Show HN: Aeterna – Self-hosted dead man's switch(github.com)
github.com
Show HN: Aeterna – Self-hosted dead man's switch
https://github.com/alpyxn/aeterna
3 comments
The trust argument for self-hosting is real: I wouldn't hand my master seed phrase to a random SaaS either.
But there's a deep irony in self-hosted dead man's switches: they need to work when you can no longer maintain them. Docker images rot. SSL certs expire. The VPS stops getting paid. Your DNS registrar reclaims the domain. In the 15-year scenario (which is the actual scenario this thing is built for) self-hosted infrastructure has a shelf life that works against its own purpose.
Who watches the watchman? You need infrastructure that outlives you, which almost by definition means trusting something external. The question isn't whether to trust. More how to structure that trust so you're not just handing a third party your keys.
But there's a deep irony in self-hosted dead man's switches: they need to work when you can no longer maintain them. Docker images rot. SSL certs expire. The VPS stops getting paid. Your DNS registrar reclaims the domain. In the 15-year scenario (which is the actual scenario this thing is built for) self-hosted infrastructure has a shelf life that works against its own purpose.
Who watches the watchman? You need infrastructure that outlives you, which almost by definition means trusting something external. The question isn't whether to trust. More how to structure that trust so you're not just handing a third party your keys.
Likely perfectly fine for most normies, but for someone with ADD/ADHD?
Yeah, that’s gonna get triggered in due course completely unintentionally. It’s gotta have at least 10 levels of pestering, timeouts, and escalating warnings in order to be non-catastrophic to someone with ADD/ADHD. And likely via various channels as well, including full SMS request/response like what dentists and family doctors are slowly implementing.
Bookmarking because I’m interested, but I can see this going badly with me, eventually.
Yeah, that’s gonna get triggered in due course completely unintentionally. It’s gotta have at least 10 levels of pestering, timeouts, and escalating warnings in order to be non-catastrophic to someone with ADD/ADHD. And likely via various channels as well, including full SMS request/response like what dentists and family doctors are slowly implementing.
Bookmarking because I’m interested, but I can see this going badly with me, eventually.
Other dead man's switch projects --
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
I didn't want to hand my master password / recovery keys to a third-party service Most existing tools are either paid, closed-source, or feel over-engineered I wanted something I could just docker-compose up and forget about (mostly)
Core flow:
Single docker-compose (Go backend + SQLite, React/Vite + Tailwind frontend) You set check-in interval (30/60/90 days etc.) It emails you a simple "Still alive?" link (uses your own SMTP server – no external deps) Miss the grace period → switch triggers Decrypts vault contents and emails them to your nominated contacts, or hits webhooks you define
Security highlights:
Everything at rest uses AES-256-GCM Master password → PBKDF2 hash (never stored plaintext) Sensitive config (SMTP creds etc.) encrypted in DB No cloud APIs required – bring your own email
It's deliberately minimal and boringly secure rather than feature-heavy. Zero vendor lock-in. Repo: https://github.com/alpyxn/aeterna Would really value brutal feedback:
Security model / crypto usage – anything smell wrong? Architecture – single SQLite ok long-term? UI/UX – is it intuitive enough? Missing must-have features for this kind of tool? Code – roast away if you want
Thanks for looking – happy to answer questions or iterate based on comments.