# Minecraft Server Homelab

> Agent-facing counterpart to the [human project page](/projects/minecraft-server-homelab/).

## Record metadata

- Record: 025
- Slug: minecraft-server-homelab
- Domain: Hardware
- Domain code: HW
- Type: Homelab
- Status: Paused
- Period: 2026
- Portfolio role: Personal infrastructure
- Publication state: Public operations story; configurations excluded
- Case-study readiness: Draftable
- Compendium edition: 0.4

## Summary

A private game server for friends whose setup and debugging are increasingly delegated to an AI coding agent.

## Overview

A Minecraft server exists to create a place for friends, yet keeping that place alive can become a separate hobby of mod conflicts, configuration drift, crashes, and remote administration.

A modded Minecraft server hosted on an Ubuntu HP Elitedesk for Josiah and friends, with agent-assisted setup, maintenance, and debugging.

Purpose: Keep a modded Minecraft space working without turning server administration into a second hobby.

## The problem behind the project

The server exists for the social experience. Delegating repetitive administration preserves that value without requiring every configuration problem to become manual research.

The homelab project asks whether an AI agent can absorb more of that maintenance burden without becoming an uncontrolled administrator. The desired outcome is not an autonomous showcase; it is a server that works while the human remains responsible for access and risk.

Josiah and participating friends benefit. Players are affected by automation and logging, so consent, backups, and clear boundaries matter.

## How it took shape

Ubuntu server infrastructure, modded Minecraft, controlled remote access, backups and operational notes, with an AI agent used to diagnose and implement fixes.

The server runs on an Ubuntu HP Elitedesk with a modded game environment, controlled remote access, backups, and operating notes. Agents have been used to investigate setup and debugging problems, with sensitive network and player information kept out of the public record.

Josiah owns the server purpose, access decisions, acceptable-risk boundary, and final review while agents perform much of the technical administration.

The server has run for the friend group and accumulated real setup and debugging history; it is currently paused or offline.

## What the project means now

A future nightly loop would review known bugs, prepare bounded fixes, verify the result, and retain a rollback path. That modest automation captures the project's broader lesson: personal agents become useful when they own a narrow operational loop under clear supervision.

Addresses, access methods, credentials, player information, and sensitive configuration are excluded from publication.

A useful personal agent does not need to be generally autonomous; it can own a narrow operational loop under human control.

Restore the server when useful and add a reviewed nightly automation that proposes or implements fixes for known bugs with rollback.

## Publication and interpretation notes

- Current classification: Paused
- Portfolio readiness: Draftable
- Publication boundary: Public operations story; configurations excluded

## Additional agent context

Publicly describe the operating model, not the network. Never expose connection details, credentials, configs, backups, or player data.

## Related project records

- [OpenClaw Experiments](/projects/openclaw-experiments/llm/) — Experiments with persistent personal agents that clarified when continuous autonomy is useful—and when a steadier coding environment is better.
- [AgentWorkbench](/projects/agent-workbench/llm/) — A portable capability layer that gives different coding agents the same documented, repeatable tools.

## Navigation

- [Complete project index](/projects/llm/)
- [Human version of this record](/projects/minecraft-server-homelab/)
- [About Josiah's working method](/about/llm/)
- [Agent discovery map](/llms.txt)