BENJAMIN.S.POWELL.
// PORTFOLIO_V2.0 // ESTABLISHED 1978 — ONLINE

Benjamin S Powell is a homelab creator, self-hosting educator, and technical product manager based in Thailand. He makes practical videos and guides about home servers, self-hosted apps, open-source software, local AI, LLMs, Docker, Unraid, automation, and replacing subscription services with tools you can run yourself.

Through YouTube, TikTok, Our Local Host, and his self-hosted projects, Benjamin helps people build private, capable home labs without depending on big-tech subscriptions. His work covers local AI models, self-hosted ChatGPT alternatives, NAS and home-server setups, home automation, document management, media servers, networking, and AI-powered workflows.

View Projects → About →
RoleFull Stack Technical Product Manager
FocusAI · Product · Homelab
Index12 Active · 10 Inactive
Status● Taking select collaborations
// 02

Selected Work

[12]

Apps, Chrome extensions and self-hosted systems I actively build and support.

01 active
Directory / Web app

Our Local Host

A searchable directory of self-hosted apps and open-source alternatives, find what's supported on your home OS and get away from big tech while staying high-tech.

Open → Live ↗
02 active
Web App

Datatruck

AI-routed form submissions with auto CC, summaries and tagging. Forward forms to one endpoint and let AI deliver them to the right inboxes.

Open → Live ↗
03 active
Chrome Extension

SendHub

Build unlimited custom forms in the browser and POST JSON to any webhook or endpoint, instantly. Built for power-users of Make, Zapier and no-code tools.

Open → Chrome ↗
04 active
Web App

VdoPage

Create branded video landing pages with YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia or direct MP4/M3U8. No code, custom URL, share in minutes.

Open → Live ↗
05 active
Chrome Extension

LabDash

A lightweight, no-nonsense homepage for homelab owners, a clean launcher for your services, organized into pages and groups. No graphs, no noise.

Open → Chrome ↗
06 active
Self-hosted AI platform

Chatbarry

My self-hosted replacement for ChatGPT / Claude desktop, multimodal agent chats, projects, agents and scheduled tasks, on usage-based cost instead of a subscription.

Open →
07 active
Chrome Extension

Stagehand

Draw arrows, highlights and spotlights on any page while you screen-record, simple on-screen annotation for instructional videos, demos and walkthroughs.

Open → Chrome ↗
08 active
Chrome Extension

QuickMap

Local, private flowcharts in your browser. Drag, drop, connect and export, no sign-ups, no cloud, no fuss.

Open → Live ↗
09 experiment
Self-optimizing affiliate site

ServerStack

A live experiment in AI self-optimization, an affiliate site wired to its own Google Analytics and Search Console data that hypothesizes improvements per page and edits its own code to lift click-through.

Open → Live ↗
10 active
Android app

ButtonBarry

An Android app that turns your phone into a one-tap webhook remote, design buttons on the web, scan a QR code to load them, and fire Home Assistant automations or any HTTP endpoint without digging through apps.

Open → Live ↗
11 upcoming
Android app

Paygrade

An allowance and chore tracker that pays my kids for their school grades and the work they do around the house, base pay by class grade, bonuses for chores, and structured loans they pay back.

Open →
12 upcoming
Chrome Extension

ThaiChrome

A Chrome extension for learning Thai in the wild, highlight any Thai word on a page to get the English meaning, the Thai script, and a phonetic breakdown of how it's actually pronounced.

Open →
// 03

Case Studies

[10]
2026.08.13

Coding with AI: From Copy-Paste to Custom Harness

Read → How I went from pasting ChatGPT's answers into VS Code to running a custom Pi harness on Zhipu's GLM, and why the slow, painful copy-paste years are exactly the reason I can now ship multi-tenant applications with AI.
2025.08.22

How I used ChatGPT to code and deploy BongoCat.

Read → After BetterCast, I wanted to experiment with AI as my 'virtual CTO'. BongoCat was my first major project, an attempt to build a self-writing, self-optimising website, and along the way I learned how to direct ChatGPT to code, deploy, and stitch systems together.
2024.05.08

Implementing a Comprehensive Video Management System for Squash Courts

Read → A practical, cost-effective video system for six squash courts: always-on streaming, coach controls, internal hosting on Unraid, and clear paths to scale and secure.
2024.05.03

Upviral - Transforming the Campaign Creation Workflow at Upviral

Read → Upviral's campaign creation workflow by simplifying the user journey, implementing agile methodologies, and enhancing customer satisfaction, leading to significant business results.

All writing →