Really interested on seeing this, although if I could make a suggestion, start by scouting around and see if you can adapt FOSS apps, maybe fork them and add/remove features to please your objectives and tastes.
Although I'm eager to see these through, I like projects like murena (/e/OS) that cobble together good Foss projects into a single cohesive ecosystem (without making the word ecosystem gross and vendor locked in like in most cases)
Unless the crook happens to be extremely nerdy or its law enforcement, already being a Linux formatted partition feels it should be enough for a rando breaking in and stealing a computer.
That being said, something like a PiKVM connected to your server (and Tailscale) could let you enable both UEFI/boot password and propt for LUKS decryption upon boot.
A few years ago I got a laptop with a busted video output, installed CasaOS and that kicked off a learning experience that continues to this day.
I'm now running a 2 node proxmox deployment with several LXC containers and a HomeAssistant VM. I self-host most of my stuff for me and my family.
If it wasn't for CasaOS, I'd probably had tried proxmox and fled in horror of the difficulty to grasp what it's doing.
Also IIRC Casa now uses proper docker-compose exports, while I was using it, it was a self-rolled json file you couldn't really import on other platforms. So enjoy Casa, and when you feel like it's hindering your learning or desires, jump to portainer and import your stuff with just a few clicks.
For reference, here's some of the stuff I've been hosting:
NextCloud AIO for document syncing across machines, backups and contacts/calendars/todo via DavX5 on android devices
immich replaces google Photos so I don't have to ever "solve" a storage issue for any family member getting those googleOne popups
HomeAssistant is still a rabbit hole on it's own, but I love tinkering and automating stuff
Paperless-ngx solved my download folder always full of random invoice PDFs as well as referencing documents and manuals
Jellyfin is not only on my main TV but also my hifi music source for mobile devices and standalone speakers
Portainer makes it super easy to spin up game servers for me and my friends in a few clicks
PiHole+Unbound makes surfing the web bareable again
And a bunch more I use on and off, like NetAlertX to map and check on my network stats, Navidrome for older devices (like iPad2) music streaming, etc
Really interested on seeing this, although if I could make a suggestion, start by scouting around and see if you can adapt FOSS apps, maybe fork them and add/remove features to please your objectives and tastes.
Although I'm eager to see these through, I like projects like murena (/e/OS) that cobble together good Foss projects into a single cohesive ecosystem (without making the word ecosystem gross and vendor locked in like in most cases)