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Community Day 2026: Save the date!

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

You’ve been asking all year, and the wait is over… Mark your calendars, because Community Day 2026 will be held on Saturday, November 7! 🎉

Get ready to start building: The ESPHome Starter Kit is here!

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Back in April during State of the Open Home 2026, we gave you a sneak peek of ESPHome’s very first official product… And after months of hard work alongside the community, the ESPHome Starter Kit is here! 🎉

Designed and produced by Apollo Automation, the Open Home Foundation’s second commercial partner, the kit is the easiest way to start building your own smart home devices. Affordable and packed with all the components you need, the Starter Kit invites everyone, not just seasoned tinkerers, to begin building.

A tiny house for big ideas.

Time to start creating

Ever wanted to build your own smart home device, but didn’t know where to begin? Between chips, pins, soldering irons, and breadboards – sourcing the right hardware can stop a project getting off the ground. Not to mention time spent ensuring the parts are compatible, and working out how to wire them together.

That’s where the Starter Kit comes in. With no soldering, breadboarding, or coding experience needed, the kit equips you with all you need to stop just using smart home tech, and start creating it.

Buy now

What’s in the box?

A box packed with possibilities.

The ESPHome Starter Kit arrives with four modules to build with:

Motion sensor – to detect movement, making a perfect first automation
Temperature and humidity sensor – to reliably track a room’s comfort level
Notification module – to provide alerts via a buzzer and ten individually controllable RGB LEDs that glow through the ESPHome logo
Button module – to trigger any automation you like

Powering it all is an ESP32-C6 microcontroller, which, for anyone new to electronics, is the programmable chip that acts as the “brain” of your project. ESPHome builds the software that runs on this chip, letting it control the four modules and talk to Home Assistant or any other smart home platform that supports it.

You’ll also find everything you need to put it all together: the flat ribbon cables that connect each module to the board (with a spare in the box, so you’re covered if one goes astray), and a stand to show off the notification module and its glowing ESPHome logo. It runs on a standard USB-C cable, and uses the same open standards as the rest of your smart home, so there’s nothing special to buy before you get started: it works with your existing Home Assistant setup straight out of the box.

Snap into action

The kit arrives with a snap-apart panel, with each module attached by small breakaway tabs. Instead of soldering joints and wiring breadboards, you simply snap a module off the panel and connect it to the main board via the flat ribbon cable.

The kit’s pieces (left) and how they come together.

And because every module connects the same way, they’re completely interchangeable: pop one off, snap the next one on, install new software on your ESP microcontroller, and you’ve got a different device.

This kit is designed to be experimented with. You can reconfigure it as your ideas grow, and adapt it as you learn, so the same hardware carries you from your very first project to your tenth. Each build works as a standalone device right away, and if you find yourself ready to explore more complex automations, it drops straight into Home Assistant.

A kit for keeps

Most learning kits end up the same way: forgotten in a drawer. But Apollo Automation co-founders Trevor Schirmer and Justin Bunton had other ideas: they wanted to create something sustainable that helped more people experience the joy of building, and left them with devices that remained useful long after the basics had clicked.

That’s why every module in the ESPHome Starter Kit becomes a custom, working smart home device: the kind you can’t buy off the shelf. Shaped by you to fit your home and habits, each device becomes yours in every sense – run locally with no cloud dependency, so your data stays in your home instead of on someone else’s server. And it’s easier than you might think…

One of the core requirements for the kit was that you had something useful at the end. One of the foundation’s principles is sustainability. So, this isn’t something that you just buy, learn, and then put in a drawer or the trash never to be seen again. You can make real usable products out of this at the end. … For example, you could use the motion module to turn on the lights when somebody walks into your room, or you could use the ESPHome-shaped LEDs to turn red when you’re in a meeting, letting others in your home know…

— Trevor Schirmer, Co-Founder of Apollo Automation

Your trusty guide…

The Starter Kit comes with two tools that guide you every step of the way, from your very first setup to your most ambitious projects.

The first is the Learning Wiki: more than assembly instructions, it explains the why behind each step, showing how your components connect to the code that runs them. This means you’re not just following a recipe – you’re picking up the fundamentals of electronics and device building, one project at a time. By the end, you’ll have the skills and the confidence to take on bigger builds of your own.

…and a revamped visual builder

The second is our ESPHome Device Builder, recently updated to help make ESPHome more approachable for all – no matter if you’ve been with us for years or if this is the first time you hear about ESPHome. Its intuitive interface lets you configure everything without writing a line of code, though the YAML’s always there underneath, should you want it.

Best of all, it runs right on your desktop through our app, so you can start building with whatever you already have. And once you’ve nailed the basics, you can still use the Device Builder to help you go further – whatever you decide to build next.

Three things to try with the ESPHome Starter Kit

As its name suggests, the Starter Kit is just the beginning. Once you’ve made your modules, you can connect them to just about any automation you like – for example:

Set your button to close the blinds: Press the button and your blinds glide shut, no hunting for a remote. Perfect for movie nights or shutting out the afternoon glare.
Set your motion sensor to detect visitors: Place it by the front door or driveway and be notified the moment it senses movement, so you’re never caught off guard.
Set your temperature monitor to manage the heating: Choose your ideal range and let the sensor keep watch, adjusting automatically if a room gets too warm or cool.

The possibilities are almost endless, with plenty more to discover as your ideas grow, and a community of experienced ESPHome users to talk to for inspiration.

Join the community

On the subject of community, half the fun of building something is sharing it with others. When you start using the kit, you join thousands of other makers using ESPHome. Come say hello on the ESPHome Discord server to swap ideas and show off what you’ve built, or drop into our ESPHome forum to ask questions and find your feet. And if you have thoughts about what Apollo Automation should build next, you can share them on the Apollo Automation Discord server!

Ready, set, start

Keen to get your kit? Head to the ESPHome Starter Kit site to grab your gear today. The majority of profit from every kit goes straight to the Open Home Foundation, meaning every purchase helps fund the future of ESPHome, Home Assistant, and Music Assistant, and the other projects working to make smart home tech accessible to all. We can’t wait to see what you create!

Simplify your ESPHome setup with the new desktop app

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Last month, we introduced the ESPHome Device Builder: a more visual and intuitive tool for configuring your smart home devices without having to write any code, unless you want to! Now we’ve taken a further step in our efforts to make ESPHome more approachable, by bringing the Device Builder to your desktop in a quick and easy way.

Say hello to the ESPHome Device Builder desktop app, available now for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

The final hurdle for beginners

If you’ve already tried the Device Builder, you’ll know how much friction it removes from configuring a device. But for a lot of newcomers, there was still a hurdle to clear before getting started: the technical tasks of installing Python and typing commands in a terminal. Not that hard if you’ve done it before… but if you haven’t, it’s a process that could turn a Saturday afternoon project into a weekend of troubleshooting.

The desktop app removes that hurdle, and is designed to be simple to set up.

All you need to do

Download the app for your platform, run the installer… and that’s it. On first launch:

The app quietly sets everything up in the background: no technical steps required.
It opens the Device Builder automatically in your browser.
A small icon appears in your system tray, giving you access to reopen the Device Builder, check for updates, or quit: no digging through tabs or task managers.

That tray icon stays there for as long as you use ESPHome: it’s your quick way back in, every time, not just on day one. And because the app is designed to run locally, on your own computer, there’s no login or password to set up, so it’s ready to use the moment it opens.

Why this matters for beginners…

Think back to the workshop metaphor from our last post: the Device Builder itself is the well-organized bench where the creative work happens. The desktop app is what makes it easy – and low stakes – to walk in and start that work. So if you’re faced with your first microcontroller (the imminent ESPHome Starter Kit perhaps 👀), there’s no technical setup standing between unboxing and beginning your build: just download the app, and away you go.

It’s not just the start-up that’s easy. Every time you want to tweak a device or add a new one, it’s the same simple open-and-go experience, with no need to remember any previous commands.

When you start slightly more advanced projects, the desktop app can help with other elements of your setup. For example if you run ESPHome on a lower-powered device, like a Raspberry Pi, you can have it send the heavy lifting of compiling firmware over to the app instead, then send the finished result back. It’s a handy way to speed up builds without changing how or where you actually flash your devices.

The app is also useful for anyone helping a less technical friend or family member get started. “Download this app and open it” is an instruction anyone can follow. “Install Python, then pip install this, then run this command” is not.

…and for experienced users

Don’t mistake the beginner focus for a lack of depth. If you’re setting up ESPHome on a new machine, spinning up a build environment for a demo, or just tired of manually checking the latest Device Builder version, the desktop app handles all that for you. Update checks live right in your system tray: no more remembering to consult the changelog yourself.

What’s more, nothing about your existing workflow changes. If you’re already running ESPHome through pip, Docker, or the Home Assistant add-on, you’re unaffected: the desktop app is simply another door into the same Device Builder, for people who’d rather not open a terminal at all.

Try it this weekend

Ready to give it a go? Here’s how to get started in three simple steps:

Download the app: For macOS, Windows, or Linux from esphome.io/install.
Open it and let it work: ESPHome sets itself up in the background, no configuration needed.
Start your first project: Dive straight into the Device Builder that opens automatically, and explore the Component Catalog we introduced last month.

Reminder for returning users

If you’re already comfortable with pip, Docker, or the Home Assistant App, there’s nothing you need to change. The desktop app is an additional on-ramp, not a replacement for how you already work… it’s there for the next person who’s about to start exploring the wonderful world of ESPHome!

Making our web analytics open source with Plausible

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Open Home Foundation fights for privacy, choice, and sustainability. These principles are at the heart of everything we do, including how we handle website analytics. Our position is clear: we reject tools that track individuals across the web to monetize their data. Instead, we want aggregated, anonymized analytics that show how our websites are performing overall — without identifying who our visitors are, or compromising their privacy.

Unbox your creativity with the ESPHome Device Builder

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The ESPHome blog is a new space for us – and you! We usually share our updates through raw, engineering-focused changelogs. While that technical documentation isn’t going anywhere, we want to make our milestone releases more digestible for everyone in the community – regardless of your experience with creating custom smart home devices.

This new way of sharing information goes hand-in-hand with all the work we’ve been doing to make ESPHome (and all Open Home Foundation projects) more accessible. It’s also why the latest release of ESPHome is focused on lowering the barrier to entry: a shift especially relevant with the highly anticipated release of the ESPHome Starter Kit around the corner.

By moving towards intuitive visual interfaces and optimizing how our microcontrollers manage processing power, we’re making the ecosystem more approachable for complete beginners without sacrificing the depth, control, and granular flexibility our more experienced users love.

Think of this update as a thorough organizing of a communal workshop, ensuring your local devices run faster, utilize less memory, and stand ready as durable components of a private, sustainable smart home.

Making ESPHome more accessible

With this in mind, let’s look at the updates designed to make your life easier. Part of the satisfaction of creating your own smart home gear is the process itself: embracing the sometimes chaotic, but joyful, mess of wires and components scattered across your desk. We want to enhance that creative, hands-on experience, while stripping away the unnecessary technical frustrations that can block a good project from getting off the ground.

Explore with the new ESPHome Device Builder

To do this, we’ve officially retired the old text-heavy dashboard and replaced it with a visual workspace designed to remove the guesswork and get your project up and running without headaches. Think of it like baking a cake from scratch. The pleasure comes from mixing the ingredients yourself, but you still want a recipe that’s easy to follow and promises a tasty result: in this sense the new Device Builder 1.0.0 is what you need!

Rather than serving as a blank text editor, the new builder is a tool for creative discovery. It features an interactive component catalog that suggests ideas and layout configurations as you build, transforming a technical task into an exploration of what’s possible.

And don’t worry, if you enjoy editing the YAML directly, you still can!

View your configurations as simple steps, or as code, as you prefer.

That same flexibility applies to setting up your hardware. For example, the Device Builder can tell you which pins are available on each board so you don’t need to go on a treasure hunt for datasheets of each development to find out for yourself. Combined with inline help and guidance right inside the workspace, you no longer need twenty different browser tabs open just to debug a stray wire.

What’s more, you don’t have to wait for one device to finish installing before moving to the next. The builder introduces background multitasking, letting you queue compilation, installation, or clean-up tasks across multiple hardware nodes without freezing up your browser tab.

What this means for advanced users

Don’t let this beginner-friendly focus fool you: this workspace is a massive productivity upgrade for advanced users too. By replacing manual datasheet cross-referencing with an integrated pin list, you lose the mental fatigue of tracking complex wiring layouts.

Combined with the background multitasking, you can now manage, compile, and push updates to an entire fleet of hardware nodes back-to-back, transforming what used to be a tedious afternoon of sequential flashing into a fast, parallel workflow.

Under the hood: Faster, leaner, and more capable

While the new visual interface changes how you interact with ESPHome, we’ve also overhauled how it runs on your devices. By optimizing data flows so they respond faster, you have plenty of room for growth as you add more features. Key highlights from this release include:

Reclaimed memory: If you build a battery-powered sensor that turns off its WiFi to save energy, the system now “reclaims” that dormant network memory. This frees up crucial space on the chip, helping to keep your device running smoothly.
Smoother screens and sound: Fans of custom touchscreens or media players will find that layout validation is now up to 4.5 times faster, and audio flows through a direct pipeline to cut sound stuttering and voice lag.
Next-gen hardware support: We’ve baked native support for popular hardware right into the core. This includes everything from high-fidelity audio chips and industrial pressure sensors to next-gen mmWave micro-radars that can pinpoint the positioning of multiple people in a room at once.

🛠️ Looking for the full changelog? This is just a high-level look at the biggest upgrades. If you want to dive into the complete, line-by-line list of every single bug fix, supported chip version, and technical milestone in this release, check out the full 2026.6.0 changelog.

Three things to try this weekend

With the new tools live, now’s a great time to clear your desk, grab a microcontroller, and dive in! Here’s some inspiration for your next project:

Match your hardware: Start a project quickly and easily by picking your board from our new Board Catalog. From there you can load the correct settings automatically and get building straightaway. We’ve even integrated community-submitted hardware configurations directly from devices.esphome.io.
Browse the components: Once your board is set, take a tour of the Component Catalog to discover what else is possible. This massive list of supported sensors, lights, and switches shows how easy it is to drop them into your project without typing a single line of code.
Get ready for the Starter Kit: If you don’t have any components yet and don’t know where to begin, help is coming! Stay tuned to our ESPHome social channels and our website: the official ESPHome Starter Kit, made by Apollo Automation, will be shipping soon… and we have more updates on the way!

Quick note for returning users

Are you an advanced user updating an existing fleet of smart devices? While this blog highlights our new beginner-friendly features, this release does include a few syntax modernizations for legacy configurations. Be sure to check out the Upgrade Checklist over on our official technical changelog before deploying your updates.