Homelab network setup

Skill mturac/everything-openai-codex/skills/homelab-network-setup

EOC: open-source operating system for OpenAI Codex workflows with agents, skills, hooks, rules, memory, safety gates, and cross-harness adapters.

Install

npx -y skills add mturac/everything-openai-codex --skill homelab-network-setup

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

Practical home and homelab network planning for gateways, switches, access points, IP ranges, DHCP reservations, DNS, cabling, and common beginner mistakes.

SKILL.md

4.2 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

Homelab Network Setup

Use this skill to design a home or small-lab network that can grow without needing a full rebuild.

When to Use

Planning a new home network or redesigning an ISP-router-only setup.
Choosing gateway, switch, and access point roles.
Designing IP ranges, DHCP scopes, static reservations, and DNS.
Preparing for future VLANs, Pi-hole, NAS, lab servers, or VPN access.
Troubleshooting a new network that has double NAT, unstable Wi-Fi, or changing server addresses.

How It Works

Start by separating device roles:

Internet
  |
Modem or ONT
  |
Gateway or router      NAT, firewall, DHCP, DNS, inter-VLAN routing
  |
Managed switch         wired clients, AP uplinks, optional VLAN trunks
  |
Access points          Wi-Fi only; ideally wired backhaul
Servers and NAS        stable addresses, DNS names, monitoring
Clients and IoT        DHCP pools, isolated later if VLANs are available

Pick a gateway that matches the operator, not just the feature checklist:

Option	Best fit	Notes
ISP router	Basic internet only	Limited control and often poor VLAN support
UniFi gateway	Managed home network	Good UI, ecosystem lock-in
OPNsense or pfSense	Flexible homelab	Strong VLAN, firewall, VPN, and DNS control
MikroTik	Advanced network users	Powerful, but easy to misconfigure
Linux router	Tinkerers	Document rollback before using as primary gateway

IP Plan

Avoid the most common default, 192.168.1.0/24, when you expect to use VPNs. It often conflicts with hotels, offices, and ISP routers.

Example small homelab plan:

192.168.10.0/24  trusted clients
192.168.20.0/24  IoT and media devices
192.168.30.0/24  servers and NAS
192.168.40.0/24  guest Wi-Fi
192.168.99.0/24  network management

Gateway convention: .1
Infrastructure reservations: .2 through .49
Dynamic DHCP pool: .50 through .240
Spare room: .241 through .254

Use home.arpa for local names. It is reserved for home networks and avoids the leakage/conflict problems of ad hoc names like home.lan.

nas.home.arpa
pihole.home.arpa
gateway.home.arpa
switch-01.home.arpa

DHCP And DNS

Use DHCP reservations for anything you SSH into, bookmark, monitor, or expose as a service.
Hand out the gateway as DNS until a local resolver is intentionally deployed.
If using Pi-hole or another DNS filter, give it a reservation first, then point DHCP DNS options at that address.
Keep a small static/reserved range per subnet so replacements do not collide with dynamic leases.

Cabling And Wi-Fi

Prefer wired AP backhaul over mesh when you can run Ethernet.
Use a PoE switch for APs and cameras if the budget allows it.
Label both ends of each cable and keep a simple port map.
Put the gateway, switch, DNS server, and NAS on UPS power if outages are common.

Examples

Beginner Upgrade

Goal: Keep the ISP router but stabilize a small lab.

Set DHCP reservations for NAS, Pi, and any SSH hosts.
Move local names to home.arpa.
Disable duplicate DHCP servers on secondary routers or APs.
Wire the main AP instead of relying on wireless backhaul.

VLAN-Ready Plan

Goal: Prepare for future segmentation without enabling it immediately.

Choose non-overlapping /24 ranges for trusted, IoT, servers, guest, and management.
Reserve .1 for the gateway and .2-.49 for infrastructure on every subnet.
Buy a gateway and switch that support VLANs and inter-VLAN firewall rules.
Document which SSIDs and switch ports will eventually map to each network.

Anti-Patterns

Double NAT without a reason or documentation.
Using 192.168.1.0/24 when VPN access is planned.
Dynamic addresses for NAS, Pi-hole, Home Assistant, or other service hosts.
Consumer routers repurposed as APs while their DHCP servers are still enabled.
Flat networks with cameras, smart plugs, laptops, and servers all sharing the same trust boundary.

Gives 0 of the 12 instructions most project setup skills give

Counted across 999 of the 1,637 authors here whose files we hold, read 2026-08-06

ask one question at a timein 29 of 999, across 28 files
detect the package manager from lockfilesin 28 of 999, across 9 files
present findings to the userin 25 of 999, across 4 files
explore current repo statein 24 of 999, across 3 files
update the agent skills block in place if it existsin 24 of 999, across 3 files
install husky lint-staged and prettierin 23 of 999, across 4 files
create the lintstagedrc filein 22 of 999, across 3 files
commit all changed filesin 22 of 999, across 3 files
run lint-staged to verify it worksin 22 of 999, across 3 files
initialize huskyin 21 of 999, across 2 files
create the husky pre-commit filein 21 of 999, across 2 files
create a prettierrc file if missingin 21 of 999, across 2 files

Grouped from the skills themselves: near-identical wordings counted once, and counted by distinct author, so one author publishing three of these counts once.