Public project
Paperwake Document Archive
A portable document migration and archive stack using Paperless-ngx, Docker services, encrypted backup, and migration runbooks.
Context
Personal infrastructure project for moving document scanning and archiving away from Microsoft services.
Problem
Personal documents need searchable PDFs, exportable metadata, portable storage, and backup/restore confidence without depending on a single consumer cloud product.
Role
Designed the local and production Docker shape, migration documentation, backup/restore notes, and operational runbooks.
Constraints
- Private documents and imports stay out of version control.
- The archive must remain boring, portable, and recoverable.
- ML additions must not make source-of-truth document records untrustworthy.
Approach
Used Paperless-ngx as the archive and metadata layer, Postgres and Redis for backing services, Caddy for production routing, and BorgBackup/Storage Box planning for encrypted offsite backup.
Challenges
The project balances migration automation with strict separation between safe repo documentation and private source files.
Impact
- Operational evidence: documented local stack, production shape, migration runbook, backup planning, and private-source separation.
- Repo evidence: architecture docs, backup/restore docs, migration runbook, local disposable stack, and production deployment notes.
Recruiter takeaway
Shows systems thinking beyond UI automation: infrastructure, data portability, privacy, and runbooks.
Engineering manager takeaway
The clean separation between source data and repo docs is exactly the kind of judgment production teams need.