I’ve been self-hosting LLMs for many months now, and the journey has been a wild mix of "aha!" moments and late-night troubleshooting sessions. What started as a quest for privacy and local control quickly turned into a deep dive into the mechanics of AI infrastructure. Along the way, I’ve built a robust local lab, but I also made plenty of tactical errors that slowed me down.

If I had to wipe my drives and start over tomorrow, my approach would be much more strategic. Here is exactly what I’d do differently to build a smarter, leaner AI stack.