hermes-ice/homelab/concepts/smart-home-handbook.md

title, created, updated, type, tags, confidence

title	created	updated	type	tags	confidence
Smart Home Handbook	2026-05-10	2026-05-10	concept	smart-home iot home-assistant matter concept runbook	high

Smart Home Handbook

Operational overview for the homelab smart home. Canonical orientation page linking to all smart home entities and concepts.

Architecture Summary

The smart home is built around Home Assistant on panda as the central automation hub, with Matter multi-fabric providing cross-ecosystem access to devices.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   USER INTERFACES                    │
│   HA UI │ Apple Home │ Google Home │ Alexa │ Voice   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│              HOME ASSISTANT (panda)                   │
│   Automations │ Scripts │ Scenes │ Dashboards        │
├──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬─────────┤
│  ZHA     │  Matter  │  Cloud   │  Local   │ ESPHome │
│ Zigbee   │  Thread  │  APIs    │  LAN     │ BLE/Voice│
├──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴─────────┤
│                   DEVICES (~35)                      │
│  Aqara │ Govee │ Shelly │ TP-Link │ IKEA │ Echo     │
│  Apple TV │ LG TV │ Nest │ VeSync │ Aivo            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Entities

Entity	Role	Page
panda	HA host (RPi, HAOS)	panda
home-assistant-connect-zbt-2	Zigbee + Thread coordinator	home-assistant-connect-zbt-2
aqara-hub-m3	Aqara Matter bridge + Zigbee hub	aqara-hub-m3

Key Concepts

Concept	Description	Page
Matter Multi-Fabric	Cross-ecosystem device sharing	matter-multi-fabric
IoT Device Inventory	Complete device catalog	iot-device-inventory

Quick Reference

Accessing Home Assistant

• Web UI: https://ha.tophermayor.com
• SSH: ssh bear@192.168.30.196 (password auth)
• API: http://192.168.30.196:8123/api/ (requires bearer token)
• Traefik: Routed from both ubuntu and grizzley

Adding a New Matter Device

1. Open HA → Settings → Devices & Services → Matter → Add Device
2. Follow pairing flow using QR code or numeric code
3. Once in HA, use multi-admin pairing code to add to Apple/Google/Alexa
4. See matter-multi-fabric for full commissioning flow

Adding a Non-Matter Device

1. Add to HA via native integration (Zigbee, Wi-Fi, cloud)
2. If needed in other ecosystems, enable HA Matter Bridge
3. Commission the bridge into target ecosystem
4. See matter-multi-fabric → Non-Matter Devices section

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Device not responding	Check VLAN 30 connectivity, verify device power
Zigbee device offline	Check ZHA → Settings → Network → visualization for mesh health
Thread device not connecting	Verify Thread credentials match across all border routers
HA SSH access denied	Add SSH key to Advanced SSH add-on config via HA web UI
Matter multi-admin fails	Check device's fabric limit (some only support 2-3)
Govee lights won't pair	Ensure on same VLAN 30, use govee_light_local integration

Voice Pipeline

openWakeWord → Whisper (STT) → HA Assist (intent) → Piper (TTS)

• Wake word: "Hey Jarvis" (configurable via openWakeWord)
• Hardware: Home Assistant Voice PE (ESPHome)
• Fallback: Echo Dots → Alexa, Apple TV → Siri

Network Placement

All IoT devices sit on VLAN 30 (IoT subnet 192.168.30.0/24):

• panda has dual-homed: 192.168.30.196 (IoT) + 192.168.50.196 (Servers)
• Physical path: UGC Ultra Port 2 → TP-Link SG108PE trunk
• Firewall: IoT VLAN is isolated from Server and Family VLANs
• Management: Access HA via Traefik reverse proxy from any VLAN

Improvement Opportunities

• Add grizzley SSH key to panda's SSH add-on for agent automation
• Verify unified Thread credentials across all border routers
• Set up HA Matter Bridge to expose non-Matter devices to Apple/Google/Alexa
• Commission Aqara Hub M3 into Apple Home and Google Home fabrics
• Consider ESP32 Bluetooth proxies for improved BLE coverage
• Evaluate moving panda's primary IP to VLAN 50 for easier management
• Add Nest Hub as Google Thread Border Router
• Document automations and scenes in a dedicated wiki page