I Do Run AI Agents Overnight. Here's What Actually Matters.
Boundaries, supervision, evidence, and why unattended execution is not the same thing as unbounded autonomy.
Petie Clark — Applied AI Systems
Applied AI systems that survive contact with the business.
Field notes on agent orchestration, evaluation, authority boundaries, enterprise integration, deployment, and production operations.
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/start-here
How I think about governed systems
Why I Prefer One Clear Source of Truth
Why tools can multiply while authority, state, and accountability still need one dependable home.
Why I Write Down the Rollback Before the Change
A deployment is not ready merely because the forward path looks convincing.
The Case for a Smaller Blast Radius
Production systems become trustworthy through bounded change, not theatrical confidence.
When Convenience Creates a Second System
A container management screen can make one small change feel harmless. Select a running service, adjust an environment value, click redeploy, and the new behavior appears. The repository remains untouched. No syntax to remember, no file to open, no review needed.
4 min read
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The Vibe Code Backlash Is Real, And I'm Somewhere in the Middle
r/selfhosted just banned AI-vibe-coded projects except on Fridays. After running 100+ containers in production and building two SaaS products with AI assistance, here's where I actually land.
4 min read
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Running 63 Docker Containers on a 16GB AWS Instance: A Post-Mortem
I run 63 Docker containers on a 16GB AWS instance serving 100+ users across 48 services. Here's how I keep it running for $87/month when SaaS would cost $1,200.
4 min read
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Why HR System Integrations Are Still a Dumpster Fire in 2026
After a decade building integrations with ADP, Workday, Okta, and Entra ID, I've learned that SCIM is a guideline, not a spec. Here's what actually works.
3 min read
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My Homelab Grew Up: From Hobby to Production Infrastructure
Three years ago my homelab was a Raspberry Pi running Pi-hole and a Plex server. Today it's a multi-node cluster handling production workloads for paying clients.
2 min read
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Baseline Setup, Part 6 – Automating the Rebuild with Git and Ansible
The final piece of the rebuild: how I use Ansible and Git to automate service deployment, node setup, and config management across my homelab—so I can rebuild fast when it matters.
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Baseline Setup, Part 4 – Centralized Authentication with Authentik
How I set up centralized authentication using Authentik for my homelab. With SSO, role-based access, and Traefik middleware, I finally have a login system that just works.
2 min read
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Baseline Setup, Part 3 – Dynamic Routing with Traefik
How I deployed Traefik in my MicroK8s cluster using static and dynamic configs. With per-service TOML files, Let's Encrypt, and zero drama, Traefik remains a cornerstone in my homelab setup.
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Baseline Setup, Part 2 – Laying the Foundation with MicroK8s
Laying the foundation for my homelab rebuild with MicroK8s. This post covers why I chose it, how I configured it, and how my Ansible admin node (Overseer) keeps everything repeatable.
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Baseline Setup, Part 1 – Rebuilding My Homelab from the Ground Up
Rebuilding my homelab from the ground up after things got messy. This post kicks off a new series documenting the tools, configs, and decisions behind the new baseline.
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