Home Network Administration

VerifiedCaution

Administer Tim's home network via SSH, manage Synology NAS, Tailscale mesh networking, and Caddy reverse proxy for home servers.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevOpsIntermediate
406/2/2026
Claude Code
#home-network#sysadmin#ssh#synology#tailscale

Recommended for

Our review

Manage and troubleshoot Tim's home network with SSH access to devices, Synology NAS administration, Tailscale management, and Caddy reverse proxy configuration.

Strengths

  • Simplified SSH access via aliases with 1Password-managed keys.
  • Full Synology NAS administration (packages, Docker, disk health).
  • Seamless integration with Tailscale for device connectivity.
  • Management of Caddy reverse proxy for hosted subdomains.

Limitations

  • Depends on Tailscale and 1Password infrastructure for authentication.
  • NAS-specific commands (synopkg) work only on Synology devices.
  • Requires prior knowledge of the local network topology.
When to use it

Ideal for administering the home network, running remote commands, or transferring files between machines.

When not to use it

Avoid for tasks unrelated to the home network or when Tailscale or 1Password access is unavailable.

Security analysis

Caution
Quality score88/100

The skill enables powerful administrative tasks over SSH, including starting/stopping services, managing Docker containers, and modifying Caddy configuration. While intended for legitimate home network management, the breadth of commands allowed could lead to accidental or unintended disruptions. The skill itself does not instruct malicious actions, but the tools involved warrant caution.

Findings
  • Skill involves SSH access and remote command execution on multiple devices, which could disrupt services if misused.
  • Commands for Docker, Synology package management, and Caddy reverse proxy directly affect running services.
  • File transfer commands could overwrite important data.
  • No explicit restrictions on destructive operations other than a confirmation requirement for some actions.

Examples

SSH into Synology and check disk usage
SSH into the Synology NAS and run df -h to check disk usage.
Check Tailscale status on dobro
Check the Tailscale status on dobro to see connected devices and verify the tailnet.
Restart Caddy reverse proxy
SSH into dobro and restart the Caddy reverse proxy service to apply changes from the Caddyfile.

name: home-network-admin description: Manage and troubleshoot Tim's home network, SSH into devices, administer the Synology NAS, and work with Tailscale. Use when the user wants to (1) SSH into or run commands on remote machines (synology, dobro), (2) manage the Synology NAS (files, packages, Docker, backups, Surveillance Station), (3) troubleshoot network connectivity or DNS, (4) check Tailscale status or manage the tailnet, (5) transfer files between machines, (6) check device health or disk usage, (7) manage the Caddy reverse proxy on dobro (*.hopperhosted.com), (8) any home server or home network administration task.

Home Network Admin

Administer Tim's home network: devices connected over Tailscale, with a Synology NAS and Macs accessible via SSH.

Read references/network-inventory.md for the full device list, IPs, SSH config, and network topology before performing any task.

SSH Access

SSH configs are defined in ~/.ssh/config. Use the short aliases:

  • ssh synology - Synology NAS (custom port, user tdhopper)
  • ssh dobro - Mac (default port, user thopper)

SSH keys are managed via 1Password agent. If SSH fails with auth errors, verify 1Password is unlocked and the SSH agent is running.

Synology NAS Administration

The Synology runs DSM. Common admin tasks via SSH:

  • Packages: synopkg list (installed), synopkg status <pkg>, synopkg start/stop <pkg>
  • Docker/Container Manager: sudo docker ps, sudo docker logs <container>, sudo docker compose (compose files often in /volume1/docker/)
  • Disk/volume health: df -h, cat /proc/mdstat, synodisk --enum
  • Shared folders: typically under /volume1/
  • DSM web UI: https://synology:5001 or https://100.86.145.18:5001
  • Logs: /var/log/ and DSM log center

For destructive operations (deleting files, stopping services, modifying configs), confirm with the user first.

Tailscale

Tailscale connects all devices over a WireGuard mesh. Run tailscale status to discover the tailnet name and device list.

  • On macOS, the tailscale CLI may not be on PATH. Use: /Applications/Tailscale.app/Contents/MacOS/Tailscale
  • Check status: tailscale status (or the full path above)
  • Verify connectivity: tailscale ping <hostname>
  • All devices are reachable via MagicDNS (e.g., synology.<tailnet>.ts.net)

Caddy Reverse Proxy (on dobro)

Caddy runs on dobro, providing HTTPS reverse proxy for *.hopperhosted.com. The Caddyfile is at ~/Caddyfile (tracked in yadm). TLS uses Cloudflare DNS-01 challenge.

See references/network-inventory.md for the full list of proxied subdomains and backends.

  • Manage Caddy on dobro: ssh dobro then brew services restart caddy, caddy reload --config ~/Caddyfile
  • Logs: journalctl -u caddy or brew services info caddy depending on how it's managed
  • Edit Caddyfile locally: it's tracked in yadm dotfiles at ~/Caddyfile

File Transfer

  • Between local and remote hosts: scp or rsync using the SSH aliases
  • Example: rsync -avz ~/files/ synology:/volume1/backup/files/
  • For large transfers, prefer rsync with --progress

Troubleshooting

  1. Can't SSH: Check 1Password is unlocked, verify Tailscale is connected (tailscale status), ping the Tailscale IP
  2. DNS issues: Check if MagicDNS resolves (dig @100.100.100.100 synology.<tailnet>.ts.net), fall back to Tailscale IPs directly
  3. NAS unresponsive: Try ping, check DSM web UI, SSH may still work even if DSM is sluggish
  4. Slow network: Check if traffic is going through Tailscale relay (tailscale status shows DERP relay vs direct connection)
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