Table of Contents
π Home Assistant (High-Level Overview)
Home Assistant is the central automation and orchestration system inside TorresVault, integrating lighting, sensors, network health, FPP lighting control, BLE tracking, and room-level dashboards into one unified platform.
This page provides the architectural overview of how Home Assistant fits into the broader TorresVault ecosystem.
Role in TorresVault
Home Assistant acts as the automation brain of the environment:
- Collects data from sensors (motion, BLE, environmental)
- Controls lights, switches, media players, and devices
- Powers dashboards: mobile, wall tablets, control panels
- Integrates with UniFi, Proxmox, Pi-hole, TrueNAS
- Automates cross-system routines (lighting, FPP, IoT, network, security)
It ties together hardware from multiple platforms into a single cohesive automation layer.
System Architecture
Home Assistant runs inside a dedicated Proxmox VM and integrates with the following systems:
Core Systems
- Proxmox β VM host for HA
- UniFi Network β device presence, AP states, WAN health
- Pi-hole DNS β local DNS overrides, ad-block data feeds
- TrueNAS β backup storage, snapshots, recordings
Show Control
- FPP (Falcon Player)
- Mega Tree β 192.168.60.55
- Matrix β 192.168.60.56
- Start/Stop show
- Playlist control
- WLED notifications (Car, Office, Living Room)
Voice + Local AI
- Home Assistant Voice (Piper TTS + Whisper STT)
- Local voice control (Office prototype)
- Future: Jarvis-style full-house voice assistant
BLE Item & Room Tracking
- Pi Zero 2W running Room Assistant (planned)
- ESPHome BLE devices (Atom Lite / Echo)
- BLE Tags: keys, wallet, badge, laptop bag
- Car BLE tracker triggers TTS events
Dashboard Structure
Home Assistant uses a multi-dashboard, multi-view layout, optimized for mobile devices and wall-mounted tablets.
β Downstairs Dashboard
- Swipeable room views
- Rooms: Kitchen, Bar, Foyer, Guest Bath, Living Room
- Dynamic tiles (color = room activity)
- Compact βBackβ button in subviews
- Vacuum: Rosie
- Thermostat: Foyer climate panel
β Upstairs Dashboard
- Rooms: Office, Master, Guest, Momβs Room, Hallway
- Swipe navigation
- Dynamic tiles
- Back button template
β Outside Dashboard
- Front Yard / Back Yard / Garage
- Smaller camera feeds
- WLED + Mega Tree controller
- Garage freezer outlet monitoring
β System / Network Dashboard
- UniFi client count + AP health
- WAN latency
- Pi-hole stats
- Proxmox VM summary
- UPS / NUT integration (future)
Automations (High-Level)
Home Assistant orchestrates major automation layers across TorresVault:
Network & Infrastructure
- AP down alerts
- UniFi client-count drop alerts
- WAN latency pings
- Pi-hole health checks
Lighting & Motion
- Zigbee/PIR motion-based lighting
- Living Room motion toggle
- Smart LED notifications via WLED
FPP Lighting Show
- Start / Stop show buttons
- Playlist selector
- Fault notifications (FPP offline, sync errors)
BLE Tracking
- Presence tracking for keys, wallet, badge, laptop
- Car BLE β TTS βGood morningβ & item reminders
- Planned: βForgot somethingβ automations
Voice Assistant
- Office test-deployment of HA Voice
- Goal: Replace all Alexa/Echo devices
- Local STT/TTS (Whisper/Piper)
- Seamless voiceβAIβautomation pipeline
Integrations
High-level list of core integrations Home Assistant uses:
- UniFi OS (Gateway, Switches, APs)
- Pi-hole DNS
- Proxmox VE
- Prometheus / Grafana
- Zigbee/Matter (Hue, Aqara, standard ZHA)
- ESPHome sensors + BLE gateways
- FPP (Falcon Player)
- Roku & media players
- WLED (indicators, car, office)
- Vivint Security
- Nest Thermostat
Current State
- Fully functional, stable automation layer
- Dashboards rebuilt with unified templates
- All views optimized for mobile + wall tablets
- BLE + voice systems expanding
- FPP integration used successfully for 2024/2025 seasons
Future Enhancements (Roadmap)
- Full room-level BLE tracking via Pi Zero + Room Assistant
- Complete migration from Echo β HA Voice
- Unified βJarvisβ local AI control
- Mini-PC Proxmox nodes + Kubernetes (in-VM)
- Add UPS monitoring via NUT
- Add garden environmental sensors + irrigation automations
This page documents the Home Assistant architecture inside the TorresVault ecosystem and evolves as the system expands.
