gpg, gnupg, encryption, pgp, public key cryptography

GPG explained: from first key to daily use

GPG is one of those tools everyone “should learn someday” but nobody wants to. The documentation is overwhelming, the terminology confusing, and the error messages cryptic (pun intended). But GPG is also essential. It’s the foundation for pass, for signed git commits, for encrypted email, and for verifying software downloads. If you’re serious about security, you can’t avoid it. This is the guide I wish I had when I started. What is GPG actually? GPG (GNU Privacy Guard) is an implementation of the OpenPGP protocol. It does two things: ...

January 6, 2026 · 9 min read · Tom Meurs
Taskwarrior, timewarrior and vit tutorial

Taskwarrior, Timewarrior and Vit: The Ultimate CLI Productivity Stack

For context on how my brain works, see Working with an AuDHD Brain. This is the stack that structures my daily work: taskwarrior for task management, timewarrior for time tracking, and vit as a vim-style interface. Together they form a keyboard-first, terminal-native productivity system. No Electron apps. No cloud sync sending your data to Silicon Valley. Just plain text, local, and blazing fast. Why This Stack? I struggled with task management for years. Todoist, Things, Notion, Obsidian plugins — tried them all, eventually abandoned them all. The problem was always the same: too much friction. ...

January 3, 2026 · 12 min read · Tom Meurs
sovereign infrastructure, self-hosted, homelab, digital sovereignty, agency

Why I self-host everything: on sovereignty, agency and control

I self-host nearly everything. Kubernetes clusters on refurbished mini-PCs. GitLab on my own hardware. Vault for secrets. Monitoring, logging, all of it. People often ask: why? Managed cloud is easier. AWS, Azure, Google do it at scale and reliably. Why put yourself through this? The short answer: agency. The long answer is this entire article. The spaceship thought experiment In my post about the space container thought experiment I describe a scenario: you wake up in a closed container in space. Everything you need to survive is present, but nothing goes in or out. ...

December 30, 2025 · 7 min read · Tom Meurs
AuDHD, ADHD, autism, productivity, automation

Working with an AuDHD brain: why I automate everything

I have AuDHD — the combination of autism and ADHD. Specifically ADHD-PI: the inattentive variant, without the hyperactivity most people associate with ADHD. This isn’t an excuse. It’s context. Because the way I work — the obsession with automation, the preference for async communication, the hours I invest in tooling — doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s the result of years of experimenting with what works for a brain that isn’t built for the standard office world. ...

December 27, 2025 · 5 min read · Tom Meurs