René Fichtmueller
Networker. NOG veteran. Data sovereignty fanatic.
And someone who simply had to build good tools himself.
// WHO I AM
I've been working in the networking and internet space for years – as part of the community, as a co-organizer of NOG events, and as someone who daily feels the gap between available technology and usable tools.
Context X is not a startup, not a VC story, and not an exit plan. It's hobby work done at a professional level – built out of frustration with mediocre tools that have poor UX, and the desire to simply do it better.
This project belongs to the community. I'm the driving force behind it, but the direction is shaped by the people who use it.
// THE ORIGIN STORY
How Context X came to be
The Frustration
Professional social media tools, AI APIs, scheduling services – all expensive, all proprietary, all data-hungry. As a networker who needs to communicate daily about NOGs and community events, this frustrated me for years. The technology to run this locally and for free has existed for a long time.
The First Question
"Why are we paying for services that read our data when we could have the same functionality on our own hardware?" – That was the starting point. Not a business idea, but a technical question with an obvious answer.
CtxPost: The First Tool
A few weeks of evenings and weekends later: CtxPost was running. Local AI models via Ollama, your own platform credentials, no third-party reading along. It was rough around the edges – but it worked, and it was mine.
From the Community, for the Community
Interest grew. People from the NOG world, from networking backgrounds, from open source projects started asking. Context X became bigger than planned – and that was a good thing. Today it's a community project shaped by real users.
// VALUES
What I stand for
Data Sovereignty
Your data belongs to you. Full stop. No cloud AI reading along. No metrics going to third parties. Local models, own infrastructure.
Community First
Context X is shaped by real users. Direct feedback from the NOG environment, from network engineers, from people who need these tools daily.
Open Source
No lock-in, no black box. Everything is visible, everything is adaptable. Anyone who wants to contribute is welcome – as user, developer, or supporter.
Pragmatism
No over-engineering, no feature bloat. Tools should work. If something is good enough, it ships – and then gets improved from there.
// BACKGROUND
NOG Roots
I come from the NOG and networking community. This world shaped my requirements for tools: technically correct, stable, privacy-conscious – and not unnecessarily complicated.
// TODAY
Hobby at Pro Level
Context X is built in my spare time – but with the same standards as a professional product. Nothing half-hearted, nothing "good enough". When it ships, it should be good.
// GET INVOLVED
Interested in being part of this?
Whether as a user, contributor, supporter, or simply someone with feedback – I'm happy to hear from you.