Company in a Box

Running a company is demanding. Countless tasks, subscriptions, and services can quickly become overwhelming—especially when 'free' trials balloon unexpectedly, locking you into escalating costs. So I decided to start a new quest at Wizard Workshop for the development of a collection of open source software I can use to run our operations. I'm calling it opbox. Opbox is centralized around a Glance dashboard and there is so much I have been learning getting it setup and customized.

📊 Glance: The Control Panel

Glance is my studio's status overview dashboard. It's a dashboard that displays links, my calendar, active quests, and even "spells" (automation scripts that can be triggered manually) to streamline tasks. Every item is intentional and designed to maintain my focus on priorities. Ironically, my biggest distraction is wanting to add new features to make it even more useful.

I chose Glance for its simplicity and extensive customization options. There’s a rich community of widgets available, and importantly, a custom-api widget that can connect directly with n8n, enabling me to effortlessly pull in tailored data.

🤖 n8n: Workflow Automation Engine

n8n is the automation nerve center, connecting everything—from scheduling social posts and syncing project data to triggering image workflows. I even experimented using n8n to host dynamic configuration forms that would allow me to control the Glance dashboard.

Through n8n, I aggregate external API data into the precise format needed by my Glance dashboard, keeping the most relevant information always at my fingertips. I can also create user-friendly forms ("spells") for simple input collection.

🗃️Vikunja Tasks & Project Management

Vikunja is a lightweight yet powerful task manager, running on Postgres. It supports nested subtasks, filters, tags, due dates, and even CalDAV. Its straightforward approach and easy API integration greatly simplify managing complex projects.

I particularly enjoy Vikunja’s simplicity and Gantt charts, which make it easy to visually manage deadlines and efficiently time-box tasks. Using n8n, I fetch project tasks, filter them by start dates, and select my focus for the day.

Additionally, n8n can connect Vikunja directly into LLMs as a tool. Soon, we'll have an AI chatbot ready for interactive project management!

🧠 Ollama + Open WebUI: My Local LLM Duo

I wanted to experiment with running local Large Language Models (LLMs). Ollama manages models like Mistral, LLaMA, and custom-tuned models, while Open WebUI offers a smooth chat interface, vector search, and file-based memory.

Local models can be sluggish (expect responses in seconds rather than milliseconds), but their flexibility and privacy benefits often outweigh the wait. Open WebUI also seamlessly integrates with various online model providers and external tools through OpenAPI or n8n’s MCPs.

🔮 ComfyUI: Image Generation Workbench

ComfyUI facilitates AI image generation, supporting custom workflows, model experimentation, and VRAM-friendly setups. I even use n8n "spells" to automate image generation within ComfyUI.

Its GPU acceleration allows me to run it on my local desktop computer, powered by an Nvidia RTX 3090. If local GPU access isn't available, ComfyUI can integrate with online models so you can plan out and execute your workflows no matter what.

🛠️ Why This Stack?

Because autonomy matters.

Because I want to own and understand the tools I use to create, rather than renting them through countless SaaS subscriptions.

Some of the major developments for opbox that I'll be writing more about include:

• Treasury: Detailed insights into company income and expenses.
• Journal: An automated log capturing every significant event at Wizard Workshop.
• Vector DB: Granting opbox an intelligent memory, allowing AI agents to contextualize and recall content effectively.
• Coding Agent: I started playing around with Codex CLI, Claude Code, and Aider to be able to boot up an automated coding agent that will be able to start working on a task.

Having all these tools working and linked together has already helped get Wizard Workshop off the ground. There is much more to be done... my philosophy is to evaluate my workflows from the ground up and figure out how I can use opbox to facilitate it when it needs to be done.

If you're intrigued by building your own local studio-in-a-box—or need help adapting this setup—subscribe, reach out, or simply follow along as the spellbook unfolds.

Thanks for being here.

— Jonas