Ok I'm not any networking expert but I think you are overestimating the risk here.
Opening a port doesn't mean you are opening your whole home network just the specific services you want.
And those not directly but with a web server in front of them .
Web servers talked in this tgread that sit in front of open ports are well audited .
I think that measures like mtls a generic web server hardening are more than ok to not ever be compromised.
But yeah I'm surely interested to listen if you could elaborate.
The funnel exposes your local services to the public over https .
Like what you want to accomplish with reverse proxy .
Its just more straightforward for a beginner.
Personally I closed my router ports and switched to tailscalr funnels after using caddy with mutual TLS for years.
While using a web server before your self hosted micro services is the obvious answer and caddy the easier to configure, as a beginner you should also consider taiscale funnels.
You dont need to mess with router stuff like port forward or caring if you ISP have your router behind a cgnat which is kinda norm nowadays , also dont have to care for a domain name dynamic DNS stuff .
You could have a look to my quick how to . All you need is running a script , the ports and desired names of your subdomains and your tailscale auth key.
https://ippocratis.github.io/tailscale/
Ok I'm not any networking expert but I think you are overestimating the risk here.
Opening a port doesn't mean you are opening your whole home network just the specific services you want. And those not directly but with a web server in front of them . Web servers talked in this tgread that sit in front of open ports are well audited . I think that measures like mtls a generic web server hardening are more than ok to not ever be compromised.
But yeah I'm surely interested to listen if you could elaborate.
Thanks