Home Assistant

Home Assistant is free and open-source software used to enable centralized home automation. It is a smart home controller that serves both as a smart home hub (sometimes called a "smart gateway") and an integration platform designed for interoperability, allowing users to have a single point of control and enable automating different smart home devices from a central location regardless of manufacturer or brand. The software emphasizes local control and privacy and is designed to be independent of any specific Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem without having to rely on cloud services. Its customizable user interface can be accessed through any web-browser or by using its mobile apps for Android and iOS, as well as different options to also use voice commands via a supported virtual assistant, such as Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, and Home Assistant's own "Assist" (a built-in local voice assistant pipeline) using natural language.

The Home Assistant software application is commonly run on a computer appliance with "Home Assistant Operating System" that will act as a central control system for home automation (commonly called a smart home hub/gateway/bridge/controller), that has the purpose of controlling IoT connectivity technology devices, software, applications and services from third-parties via modular integration components, including native integration components for common wired or wireless communication protocols and standards for IoT products such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave, EnOcean, and Thread/Matter (used to create either local personal area networks or direct ad hoc connections with small smart home devices using low-power digital radios), or Wi-Fi and Ethernet connected devices on a home local area network (home LAN, or HAN).

Home Assistant supports controlling devices and services connected via either open and proprietary ecosystems or commercial smart home hubs/gateways/bridges as long they provide public access via some kind of open API or MQTT interface to allow for third-party integration over either the local area network or Internet, which includes integrations for Alexa Smart Home (Amazon Echo), Google Nest (Google Home), HomeKit (Apple Home), Samsung SmartThings,Heiman and Philips Hue.

Information from all devices and their attributes (entities) that the application sees can be used and controlled via automation or script using scheduling or subroutines (including preconfigured "blueprint"), e.g. for controlling lighting, climate, entertainment systems and smart home appliances.