Warning
Experimental — not actively maintained. This post documents an older approach from late 2024. The current infrastructure has moved to Talos + FluxCD GitOps for Kubernetes workloads. The Packer + Terraform + Ansible pipeline still works for spinning up standalone Docker VMs on Proxmox, but it’s no longer the primary deploy method and the repo may be behind on dependencies. Treat this as a reference, not a production guide.
This project automates a full homelab deployment — Packer builds the VM template, Terraform provisions it on Proxmox, and Ansible handles everything inside: Docker, Portainer, Traefik, and optional services like a media stack and Homepage dashboard.
Requirements
Note
This project deploys an Ubuntu VM with Docker, Portainer, Media Stack, Traefik, and more. You’ll need:
- Proxmox VE for VM management
- A fresh LXC to run the deploy script
- A DNS server configured for your service domains
Architecture and Source Code
Source: meroxdotdev/homelab-as-code
What’s in the Repository
The repo covers everything needed to go from zero to a running VM with services:
- Deploy script — installs dependencies (
git,curl,ansible,packer,terraform), clones the repo, and runs the full pipeline ansible/— roles for Docker, Portainer, Traefik, and optional NFS mountsconfigs/docker/— pre-configured services: Homepage, Traefik, media stackpacker/— builds an optimized Ubuntu template for Proxmoxterraform/— VM provisioning with networking and storage, based on the Packer template
Quick Start
Run this on a clean LXC:
bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/meroxdotdev/homelab-as-code/refs/heads/master/deploy_homelab.sh)"What the Script Does
The script first asks whether your repository is public or private. For private repos, it generates an SSH key and prompts you to add it as a deploy key in your repo settings. For the public tutorial repo, use https://github.com/meroxdotdev/homelab-as-code.git directly.
Next, it asks whether you’ve already edited the required config files. Type yes to proceed with the Packer → Terraform → Ansible pipeline, or no to exit and review the guides below first.
Downloaded config files land in /home/homelab/.
Configuration Guides
The setup is split across four subposts — go through them in order before running the script:
- Ansible Setup — inventory, roles, optional NFS mounts
- Services Configuration — Homepage, Media Stack, Traefik
- Infrastructure Setup — Packer and Terraform
- Deployment & Verification — final steps and checks