Celebrate SEP 25 Self-Hosting Day
Share your self-hosting journey for a chance to win.
HOST BY
ZimaSpace
r/minilab
PARTNERSHIP
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Your Favorites in Self-Hosting
Weโre teaming up with your favorite projects and communities to bring everyone together for the first-ever Self-Hosting Day.
HOST BY
ZimaSpace
We are dedicated to building next-generation personal servers and OS for people worldwide, restoring control, efficiency, and simplicity to digital life.
r/minilab
A place to ask, teach and share the joys of what can be done with modest and low-power devices on a home network. Beginner friendly!
PARTNERS
AdGuard blocks ads, trackers and malicious domains for your whole network with AdGuard Home, its free and open-source DNS server. AdGuard Ad Blocker, AdGuard VPN and Private AdGuard DNS protect your devices when they leave home.
Emby organizes and streams your own videos, music, photos, and live TV from your personal server to every screen you own.
PhotoPrism is an AI-powered, privacy-first app for browsing, organizing, and sharing photos and videos. It helps tag, search, and rediscover media without getting in your way, whether self-hosted or in the cloud.
OpenClaw is an open-source AI assistant that can run on your own hardware and works in the chat apps you already use.
Karakeep is a self-hosted all-in-one bookmarking app for saving links, notes, images, and PDFs, with AI-powered tagging, summaries, and fast search tools.
Blinko is an AI-powered card note-taking project. Designed for individuals who want to quickly capture and organize their fleeting thoughts.
WHY WE'RE DOING THIS
Bringing Self-Hosting to More People
By sharing our setups and stories, we can help more people understand self-hosting and find a reason to try it.
6-Bay NAS Build: How to Fit Enterprise Storage in a 1U Rack
A healthcare worker with no formal training fitted six SSDs, TrueNAS and a ZimaBoard 2 into a 260 mm deep 1U case โ idling at 15โ20 W.
AI-Assisted Homelab: OpenClaw Managing a ZimaBlade Server
An engineering student pairs a ZimaBlade 7700 with an old Dell, then lets OpenClaw and Hermes handle the deployments, updates and troubleshooting.
Build a Private Cloud: ZimaBoard 2 + Nextcloud in RAID 1
Two 4 TB drives in RAID 1, Nextcloud from the app store, and two months of 24/7 uptime โ a private cloud that never goes above 25 ยฐC.
First Home NAS: ZimaBoard 2 in a 3D-Printed 10-Inch Rack
A first homelab: ZimaBoard 2, two 4 TB drives and a 10-inch rack printed over 45.9 hours. Two cables out the bottom, โฌ373 all in.
10-Inch Rack Homelab: How to Build a Stealth Mini Setup
Three Proxmox nodes, two ZimaBlades and a ZimaCube 2 on 10GbE โ a whole homelab 3D-printed into one Ikea Kallax cube, quieter than a DVR.
Local AI on ZimaBoard: A Private Assistant for Your Own Data
An assistant trained on his own files, running entirely on a ZimaBoard: it reads his Nextcloud and Immich, and books calendar events in chat.
NOW ITโS YOUR TURN
Join Us in the r/minilab Thread
Tell Your Story in a Comment
Show us what youโve built and how itโs changed your everyday life. Weโd love to see photos and screenshots too!
AWARDS & GIVEAWAYS
Weโve Got Some Prize Surprises
A standout story, a little luck, or getting in early could bring something special your way.
Community Story Awards
ZimaSpace and the r/minilab moderators will pick 5 winners whose stories inspire and encourage others to try self-hosting.
1st Prize ร 1
- ZimaBoard 2 1664 ร1
- AdGuard Ad Blocker Lifetime Family ร1
- PhotoPrism Plus Lifetime ร1
- Emby Premiere 1 Year ร1
2nd Prize ร 2
- ZimaBoard 2 832 ร1
- AdGuard Ad Blocker Lifetime Family ร1
- PhotoPrism Plus Lifetime ร1
- Emby Premiere 1 Year ร1
3rd Prize ร 2
- ZimaBlade 7700 ร1
- AdGuard Ad Blocker Lifetime Family ร1
- PhotoPrism Plus Lifetime ร1
- Emby Premiere 1 Year ร1
Lucky Giveaway
Fingers crossed! After entries close, weโll randomly pick 100 winners from all eligible participants who havenโt won a Community Story Award.
ร 35
- Ad Blocker Personal ร1
ร 35
- AdGuard VPN ร1
ร 25
- Private AdGuard DNS ร1
ร 5
- Emby Premiere ร1
Early Bird Treat
It pays to be early! Prizes go to the first 100 participants with eligible entries. Learn more about ZimaOS.
Discount Code
Didn't win? Try anyway. Self-Hosting Day participants get a discount with these codes. ZimaSpace discount code valid until November 15, 2026, AdGuard discount code valid until March 31, 2027.
30% off AdGuard Ad Blocker
80% off AdGuard VPN
20% off Private AdGuard DNS
$50 off ZimaCube 2
$20 off ZimaBoard 2
$15 off ZimaBlade
Winners announced on r/minilab October 30 (EDT)! If you win, email community@icewhale.org within 7 days of the announcement.
NEED TO KNOW
Event Rules & FAQs
Event Rules
01
Campaign period
Self-Hosting Day is September 25, 2026, and the submission period runs through October 25, 2026 (EDT). Only eligible comments posted in the official r/minilab event thread during this period will count as valid entries. All winners will be announced on r/minilab on October 30, 2026.
02
Eligibility & Entries
To participate, share a real self-hosting story in the official r/minilab event thread. Each person may submit one eligible entry only. Spam, plagiarism, duplicate content, AI-generated content, and purely promotional content are not eligible.
03
Winner Selection
Community Story Awards
ZimaSpace and the r/minilab moderators will select 5 winners based on authenticity, usefulness, creativity, and value to the community:
- 1st Prize: 1 winner
- 2nd Prize: 2 winners
- 3rd Prize: 2 winners
Upvotes may help us understand which stories resonate with the community, but they will not be the sole deciding factor.
Lucky Giveaway
After the Community Story Award winners have been selected, 100 winners will be randomly chosen from the remaining eligible participants.
Early Bird Treat
Eligible entries will be reviewed in the order they are submitted, and the first 100 eligible participants will receive an Early Bird Treat. The Early Bird Bonus can be combined with either a Community Story Award or a Lucky Giveaway prize.
04
Prize Pools & Multiple Wins
The five Community Story Award winners will be selected first. The Lucky Giveaway will then be conducted among the remaining eligible participants. Participants cannot win both a Community Story Award and a Lucky Giveaway prize. However, the Early Bird Treat may be combined with either of these prizes.
05
Claiming Your Prize
The winner list will be announced on October 30, 2026. Winners will need to:
- Send us an email: Email community@icewhale.org with your Reddit username, a screenshot of your logged-in Reddit profile showing your username, and a screenshot of your event entry.
- Claim your prize: Once your eligibility has been verified, we will email you with the next steps and request any information needed to deliver or activate your prize.
- Need help? If you have any questions or issues related to prize delivery, simply reply to the same email thread.
Privacy Notice: To protect your privacy, please do not share personal information or prize activation codes in public comments.
06
Claim Deadlines
Please email us within 7 days of the winners announcement to claim your prize. If you miss the deadline, your prize will be forfeited and reassigned, with details shared in a follow-up announcement on r/minilab.
07
Shipping, Import Duties & Taxes
ZimaSpace covers standard worldwide shipping for physical prizes, but any local import duties or taxes are the winnerโs responsibility. Shipping details will be confirmed by email after verification.
08
License Terms & Redemption
All licenses/codes must be redeemed by December 31, 2026.
09
Content Usage Permission
By participating in Self-Hosting Day 2026, you grant ZimaSpace permission to display, repost, and share your submitted content across official channels related to the event and community, including but not limited to our website, social media, community platforms, and promotional materials. You retain ownership of your original content, and we will make reasonable efforts to credit the original creator and source.
FAQ
01
Do I need to be a ZimaSpace user to participate?
No. Self-Hosting Day welcomes the entire self-hosting community. You donโt need to use ZimaOS or own any ZimaSpace hardware to join.
02
What can I share?
Tell us about your self-hosting journey: what youโve built, why you started, what youโve learned, or a challenge you overcame. Your story can cover multiple apps or projects. It doesnโt have to focus on a single tool.
03
Does my story need to be long or include photos?
Not at all. Your story can be short, but we encourage you to share something meaningful and helpful to the community. Photos or screenshots are highly encouraged. They help bring your setup and experience to life, but theyโre not required.
04
Can beginners participate?
Absolutely! Your first setup, your first app, or a lesson learned from a mistake can all make a great story. You donโt need an elaborate setup or years of experience to join.
05
Who can I contact with questions?
Feel free to email community@icewhale.org. Weโre happy to help. If youโve already reached out about a prize, please reply to that same email thread so we can keep everything together.
