I am under the impression that auto login is disabled if FileVault is used. So the original plan may not work as expected.
As @Simon has just said, if FileVault is on, then accessing over the network will not in fact be an option. If you want to avoid the display at all costs and need to be sure of what you’re doing, then the obvious solution is to use VoiceOver, which works at the login screen. I will leave this as an exercise for the reader, except to say that the training tutorial covers everything you will need—just press Cmd+F5 to toggle on and off. Do this from another Mac, so you know how to use it on your Mini: the tutorial only appears for a logged-in user. You can also launch this from System Settings, Accessibility, Vision, VoiceOver.
Although annoying, I do think that a Mac “server” should auto-login. Not only is it more useful that way (lots more software will just work), but you avoid any problems when the machine unexpectedly restarts. Use System Settings to disable all notifications and enable a silencing focus, and use CrashReporterPrefs (tool in the Xcode tools package) to turn off crash dialogs, and once disconnected from any keyboard you can have basically the ideal non-interactive “server” that is resistant to all external forces, such as cats. Remember, macOS is only UNIX after a very, very bad car crash. 
I was very surprised too. There seemed to be no reason for it, but the effects were very obvious and the system became basically unusable. I don’t know the exact resolution while it was connected, I assume 4K, however I can tell you that while disconnected it is using (a presumably notional) resolution of 1920x1080. I never use scaled resolutions on remote client or server, and I’m not affected (as a VoiceOver user) by whatever resolution that is being used, since I rely on the audio from the Mini to use it while screen sharing (using a hack involving SonoBus and Blackhole audio driver). Next time I try it, I’ll check to see what the configured resolution was, though I would never have had cause to use anything but the default.
I will note that the same dongle does not give my M3 Pro MBP 14 any trouble at all; there, I use it to keep my MBP from sleeping when I close the lid, and it works just great.
This dongle has no user-facing configuration at all—it just emulates a 4K display and provides its own EDID to describe itself.
And as I said, my preference is to auto-logon, so I’m not sure what savings I’m making from using, or not using, the dongle. There will always be a logged-in session, and with standard screen sharing, that’s the one I’ll be accessing remotely.
I was able to blindly enter my credentials and have been able to log in. Yay!
I have a lot of confidential information on this computer, so I don’t want to set it up for auto-login, because if the computer were stolen … yikes!
Adding the HDMI dongle makes a HUGE difference! Thank you to all of you who suggested it. I had no idea.
Cheers friends! 
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I would say that you don’t want FileVault to be enabled - you want it to boot after a power outage. But you don’t need to log in - my Mac boots to the (unlocked system) login window.
Your storage medium is still encrypted (assuming you don’t have a Mac so old that it doesn’t have a T2 chip), and the risk of a thief being able to unlock it is low, unless you live in a place where someone may break into your home and steal your server.
As I wrote above, there is a third option. Don’t auto-login, and don’t use FileVault.
You can set your file system permissions such that other users can’t access your files (I think this is the default). Standard encryption will prevent the media from being removed and used in another computer.
Yes, a thief could steal your computer and then use Target Disk mode to access your files, but if this is a computer that never leaves your home, I think the risk is low. Of course, only you know about the crime levels where you live. And I would never recommend this for a laptop or mobile device.
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A single port KVM over IP would be a solution, right? But they sure are pricey.
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Yes. They can cost quite a bit. Skimming Amazon, I don’t see them costing less than $700.
I did run across this interesting project, however:
This is a Raspberry Pi with an HDMI video input device connected, cables and software to work as a network KVM. You can use VNC to access the connected computer’s console.
You can get a fully assembled device (including a custom enclosure) for about $250-400 from a variety of resellers.
Or you can go the DIY route by adding an HDMI capture device to an existing Raspberry Pi (either via USB or the MIPI video input) and installing the corresponding software. The home page for the project says that this should cost $60-100. So if you think this is something you want to try, it may be worth considering.
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Back in 1999 I had my PowerMac 8500 connected to a Sophisticated Circuits PowerKey Pro 600, the World’s Smartest Power StripTM.
It connected to the computer via Apple Desktop Bus, and using that connection it was configurable using a control panel and AppleScript. It also had a phone line (RJ-45). So you could call up the power strip on the phone, and tell it to turn outlets on or off, and to run scripts on the computer.
For example, if you were away from home but needed to get to the computer, you could call the power strip, and have it boot the computer, turn on the power to the modem, dial into to the ISP (no broadband Internet in 1999!), and then establish a remote control session.
All for only $200.
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Yes, I completely agree that this can be a workable compromise so long as you don’t need any software running in the background from a logged-in session without first logging that session in yourself (a VM app, Mail executing rules, some file sync app, etc). If you are happy with that, then yes, relying on the Mac’s secure boot and storage to keep things relatively safe is probably the best you can do.
Speaking personally, the only adversary to my Mini server’s security in my household is my feline master, who sometimes decides to make a point of deliberately and wilfully stepping on my keyboard, just to get my attention; disconnecting the keyboard is enough to thwart her, for now. I am here most of the time, too. I’ll take the risk that the device won’t be stolen, and turn on Find My just in case (which, annoyingly, violates the spirit of non-interaction by popping up security code dialogs, which nevertheless do disappear when they are no longer needed).
I had the same PowerKey in my office. The dial-in feature was terrific. It was an excellent product.
For me i have two Mac minis, in two different houses. One of them has spamsieve for spam filtering on my mail accounts. Other than the Music app, which I use as a server mostly for my Sonos systems in both houses, neither Mac connects to my iCloud account at all (honestly I’m very happy that I can run the Music app this way - connect to iCloud without logging in globally for all services), and both are limited accounts without admin access that automatically start. It would be a severe pain for me for one of them to start without automatically logging in, as the two houses are an hour apart, and I’m sometimes in neither one. So auto-login works well for me. (I do have admin accounts with very long passwords on each machine.)
If either Mac mini was stolen it would be a pain to disable some services but it wouldn’t be catastrophic.
Of course now that I am thinking about it, only one of the Mac minis is headless - the other is connected to an old monitor I last used with a Windows computer I bought in 2000, so it’s quite old. (It has VGA and DisplayPort - the old DisplayPort - connectors; no HDMI. Connecting it to my M1 Mac mini took an extra dongle or two.)
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I’m intrigued so I have to ask. Are you referring to this?
That would be DVI. One of the precursors to DisplayPort. DP was only introduced 8 years after you bought that monitor. 
DVI, on the other hand, launched in 1999. That monitor was definitely going with the times.
DVI was interesting in that it introduced a digital video link (highly desirable since “flat screens” were becoming madly popular), but with DVI-I attempted to provide also for older analog systems. So you could have one DVI-I output used for both DVI-D digital inputs (with support for dual links!) as well as older VGA analog inputs (or DVI-A, exotic). Adapters, when required, were usually passive. And best of all no DRM.
DisplayPort was no doubt a necessary improvement in several ways, but like HDMI it provided for incorporating DRM in a manner not possible before with DVI. And probably most of us are familiar with the kind of hell stew that can turn into when trying to connect a projector or TV, sound system, and computer all while trying to maintain an unbroken DRM chain. 
DVI actually has some fairly interesting history (check out its Wiki article here), including VESA’s P&D. Apple was one of the first to adopt it. And then promptly tried to de-facto break it with ADC which attempted to fuse DVI-I with USB and AC power (for the screen, not the computer). At the time a lot of people derided this as Apple trying to break a standard in favor of creating a closed alternative, and to an extent certainly justifiably so. But if we nowadays enjoy how Thunderbolt (or USB4) allows powering a computer, transporting digital video and audio, and still provides lots of extra b/w for high-speed data transport all over just one cable with a simple connector, we can, at least in hindsight, certainly acknowledge that they were thinking along the right direction. Progress is a beautiful thing. 
[Uhm yeah, LOL, probably needs breaking out into its own thread.]
Yep, DVI, that’s it. I’m not home so I can’t recall the way it’s connected but it works.
If your display uses a full-size DisplayPort connector:
Then you can connect it to a modern Mac with just a passive adapter or two. The USB-C/Thunderbolt-3 connectors used by Macs support DisplayPort alternate mode, so all you need is a cables with the two connectors. Like this one: Amazon: Cable Matters Bidirectional USB C to DisplayPort 1.4 Cable 6 ft.
But @Simon pointed out that this may not be what you actually have. Fortunately, you can also use a basic adapter for a DVI display.
My monitor is also pretty old and has single-link DVI input. Fortunately, HDMI’s lower-resolution modes are electrically compatible with single-link DVI, so a passive adapter should work. I use an Apple HDMI-DVI adapter (which came with my 2011 Mac mini) to connect my 2018 mini to that monitor. That particular adapter isn’t sold anymore but there are lots of inexpensive third-party options. Like this one: Amazon: Cable Matters CL3 in-Wall Rated Full HD HDMI to DVI Cable 6 ft.
With my 2018 mini and a DVI display, I have no problem driving at its native resolution (1920x1200, 24-bit color, 60 Hz). I do find that after a power cycle or restart that resets the GPU, that the picture is a bit messed up, but if I disconnect the HDMI plug for a second or two and reconnect it, it all looks fine. This would be annoying if I powered off every day, but since the computer is powered 24x7 and only restarts for system updates, I put up with it. (I have reported this bug to Apple, but they haven’t fixed it for the four years I’ve owned this computer, and I don’t expect them to).
I think you can also use a basic cable to connect DVI to USB-C. Internally, the Mac should put the USB/TB3 port into DisplayPort alternate mode, and be able to drive the display because DisplayPort has a “dual mode” feature that will let it detect and drive a DVI display. This mode was optional in the original DisplayPort, but was mandatory since DP 1.2. Or the Mac might put the USB-C port into an HDMI alternate mode, which would be directly compatible with single-link DVI. But I haven’t personally tried this, so I can’t say for certain that it will work.
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