Best Open Source, Self-Hosted Docker Tools for Automated Flows (LLM, DB, Docs, Email) – Your Experiences & Recommendations?

Hi all / Dear community,

I’m looking to build robust, fully automated workflows using only self-hosted, open-source applications running in Docker containers. The goal: maximum privacy, flexibility, and zero vendor lock-in.

So far, I’m exploring these tools as the backbone:

n8n – for workflow automation

NocoDB – as a self-hosted alternative to Airtable or Google Sheets

Supabase – as a scalable, open-source backend (replacing Firebase/Firestore)

IMAP email – for automated email parsing and integration

Self-hosted LLMs (text, image, and short video generation) – curious about current best options

Questions for the community:

Which open-source, self-hosted tools do you use for these purposes?

What are your favorites or go-to solutions for each part of your stack?

Are there alternatives I’m missing (especially for docs/collaboration, IMAP integration, or media generation)?

How do you connect everything?

Any “glue” tools, message brokers, or tricks you recommend for orchestrating different containers reliably?

LLM hardware & local inference:

We’re considering the new NVIDIA Project DIGITS hardware for running LLMs locally (text/image/video).

Does anyone have hands-on experience or opinions about this hardware, or do you recommend something else (e.g., specific GPUs, small-form-factor servers, etc.)?

Add to the list!

Please feel free to expand on the above stack with your recommendations, hard lessons learned, or cool niche projects.

Background:

We want to run everything ourselves (no SaaS/cloud dependencies) – think privacy-first, auditability, and full control over data. Use cases are knowledge management, content generation, automations, and light internal tooling.

Looking forward to hearing your real-world experiences, stack tips, and hardware recommendations!

@Yash Chauhan

@Nate Herk

Thanks in advance,

Tim

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