editor
EDITOR=vim dipen env immich

# All services
dipen all up              # Start everything
dipen all down            # Stop everything

📘 Complete dipen Help

dipen v1.1 - Podman Orchestration Tool for Digital Independence
Issues: https://github.com/ricalnet/digital-independence/issues 

USAGE:
    dipen [ACTION] [SERVICE...] [OPTIONS]

ACTIONS:
    env                 Edit .env file (create from .env.example if missing)
    up                  Start services
    down                Stop services
    restart             Restart services
    pull                Pull latest images
    logs                Show logs (last 50 lines)
    ps                  Show status
    prune               Clean unused resources
    recycle             Pull → Down → Up
    update              Pull → Up
    fresh               Down → Up

OPTIONS:
    help                Show this help
    version             Show version
    list                List services
    all                 Run on all services
    dry-run             Show what would be executed

EXAMPLES:
    dipen list
    dipen env nextcloud immich
    dipen env n*
    dipen up nextcloud
    dipen down nextcloud
    dipen restart nextcloud
    dipen pull nextcloud
    dipen logs nextcloud
    dipen ps nextcloud
    dipen prune nextcloud
    dipen update nextcloud
    dipen fresh nextcloud
    dipen recycle nextcloud
    dipen all up
    dipen dry-run up nextcloud
    dipen up n*

🌐 Exposing Services Externally

🧅 Tor Hidden Service

Provide anonymous access through the Tor network.

📖 Tor Implementation Guide

☁️ Cloudflare Tunnel

Access services without opening firewall ports.

📖 Cloudflare Tunnel Guide

💾 Chantik: Encrypted Backup & Restore

Chantik is a ChaCha20-Authenticated Backup Protection tool included in the repository.

Key Features

Feature	Description
🔐 ChaCha20-Poly1305	Military-grade encryption via OpenSSL
📦 Podman Volume Backup	Backup specific volumes or all
📁 Custom Directory Backup	Backup any directory on your system
⚡ Incremental Backup	Space-efficient with hardlink support
🔄 Auto Rotation	Keep only N latest backups (default: 7)
🔔 NTFY Notifications	Get real-time backup status updates
🔒 Lock Protection	Prevent concurrent backups

Quick Setup

# Copy example configuration
cp chantik.example.conf chantik.conf

# Edit configuration
nano chantik.conf

Usage Examples

# Basic backup
chantik backup

# Backup with specific config
chantik -c /etc/chantik/chantik.conf backup

# Restore latest backup
chantik restore

# Restore specific service
chantik restore -s nextcloud

# Restore specific backup file
chantik restore -b /backup/chantik-20260109-120000.tar.gz.enc

# List all backups
chantik list

# Verify last backup
chantik verify

# Clean old backups
chantik clean

📘 Complete chantik Help

chantik v1.0 - ChaCha20-Authenticated Backup Protection

USAGE:
    chantik [ACTION] [OPTIONS]

ACTIONS:
    backup              Perform full backup
    restore             Restore from backup
    list                List available backups
    verify              Verify backup integrity
    clean               Clean old backups (rotation)
    status              Show backup status

OPTIONS:
    -c, --config FILE   Use alternative config file
    -b, --backup FILE   Restore from specific backup file
    -s, --service NAME  Restore specific service
    -p, --password PASS Password for encryption (optional)
    -h, --help          Show this help

EXAMPLES:
    chantik backup                          # Backup all
    chantik restore                         # Restore last backup
    chantik restore -s nextcloud            # Restore specific service
    chantik restore -b /backup/file.enc     # Restore specific file
    chantik list                            # List backups
    chantik verify                          # Verify last backup
    chantik clean                           # Clean old backups
    chantik status                          # Show status

🤖 Automation (Cron Jobs)

⚠️ All cron jobs run in rootless mode. Never use sudo with podman commands in cron.

User Cron Jobs (`crontab -e`)

Schedule	Command	Purpose
`/5 * * *`	`podman exec -u www-data nextcloud_app php -f /var/www/html/cron.php`	NextCloud background tasks
`0 1 * * *`	`podman exec pihole pihole -g && podman exec pihole pihole -f`	Pi-hole gravity update
`0 6 * * 0`	`/path/to/digital-independence/automation-scripts/weekly-updates/weekly_updates.sh`	Weekly service updates
`0 8 1 * *`	`/path/to/digital-independence/automation-scripts/monthly-recycle/monthly_recycle.sh`	Monthly service recycle
`0 11 * * 0`	`/path/to/digital-independence/dipen.sh prune all`	Weekly container cleanup
`0 2 * * *`	`/path/to/digital-independence/chantik backup`	Daily encrypted backup

System Cron Jobs (`sudo crontab -e`)

Schedule	Command	Purpose
`0 2 * * 0`	`/path/to/digital-independence/automation-scripts/cleanup-system/cleanup_system.sh`	Weekly system cleanup
`0 4 * * 0`	`/path/to/digital-independence/automation-scripts/system-update/system_update.sh`	Weekly system updates

Complete Cron Example

# Edit user crontab
crontab -e

# Add these lines
# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Digital Independence Automation
# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

# NextCloud cron - every 5 minutes (background jobs)
*/5 * * * * podman exec -u www-data nextcloud_app php -f /var/www/html/cron.php

# Pi-hole gravity update - daily at 1 AM (update blocklist)
0 1 * * * podman exec pihole pihole -g && podman exec pihole pihole -f

# Daily backup - 2 AM
0 2 * * * /path/to/digital-independence/chantik backup

# Weekly container updates - Sunday 6 AM
0 6 * * 0 /path/to/digital-independence/automation-scripts/weekly-updates/weekly_updates.sh

# Weekly container cleanup - Sunday 11 AM
0 11 * * 0 /path/to/digital-independence/dipen.sh prune all

# Monthly recycle - 1st at 8 AM
0 8 1 * * /path/to/digital-independence/automation-scripts/monthly-recycle/monthly_recycle.sh

# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
# System Cron (sudo crontab -e)
# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

# Weekly system cleanup - Sunday 2 AM
0 2 * * 0 /path/to/digital-independence/automation-scripts/cleanup-system/cleanup_system.sh

# Weekly system updates - Sunday 4 AM
0 4 * * 0 /path/to/digital-independence/automation-scripts/system-update/system_update.sh

📝 Replace /path/to/digital-independence/ with your actual installation path.

🔒 Security Guidelines

Initial Setup

🔑 Change all default passwords in .env files (use dipen env <service>)
🔒 Use strong, unique secrets for each service
🌐 Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost) unless external access is required
📁 Set chmod 600 .env for all environment files

Ongoing Maintenance

📦 Data stored in local directories or Podman volumes (persistent)
⬆️ Regularly run dipen pull or dipen update for security patches
🔍 Monitor logs with dipen logs [service] for anomalies
📊 Enable health checks using Uptime Kuma
💾 Regular backups with chantik backup

🤝 Contributing

Areas for Contribution:

Adding new services
Bug fixes in dipen.sh, chantik, or services configuration
Documentation improvements
Testing on different platforms

How to Contribute:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch
Make your changes
Submit a Pull Request

Open an Issue or Pull Request.

📜 License

Repository

MIT License – see LICENSE file for details.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
authentik		authentik
automation-scripts		automation-scripts
dashdot		dashdot
docs		docs
element-web		element-web
forgejo		forgejo
homarr		homarr
immich		immich
jellyfin		jellyfin
libretranslate		libretranslate
linkstack		linkstack
mastodon		mastodon
navidrome		navidrome
nextcloud		nextcloud
ntfy		ntfy
open-webui		open-webui
pi-hole		pi-hole
portainer		portainer
searxng		searxng
synapse		synapse
uptime-kuma		uptime-kuma
vaultwarden		vaultwarden
wazuh		wazuh
wiki		wiki
yourls		yourls
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
chantik.example.conf		chantik.example.conf
chantik.sh		chantik.sh
dipen.sh		dipen.sh
install-podman-on-debian.sh		install-podman-on-debian.sh
uninstall-docker-engine-on-debian.sh		uninstall-docker-engine-on-debian.sh
uninstall-podman.sh		uninstall-podman.sh

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Digital Independence

📌 What is Digital Independence?

🏗️ Architecture Support

📦 Available Services (23 Services)

🔐 Security & Authentication

🤖 AI & Machine Learning

🖥️ Management & Monitoring

💬 Communication (Matrix Ecosystem)

🌐 Search & Translation

📁 Media & Content Management

🔗 Link Management

📚 Knowledge Management

🐘 Social Media

📋 Prerequisites

🚀 Quick Start (3 Steps)

Step 1: Clone Repository

Step 2: Install Everything

Step 3: Start Services

⚙️ dipen: Service Orchestration

Usage Examples

🌐 Exposing Services Externally

🧅 Tor Hidden Service

☁️ Cloudflare Tunnel

💾 Chantik: Encrypted Backup & Restore

Key Features

Quick Setup

Usage Examples

🤖 Automation (Cron Jobs)

User Cron Jobs (crontab -e)

System Cron Jobs (sudo crontab -e)

Complete Cron Example

🔒 Security Guidelines

Initial Setup

Ongoing Maintenance

🤝 Contributing

📜 License

Repository

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User Cron Jobs (`crontab -e`)

System Cron Jobs (`sudo crontab -e`)