I turned my old router into a Wi-Fi extender with OpenWrt, and it was easier than I thought

A hands-on account of flashing OpenWrt onto a TP-Link Archer C20 v5 and configuring it as a Wi-Fi extender. The installation involved extracting U-Boot components from official firmware and merging them with OpenWrt's Sysupgrade file via terminal commands. Setting up the relay mode required disabling DHCP, avoiding IP conflicts with the main router, and installing the luci-proto-relay package. The latest OpenWrt release also brings a new APK package manager and a system update UI, making ongoing maintenance easier. The overall experience was simpler than expected and a practical way to repurpose old hardware.