The new rules I have come to use are:
- buy the cheapest hardware that gets the job done
- ignore negative reviews that are software related
- upon receipt of devices, ask claude for local-first cfw
- have fun for a few hours acting as a meat proxy
- boom, cheap local-only smart home is done
Use a SBC or nas for home assistant. This process worked for me for switches, a thermostat, an air quality monitor, a thermometer, and a window fan.
Would’ve paid ~2.5x for hardware that had the appropriate local-first capability out of the box. Instead this all fit within an existing $20 subscription to an inference provider. DS 4.1 running locally was on track too just more slowly.
emudhra mitm certificate probably helps here maybe.
> cfw
Custom firmware?
I wonder how long it will be until Claude starts refusing to do this kind of thing?
My rules seems much simpler and lower effort:
1. buy the Zigbee version
2. boom, local only smart home is done
I guess if there's a device that's actually wi-fi only then I'll have to go through your flow but so far there's been no need.
[dead]
My take currently. Exactly this. Buy Sonoff things, Raspberry Pi, and do some vibe coding. All local first.