Home Assistant

home-assistant-control

This skill handles natural language smart home commands by invoking the Home Assistant MCP server. It learns your preferences and routines from repeated use.

When to invoke

• When the user gives any home control command (lights, thermostat, locks, sensors)
• When the user asks for home status ("is anything left on?", "what's the temperature?")
• When the user asks to create an automation or routine

Steps to execute

1. Parse the command

   • Identify: action (turn on/off/dim/set/check), entity (lights, thermostat, lock, TV), room/area, value (brightness %, temperature)
   • Check MEMORY.md for user preferences: "always leave porch light on after 9pm", "default dim level 40%"
   • If the command is ambiguous, ask one clarifying question

2. Check Home Assistant for entity names

   • Use the HA MCP list_entities tool to find the correct entity IDs for the named devices
   • Example: "living room lights" → light.living_room, light.living_room_lamp
   • Cache entity mappings in memory for faster future lookups

3. Execute the action

   • Call the appropriate HA MCP service:
     • Lights: light.turn_on, light.turn_off, light.set_brightness
     • Climate: climate.set_temperature, climate.set_hvac_mode
     • Locks: lock.lock, lock.unlock
     • Switches: switch.turn_on, switch.turn_off
     • Media: media_player.turn_off, media_player.volume_set
   • Confirm the result from the MCP response

4. Confirm to user

   • Report what was done: "Done. Living room lights turned off. Thermostat set to 68°F."
   • If any devices failed (offline, unreachable): report which ones and suggest checking HA

5. Learn routines

   • Track patterns in MEMORY.md: if the user gives the same combination of commands repeatedly
   • After 3+ similar requests: "I notice you often turn off lights and lock the door together in the evening. Want me to create a 'goodnight' routine?"
   • If user agrees: create a named cron skill for it using the cron tool

6. Handle routine triggers

   • If user says "goodnight", "leaving", "morning" etc.: check MEMORY.md for saved routines
   • Execute the matched routine if one exists
   • If no routine exists: execute reasonable defaults and ask if they want to save it

Common command patterns

• "Turn off all lights" → iterate light.* entities and turn off all
• "Set thermostat to 70" → climate.set_temperature on climate entity
• "Lock the front door" → lock.lock on door lock entity
• "Is anyone home?" → check person.* entities or group.all_devices tracker
• "What's the temperature outside?" → read weather or outdoor sensor entity

Output format

Done. [What was done]
[Any failures or notes]

For status checks:

Home status:
• Lights: [on: living room, kitchen | off: all others]
• Temperature: [inside: 72°F | outside: 58°F]
• Doors: [front: locked | garage: unlocked ⚠️]
• [Any alerts or anomalies]

Notes

• This skill requires the Home Assistant MCP server to be configured in hermes.yaml
• Entity names vary by HA installation — the skill discovers them dynamically via list_entities
• Preferences and routines recorded in MEMORY.md persist across sessions (volume-mounted)