Joshua Knipe

Product lead

Hi there! I’m Josh, an actuary/quant turned technical product lead based in London. In my free time, I love building things: apps, home automation, knowledge management systems, and the odd project with addressable LEDs. This blog is where I write up some of what I learn along the way.

Blog About me

Recent

Waking Up to a Sunrise, Five Minutes Before My Alarm

29 Aug, 2026·9 mins

home assistant home automation self-hosting

“Your bedroom lights wake you up before your alarm does?” Yep. They fade in over five minutes every morning, without me lifting a finger. The trick is my house has no way of knowing when my alarm’s set, so I had to teach it.

Why I Self-Host (Almost) Everything at Home

24 Jul, 2026·11 mins

self-hosting home automation homelab linux

“You built your own server just to turn on a light?” How a white-noise speaker turned into two machines running about twenty services, and why I’d do it again.

Customising This Website

27 Nov, 2024·12 mins

updates hugo web development

“How can I change the look and feel of my Hugo website?” A step-by-step guide on how to customise a Hugo website using Tailwind CSS, JavaScript and Hugo’s templating system.

Setting Up and Deploying This Blog

25 Nov, 2024·5 mins

updates hugo web development

“How can I create my own website like this one (without paying!)” A detailed guide on how I set up this blog and deployed it for free on Cloudflare Pages.

Why I Built This Blog with Hugo

24 Nov, 2024·7 mins

updates hugo web development

“Why build your own blog when platforms like Medium exist? Seems like a lot of unnecessary effort.” Quite possibly! My motivations for building my own website, and why I chose Hugo to do it.

Obsidian Guide: Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly notes

15 Sep, 2024·20 mins

productivity obsidian

“I’d like to use your Obsidian templates, but they look so complicated?” Not anymore! A comprehensive guide on how to set up periodic notes to keep track of your habits, goals, reflections and more.

Obsidian as a Second Brain

4 Aug, 2024·6 mins

productivity obsidian

“Enough with the purple app already!” This is the usual response from my friends after I go on yet another monologue about the benefits and versatility of my favourite app, Obsidian.

Why I'm Starting a Blog

26 Jun, 2024·5 mins

updates personal

“Who the hell cares what you think, Josh!?” Besides my friends and family (and even that’s a stretch), probably not many. Fortunately, that doesn’t bother me anymore!