Blog on Lukas Panni's Blog

Changes in my Agentic Coding Setup - January 2026

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is a quick follow-up to my previous post about agentic coding from November 2025. Not much has changed in the overall approach, but there are two notable shifts in my tooling worth mentioning.

OpenCode for Local Development

While I still use VS Code with GitHub Copilot for my day job, I’ve been increasingly reaching for OpenCode for local agentic development on personal projects. The terminal-based workflow feels snappier, and I find myself more productive with it for focused coding sessions. My AGENTS.md files and general workflow patterns remain mostly the same.

Homeassistant & KNX – Part 3: Device Types and Scalable Configuration

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome back to the Home Assistant & KNX series.

In the last part we connected Home Assistant to the KNX bus and added our first simple device: a basic on/off light. That’s already enough to prove that everything works, but in a real installation you’ll quickly run into more complex device types. In this part I want to cover:

How to configure common KNX device types in Home Assistant
How to keep your configuration scalable and maintainable once the number of group addresses explodes
How I use CSV exports + ChatGPT to avoid writing hundreds of lines of YAML by hand

As before: this is not meant to replace the official documentation. Quite the opposite: I’ll link to it frequently and only show selected examples.

Homeassistant & KNX - Part 2: Wiring and First Steps

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome back to the Home Assistant & KNX series! Last time I explained the reasoning behind combining KNX with Home Assistant, and promised to walk through the actual setup. So let’s get into it.

The Hardware Setup

Before Home Assistant can talk to your KNX installation, you need a bridge between the two worlds: a KNX IP interface. Normally, KNX devices communicate over a dedicated twisted-pair bus in a closed network. While KNX also supports other media (like IP or wireless with KNX RF), twisted-pair (TP) is the workhorse for most installations. KNX over IP is primarily used to connect multiple KNX lines or to interface with external systems: in our case Home Assistant.

My Agentic Coding Setup - November 2025

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

As a developer who still builds software for fun after a full workday, I’ve come to realize something slightly embarrassing: writing code isn’t actually the fun part. The joy comes from building things — that moment when an idea clicks into place, when an automated workflow hums along perfectly, or when a stubborn bug finally admits defeat. The typing? That’s just the ritual.

I’m always experimenting with new technologies and tools. And with the AI hype train rolling, I’ve been trying many ways to integrate AI into my daily workflows.

Homeassistant & KNX - Part 1

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I know I’ve been quiet here for some time. A promising side project that eventually fizzled, the chaos of home renovations, heavier work responsibilities, two first-time conference talks, and finally a proper vacation — all of it piled up and pushed writing far down the list. I just didn’t have the energy to sit down and write.

Now that we’ve moved and life has settled into something resembling normal, I’m actually excited to revive this blog. And the first story I want to tell is about my adventures setting up Home Assistant with a brand-new KNX installation. It’s been a ride: sometimes smooth, often frustrating, but always interesting.

Simple PostgreSQL to Backblaze B2 Backup Kubernetes CronJob

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 16:45:13 +0100

A database without a backup is not any better than having no database at all. You never know when your server might fail or you accidentally push schema changes that delete all existing data (ask me how I know 😅). This article explores a simple yet robust solution for automating PostgreSQL backups using Kubernetes CronJobs to dump a complete postgres instance and uploads the dump to Backblaze B2 cloud storage storage.

Is Open Source WordPress dying?

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 15:35:22 +0100

It’s hard to watch a project as beloved as WordPress get caught in a messy legal feud, but here we are. Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com and led by Matt Mullenweg, just announced a drastic cutback in its open-source contributions to WordPress Core. This feels like a big deal—and not in a good way.

For years, Automattic has been one of the biggest contributors to WordPress, throwing over 1,400 developer hours weekly into the project. Now, that’s getting slashed by about 97%. Yup, you read that right. Going forward, Automattic will dedicate just 45 hours a week, focusing mostly on critical updates like security fixes. The reason? Legal drama with WP Engine, a WordPress host that Automattic accuses of not pulling its weight in the open-source ecosystem. I’ve written about the Mullenweg vs. WPEngine war before here and here. It’s really sad to see how this situation evolves to the detriment of the WordPress Open Source project. My last assessment was that the situation was not going to affect normal users, but this development does lead us down that path. Less contributions mean longer wait times for bug-fixes, less work on security, and less innovation in general. While the Automattic blog states their reduced contributions will likely go towards security and critical updates, I still fear that this won’t be enough to keep security up there. I’d recommend everyone currently evaluating WordPress for new projects to consider possible outcomes of this situation. A general recommendation is to always monitor Open Source projects health metrics using tools like GrimoireLab to really see how a project is doing in the long run.

Switching to Hugo

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 12:07:13 +0100

After years of running my blog on WordPress, I recently made the switch to Hugo, hosted on Cloudflare Pages. It’s been a rewarding change, and here’s why:

Overkill Features: WordPress is fantastic, but for a simple blog like this, most of its features were sitting unused. I didn’t need complex plugins or database-driven systems to manage what’s essentially a straightforward collection of posts.
Security: Moving to a system that doesn’t have any server-side code or database is also beneficial from a security standpoint. There are way fewer attack vectors to worry about, no annoying messages about blocked brute-force login attempts, and no need to keep WordPress and its plugins up to date.

More on the WP disaster

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I just came across this fantastic comment to Theo’s latest video on the WordPress drama:

I totally agree. It seems to be time to reconsider the risks associated with relying on open source projects that are heavily influenced by one individual. As we’ve seen in this case, a project can shift from being considered stable and trustworthy to something that raises serious concerns in just a few days. All just because a single person makes a series of very stupid decisions and apparently doesn’t listen to the warnings of other people.

What the case of WP Engine can Teach us about Open Source Risk Management

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t want to get into the whole debacle around Matt Mullenweg vs. WP Engine as it is covered thoroughly all over the web (see The Verge or TechCrunch for more context). For this post, you just need to know the basics:

WP Engine is a WordPress hosting service
WordPress is a open source project under the GPL
Matt Mullenweg is the original creator of WordPress, CEO of Automattic and Board Member at the WordPress Foundation

Don't be lazy when dealing with issues

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It happened twice in the last two months. Two times I tried to login to my k3s instance using a local kubectl installation and it failed due to authorization issues. Both times I had to search for my ssh keys (which I keep locked away for good reasons) to restore my ability to login to my cluster.

The underlying issue is that k3s has a sane default validity for certificates of 365 days and will renew the certs automatically at startup within 90 days prior to expiration. This means that every client certificate that is used to authenticate local kubectl access for example, also expires after 365 days. However, those certificates live in your local configuration file and can’t be automatically renewed. So if the renewal date comes and you forget to refresh your local config, you won’t be able to login. The first time this happened to me, I did not know what was going on and tried a bunch of different things before I understood what was going on.

Placing ARGs in Dockerfiles

Fri, 12 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In general, Docker’s build caching significantly speeds up image builds. This is especially true for repeated builds of the same image with small changes. It is pretty well known, that every line in a Dockerfile introduces a new Layer that can be cached and reused in a following build if the line in the Dockerfile did not change.

I was just building a image recently where every build took forever, even though I only added new Layers at the end of the Dockerfile. The Dockerfile looked something like this:

Breaking Boundaries: Elevating Home Assistant with Cloudflare Zero Trust Tunnels

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In the realm of smart homes, Home Assistant stands as a beacon of versatility and control. By default, Home Assistant operates within the confines of the local network, offering users huge flexibility in orchestrating all connected devices in their homes. However, many users also seek remote access to their devices, to allow for different automations or to quickly check the status of things at home. While various options exist, from VPNs over the official Nabu Casa cloud access to port forwarding combined with dynamic DNS, today I’ll present an easy to configure but also quite secure option: Cloudflare Zero Trust Tunnels.

Demystifying Apple’s BLE Magic: A Journey into FindMy – Part 3

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome back to our ongoing journey into the fascinating realm of Apple’s BLE-powered services! In our previous posts, we’ve explored the foundational concepts of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and delved into the intricacies of Apple’s innovative FindMy service. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at the darker side of FindMy: the potential for abuse by malicious actors. There are three distinct categories of abuse we’ll look at today.

Direct Tracking

Imagine a scenario where a small tracker discreetly attaches to a person or object - think someone placing an AirTag in your backpack. With Apple devices nearby creating location reports, an attacker could easily track the movement of the individual or item with the high precision FindMy is known for. This abuse-case poses a significant privacy risk, which is not adequately addressed by Apple’s Unwanted Tracking Detection feature.

The Significance of the Vizio Judgment for Open-Source Compliance Programs

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In a recent ruling, the superior court of california has made a crucial decision that strenghtens the rights of consumers regarding products that contain Open Source Software (OSS). In the case of Software Freedom Conservancy Inc. (SFC) v. Vizio Inc., the court allowed a smart TV buyer to further pursue a breach of contract lawsuit against a product provider using open-source software in its source code, irrespective of copyright claims.

Looking Back on 2023

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Hello, dear readers! It’s that time of the year again, when we reflect on what we have done and what we have learned in the past 12 months. 2023 was full of challenges, surprises, and achievements for me. Let me share some of the highlights with you.

My Academic Year

This year, I completed my second and last semester of my master’s degree in computer science. I learned a lot about advanced topics such as Internet of Things (IoT), Programming Paradigms or Project Management. Writing a 30 page project paper and a seminar paper of the same length prepared me for my largest achievement this year: my master’s thesis.

Demystifying Apple’s BLE Magic: A Journey into FindMy - Part 2

Sat, 04 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

FindMy: BLE-Powered Location Tracking

We already touched on the very basics of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) in the last post. In this post we’ll look deeper into Apple’s FindMy - a service which you very likely get into contact every single day without even realizing. Ever wondered how the FindMy App can show you where your other devices or even AirTags are? Get ready to learn how Apple uses hundreds of devices to help track and find lost devices.

Demystifying Apple's BLE Magic: A Journey into FindMy - Part 1

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Basics

Hey there, fellow techies! Get ready to savor the first installment of our deep dive into Apple’s Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol powering the FindMy service. We’ll also see some ways in which a mischievous actor could exploit these protocols to gain access to private information or render devices inoperable. But first we have to take a closer look at BLE in general.

What’s the Deal with Bluetooth Low Energy?

Alright, let’s start with the basics. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is the tech that allows many devices to talk to each other in a power-efficient and seamless way. BLE is actually an addition to the regular Bluetooth standard developed by the Bluetooth Special interest Group, or SIG, and was introduced as an optional part of the specification in version 4.0 from 2010. The current version from February 2023 is version 5.4, while current Apple devices, like the iPhone 15, support up to version 5.3. Compared to regular Bluetooth, which is good for audio streaming or file transfers but uses a lot of energy, BLE has a low datarate in favor of less power usage. Think of devices like the Apple Watch that need to have a long battery life and only get small data transfers like notifications. BLE is perfect for those quick, periodic data exchanges between devices. This is precisely why Apple relies on BLE for a wide range of functions, whether it’s monitoring your AirPods’ battery life through your iPhone or pinpointing the location of a misplaced backpack with the help of an AirTag.

A Fresh Start: Learnings from a Server Crash

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As promised in the last post, I’m back with more details about the server crash that took down this blog and several other web-projects of mine.

The hosting provider where I used to host my stuff had a catastrophic meltdown that resulted in my server being unavailable for a few days. I noticed that the server was not accessible on May 29th after which I tried fixing the problem in their managment portal. As most management portals are absolutely unusable, I was able to fix exactly nothing at all. Tried to use their diagnostics: unexpected error
Tried to restart my server: unexpected error
So this mess of a management solution could not even manage to execute the most basic troubleshooting step.

Back again

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Let’s try again with a new hosting provider

I’m thrilled to be back in action after a brief setback. My server experienced an unfortunate crash and my previous hosting provider lost all backups. I’m not here to name and shame, mistakes happen. But I still switched hosting providers after the atrocious handling of this situation by the not-to-be-named company.

In the spirit of transparency, I will soon share a detailed post about the server outage and provide details on how I set up the new server. I actually did learn from my mistakes and added a new backup-solution which does not rely on any third-party.