Quick question: how many people can walk into your house right now?
Most people can't answer. The neighbor got a key during that vacation. The dog walker still has one. Your sister kept hers after helping you move. Each key is a door you no longer control — and you've forgotten half of them exist.
A phone note works until it doesn't. It gets buried, synced to some cloud you forgot about, and never updated when someone gives a key back. A tiny self-hosted log fixes this. It lives on your own machine, and it makes you actually think about physical access.
Why this belongs on your server, not a cloud app
A list of who can enter your home is sensitive. It maps your family, your habits, and your weak points. That's the last thing you want sitting in a random free app that mines data or gets breached.
Run it yourself and the list never leaves your house. No account. No sync to a company you can't name.
The simplest version: a flat file
You don't need software for this. Start with a plain text file on your home server:
Key #1 - Front door - Mom - given 2023-06 - RETURNED 2024-01
Key #2 - Front door - Dog walker (Sarah) - given 2024-03 - ACTIVE
Key #3 - Garage - Neighbor Tom - given 2022 - ACTIVE
Key #4 - Front door - LOST during move 2024-05 - LOCK CHANGED
That's it. Four lines tell you more than most people know about their own home. The moment you write it down, you'll spot a problem — a lost key you never acted on.
Level up with a self-hosted note app
Want something searchable with dates and reminders? Use a lightweight self-hosted tool you may already run:
- Trilium Notes — one note per key, tag active vs returned
- Memos — quick timeline entries, searchable
- A Nextcloud table — columns for door, holder, date, status
All three run in a single Docker container and stay entirely on your hardware.
The three rules that make it useful
- Log the key the day you hand it over. Not later. Later never comes.
- Mark returns loudly. A key that says ACTIVE but is actually back in your drawer is worse than no log.
- Review every six months. Read the list out loud. Anyone on there you'd hesitate to trust today? Change that lock.
The uncomfortable payoff
The first time you fill this out, you'll likely find a key you can't account for. Maybe an old roommate. Maybe a contractor. That gap is the whole point — you can't secure what you never tracked.
Today's takeaway: Open a text editor, list every spare key you've ever given out, and mark each one ACTIVE, RETURNED, or LOST. If anything says LOST, book a locksmith this week.