Start-Technologies: Monorepo for StartOS and Self-Hosting Solutions

Summary

Start-Technologies is the comprehensive monorepo by Start9Labs, featuring StartOS as its flagship product. This open-source Linux distribution enables users to run personal servers, facilitating the self-hosting of various services for enhanced data ownership and privacy. It integrates a robust Rust backend, an Angular frontend, and a unique diff-based database for reactive state synchronization.

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Introduction

Start-Technologies is the central monorepo for all Start9 products, with StartOS serving as its flagship. StartOS is an open-source Linux distribution designed for running a personal server, simplifying the discovery, installation, network configuration, data backup, dependency management, and health monitoring of self-hosted services. This project is dedicated to empowering users with full ownership of their data and infrastructure, moving away from reliance on third-party cloud providers.

The monorepo encompasses a wide array of components, including StartOS, StartWRT, StartTunnel, start-sdk, start-docs, start-cli, start-registry, patch-db, and various shared libraries. The technical foundation is built on a Rust backend using Tokio and Axum, an Angular frontend with Taiga UI, a Node.js container runtime leveraging LXC, and a custom diff-based database called Patch-DB for reactive state synchronization. Services are deployed in isolated LXC containers, packaged in the secure, cryptographically verifiable S9PK format.

Installation

There are several ways to get started with StartOS:

Buy a Start9 server: The simplest method, just purchase a server from Start9 and plug it in. Visit the Start9 Store to explore options.
Build your own: Follow the detailed install guide to install StartOS on your own hardware.
Build from source: For developers and those who prefer to build from scratch, clone the repository and follow the contribution guidelines:

git clone https://github.com/Start9Labs/start-technologies.git
cd start-technologies

Refer to the CONTRIBUTING.md file in the repository for shared toolchain and development workflow instructions, and projects/start-os/CONTRIBUTING.md for building a StartOS image.

Examples

StartOS allows you to self-host a wide range of services available on the Start9 Marketplace. These services are contributed by the community, ensuring a diverse and growing ecosystem. Some popular categories include:

Bitcoin & Lightning: Host a full Bitcoin node, Lightning node, BTCPay Server, and other payment infrastructure.
Communication: Deploy Matrix, SimpleX, and other secure messaging platforms.
Cloud Storage: Utilize Nextcloud, Vaultwarden, and various productivity tools.

If a desired service is not yet available, you are encouraged to package it yourself and contribute to the marketplace.

Why Use Start-Technologies?

Choosing Start-Technologies, particularly StartOS, means embracing full ownership of your digital life. It provides a robust, open-source platform to host your services, ensuring privacy and control over your data, free from third-party intermediaries. The monorepo extends beyond StartOS, offering a comprehensive suite of tools:

StartTunnel: A self-hosted VPN and reverse-proxy server, providing a StartOS box with a public address and clearnet port forwarding without relying on external tunnel providers.
StartWRT: An OpenWrt-based router OS designed for home self-hosting, featuring per-profile subnets and WiFi, inbound/outbound VPN, DDNS, and secure remote access.
start-cli: The command-line client for managing StartOS servers and registries, also used for building and signing service packages (.s9pk).
Start SDK: A TypeScript SDK and packaging toolchain, @start9labs/start-sdk, for easily wrapping any application into an installable StartOS service.
start-registry: The registry server responsible for hosting and serving marketplaces of packaged services.