N5HQ Contact
Eric Li · Full Stack Developer

From web apps to firewalls, VLANs, and enterprise systems.

Full-stack development, network architecture, and infrastructure engineering.

Projects Lab

From web applications to network infrastructure — networks deployed across homes and small businesses up to 1,000㎡.

About Me

Eric Li

I'm a passionate full-stack developer and network enthusiast with deep expertise in infrastructure, automation, and building scalable solutions. My goal is to transition into the IT industry by 2027, with a focus on networking and data science.

5Total Projects

Innovative web & mobile solutions crafted

4Certificates

Professional skills validated (ongoing)

3Years of Experience

My learning journey

Portfolio Showcase

Building solutions that matter.

Each project represents a commitment to continuous learning — from web applications to network infrastructure.

Completed

Shipped projects that are live and running — battle-tested in the real world.

01

HomeLab

A production-grade self-hosted infrastructure running 24/7 — networking, compute, storage, smart home automation, surveillance, and a full media stack. Everything from the UniFi network to the monitoring dashboards is designed, deployed, and maintained from scratch.

Networking

UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber with five isolated VLANs, inter-VLAN firewall policies, Pi-hole DNS filtering, DDNS, and 40+ connected clients

Containers & Services

20+ containerised services on a Dell OptiPlex — Immich, Grafana, Prometheus, Loki, Home Assistant, and more, managed via Portainer

Observability

Prometheus metrics, Grafana dashboards, and Loki log aggregation — custom overview dashboard built via the Grafana API

Smart Home

Matter and Thread over Matter for local device control, HomeKit, Philips Hue, and Meross unified through Home Assistant

UniFiDockerLinuxGrafanaHome AssistantVLANsPi-hole
View full details →
In Progress

Active projects currently being developed and refined.

02

Family Home Dashboard

A touchscreen home dashboard built to keep the whole household in sync. Displays a shared family calendar, live weather forecast, current time, upcoming and overdue events, and countdowns to the next event — all at a glance from a wall-mounted display.

Hardware
Raspberry Pi 5 running the dashboard as a containerised service, with a touchscreen display for interaction
Architecture
Containerised deployment allows Home Assistant to run alongside the dashboard on the same device — enabling smart device control directly from the screen
Integrations
Custom calendar sync keeping shared family events up to date; weather API for live local forecast data
Raspberry Pi 5DockerHome AssistantTouchscreenCalendar SyncWeather API
03

Caddy Rating App

A production-ready mobile application for submitting and tracking caddy ratings. Clients submit 5-star ratings that flow through a live Firebase backend into a provider dashboard with real-time synchronisation across devices.

Frontend
React Native with Expo SDK 51, TypeScript, and Expo Router — tab-based navigation between a Rating screen and a Provider Dashboard
Backend
Firebase Firestore for real-time data storage, Cloud Functions v2 for server-side logic, and EAS Build for deployment
Real-Time Sync
Ratings submitted by clients appear instantly on the provider dashboard — no refresh required, synchronised live across all connected devices
React NativeExpoTypeScriptFirebaseFirestoreCloud FunctionsMobile
Upcoming

Projects that are scoped, planned, and queued up — real work coming down the line.

04

Hotel IPTV System — 100+ Rooms

End-to-end overhaul of a hotel's network and TV infrastructure across 100+ rooms. Rebuilding the network topology from the ground up, deploying an IPTV headend with encoders, and automating network health and recovery workflows.

Network Redesign
Reconfiguring the existing network to a clean VLAN and firewall architecture — a healthier, more maintainable topology across the property
IPTV Headend
A dedicated IPTV headend with encoders distributing live TV to all 100+ rooms over the network — replacing legacy coax infrastructure
Automated Recovery
Containerised services continuously monitor network health, troubleshoot issues automatically, and restore connectivity without manual intervention
IPTVVLANsFirewallNetwork DesignDockerAutomation100+ Rooms
05

Multi-Site Network Unification

Connecting three geographically separate sites into a single unified network — making remote devices feel local. Combined with a dedicated camera network across the sites and seamless cross-site access for all users.

Site Unification
Three separate physical locations operating as a single logical network — transparent "local" access to devices regardless of site
Camera Network
A unified surveillance camera network spanning all three sites, accessible and manageable from a single interface
Cross-Site Access
Users on any site can reach printers, servers, and devices on any other site without VPN friction — same network, different locations
Multi-SiteNetwork DesignSite-to-SiteSurveillanceVLANsRouting
Latest Adventures

Notes from the transition.

Infrastructure, learning, and building in public.

Personal Homelab

Always learning, always building.

A production-grade homelab with networking, compute, storage, surveillance, and smart home automation running 24/7 — self-hosted infrastructure powering all my personal computing needs.

Networking

UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber, managed switches, WiFi 7 APs, and fiber connectivity — supporting 40+ connected clients across all networks

VLANs & Firewall

Five isolated networks — Management, Home, Guest, IoT, and Cameras — with inter-VLAN firewall policies enforcing least-privilege traffic rules

DNS Routing & DDNS

Pi-hole for network-wide DNS filtering and local split-horizon routing; DDNS for dynamic public IP tracking across Cloudflare

Compute & Storage

Dell OptiPlex with Intel 9500T, 32GB RAM, running Ubuntu and Docker; remote slot storage + local NVMe, 22TB capacity for media and backups

Observability

Full monitoring stack with Prometheus metrics, Grafana dashboards, and Loki log aggregation — custom homelab overview dashboard built via the Grafana API

*arr Media Automation

Radarr, Sonarr, and Prowlarr automating acquisition and organisation of movies and TV; Discord webhooks push real-time notifications on downloads and status changes

Surveillance

UniFi Protect cameras + Aqara smart cameras with 24/7 recording

Smart Home — Matter & Thread

HomeKit, Philips Hue, and Meross devices unified via Home Assistant; Matter and Thread over Matter for local, cloud-independent device control

API Integrations

Custom automations via Home Assistant REST API, UniFi Network API, Grafana API, Cloudflare API, and Discord webhooks — services talk to each other without manual intervention

Photos

Photo management & library

photo.n5hq.me ↗

Status

System health & uptime

status.n5hq.me ↗

Containers

Docker stack overview

Coming soon
Connect With Me

Get in touch.

Full-stack development, network architecture, and infrastructure engineering.