Tala Family Handbook

Service directory

All services run as containers on the home server. They're organized by what they do.

For everyone

These are the services you'll use day-to-day. They all require a tala.family account.

Service URL What it does
OpenCloud space.tala.family File storage, sharing, and document editing
Immich photos.tala.family Photo and video backup with albums and search
Vikunja planner.tala.family Task lists, project boards, and shared planning
Booklore library.tala.family Digital book library with e-reader sync
LibreChat llm.tala.family AI chat assistant powered by local models
SearXNG search.tala.family Privacy-respecting metasearch engine (no account needed)
Pocket ID id.tala.family Your account and passkeys — sign-in provider for all services
Headscale vpn.tala.family VPN coordination — manages device connections

Access levels

Services have different access levels:

  • Public — Reachable from any internet connection. Protected by your tala.family sign-in.
  • VPN only — Only reachable when connected to the family VPN via Tailscale.
  • Internal — Only reachable by other services on the server. Not directly accessible to users.
Service Access
OpenCloud, Immich, Vikunja, Booklore, LibreChat, SearXNG, Pocket ID Public
Forgejo (forge.tala.family), AI API, Headscale admin panel, Handbook VPN only
Databases, Collabora Online, WOPI server Internal

How services talk to each other

Services are grouped into isolated networks. A database is only reachable by the service that needs it — nothing else can see it. Services that need to be accessed through a browser go through a reverse proxy (Caddy), which handles HTTPS certificates and routing.

This is managed by a system called Podman with Quadlet files — think of it as a recipe that describes what each service needs (its image, storage, network, and settings). The server reads these recipes and keeps everything running.