Aaron returns to share how his Home Assistant setup evolved from endless tinkering to a rock‑solid system that runs his family life. We cover Z‑Wave provisioning, ESPHome vs off‑the‑shelf reliability, RATGDO for garage doors, HA Green/Yellow, voice‑first routines, and the rise of AI‑powered helpers.
Chapters
00:00:00 – Welcome, guest intro
00:02:30 – Aaron’s Home Assistant dev journey
00:06:30 – Life change and HA evolving
00:10:30 – HA Green/Yellow setup ease
00:14:30 – Proxmox vs appliance hubs
00:18:30 – Remote radios and antennas
00:22:30 – AppDaemon to UI automations
00:26:30 – AI helpers and sensors
00:30:30 – Dashboards vs default view
00:34:30 – Voice and automation-first
00:38:30 – Community ideas and sharing
00:42:30 – Maintain vs rebuild strategy
00:46:30 – Vacuum and dishwasher flows
00:50:30 – Guest mode with Shortcuts
00:54:30 – ESPHome vs plug-and-play
00:58:30 – Z-Wave provisioning
01:02:30 – Local-first hardware wins
01:06:30 – Matter, cameras, standards
01:10:00 – Open-source continuity, advice
00:02:30 – Aaron’s Home Assistant dev journey
00:06:30 – Life change and HA evolving
00:10:30 – HA Green/Yellow setup ease
00:14:30 – Proxmox vs appliance hubs
00:18:30 – Remote radios and antennas
00:22:30 – AppDaemon to UI automations
00:26:30 – AI helpers and sensors
00:30:30 – Dashboards vs default view
00:34:30 – Voice and automation-first
00:38:30 – Community ideas and sharing
00:42:30 – Maintain vs rebuild strategy
00:46:30 – Vacuum and dishwasher flows
00:50:30 – Guest mode with Shortcuts
00:54:30 – ESPHome vs plug-and-play
00:58:30 – Z-Wave provisioning
01:02:30 – Local-first hardware wins
01:06:30 – Matter, cameras, standards
01:10:00 – Open-source continuity, advice
