Codeswitch
A wall tablet showing the family calendar, driven by the home server
How it works

A home server does the work. Any device connects.

An always-on Mac at home runs your automations, media library and voice archive. Phones, tablets, TVs and e-ink screens are just windows into it. Everything technical is on this page.

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Bring any model

Use the best model for each job: cloud models where they are strongest, open models on your own Mac where privacy matters. Swap one for another and your workflows keep running.

Cloud
ClaudeGeminiChatGPTDeepSeek
Local, on your Mac
QwenLM Studio
In your editor
VS CodeCline

Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Qwen, LM Studio, VS Code and Cline are trademarks of their owners, shown only to indicate compatibility. No affiliation or endorsement implied.

Examples

Three flows, end to end

Voice to journal

iPhone or room micApple account syncMac transcribes on-deviceSearchable journal

Calendar to screens

Google or Apple calendarHome serverWall tabletE-ink display

Files to family library

Your own videosOrganized, with subtitlesEvery TV and phone
How it fits together

One Mac at home runs the show.

Your devices reach it over home Wi-Fi, your Apple account, or a private tunnel when you are away. It drives the screens in your house. Family recordings stay on that Mac, and only what you approve is ever published.

How the Codeswitch home system fits togetherPhones and microphones send audio over home Wi-Fi, Apple account sync or Tailscale to an always-on home Mac that runs a media library and Voicebook. The Mac drives a wall tablet, an e-ink display and the TV. Public sites sit separately on the internet and hold no family data. Room microphone family corner, at home iPhone voice memos, Notes, Photos Away from home phone or laptop on any network Home Wi-Fi the house network Apple account iCloud sync: Notes, Reminders, Photos Tailscale private tunnel when you are away Automations control panel for every screen Media your library, many profiles Voicebook local transcripts and archive Runs 24/7 · stores the data · does the AI work locally Private boundary Recordings and transcripts stay on this Mac. Only moments you approve are published. Wall tablet family calendar and tasks E-ink kiosk a new card every 10 min TV media on the big screen davidpritts.com personal front door codeswitch.studio the studio site memories.davidpritts.com approved moments, static pages login required, family only All three are static pages. Only approved moments ever leave the home Mac. data flow connection private / gated 1 · DEVICES 2 · HOW IT GETS TO THE MAC 3 · HOME SERVER (ALWAYS-ON MAC) 4 · SCREENS IN THE HOUSE 5 · ON THE PUBLIC INTERNET
Under the hood

What runs on the home server

Message bus

A shared inbox of tasks. Apps and AI helpers hand each other work as plain files, so nothing gets lost and every step can be reviewed.

Python workers

Small scripts that each do one job: refresh a calendar, render a flashcard, tidy a folder. Standard library only, so they keep running for months.

Container manager

Heavier apps, like your media stack, run in containers managed from one place: start, update, roll back.

Screen registry

One file lists every screen in the house and what it plays. Add a device, pick its playlist.

Watchdogs

Watchers restart a stuck service and flag a failing drive before it fails.

Private by default

The admin side stays on your private network. Screens on the house Wi-Fi get a read-only, filtered mirror.

Python standard library · launchd or systemd services · Docker Compose · Tailscale · plain-file message bus

Connect your devices to your home server

  1. Pick the boxAny always-on Mac or mini PC with a wired connection.
  2. Install our softwareWe set up the services so they start on boot and restart on failure.
  3. Join your private networkTailscale links your devices to the box from anywhere.
  4. Add your screensOpen the screen editor, add a tablet, kiosk or e-ink display, and choose what it shows.
Design choices

Why Apple hardware, and how you connect

Why Apple hardware

Apple silicon runs speech recognition on the Mac itself, the same on-device technology behind dictation. Voice becomes text fast, privately, with no upload and no per-minute fee.

Connect from anything

Install Tailscale on an iPhone, Android phone, Windows PC or Mac and sign in with the Google, Apple or Microsoft account you already use. That one login is your key to the library, the journal and every screen. Nothing is opened to the public internet.

Media library stack

How the family library works

Your own files go in. Organized libraries, subtitles and a player on every screen come out. This is the stack behind Your Media, Organized.

Architecture: your own files, library manager, subtitle service and Plex or Jellyfin in containers on a home server, out to every screen, with Tailscale for remote play
PlexJellyfinDockerTailscaleLibrary managerSubtitles

Plex, Jellyfin, Docker and Tailscale are trademarks of their owners and are shown only to say what the stack is built from. No affiliation implied.

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