My homepage now runs on OpenBSD with httpd(8) and Let's Encrypt via acme-client(1). I previously hosted it on GitHub Pages and then moved to Cloudflare Pages because both were free and easy. Lately, I missed the DIY web I grew up with, so I wrote this guide.

First, download the miniroot image from OpenBSD, verify its checksum, then upload it to DigitalOcean as a custom image. You'll need to delete the image after your server is up to avoid hosting charges.

Create a Droplet using the basic plan with 512MB memory, 1v CPU, 500GB transfer, and 10GB disk. Add an SSH key (required, though not actually added). The total cost is $4.00/month.

Install OpenBSD via the web console. Answer prompts: choose hostname, network interface, IPv4/IPv6 autoconf, secure root password, enable sshd, no X Window System, create a non-root user, select time zone, and disk sd0. After setup, SSH into the server and configure httpd and acme-client for Let's Encrypt.