Goals
Improve serial connection capabilities by having a framework to build with.
This opportunity is important for Home Assistant’s future because:
- It enables a more streamlined way for proxying integrations that rely on serial communication
- It aligns with OHF / Home Assistant’s focus to foster standards and connectivity solutions
- It further broadens the ecosystem
Vision
Serial proxying should become a first class citizen and should feel approachable by integrators to use and build upon in a consistent manner
Scope & Boundaries
In Scope
- Defining a serial (proxy) protocol
- Providing framework for building proxying integrations to build stable serial communication around it
Out of Scope
- Individual Home Assistant integrations
- Instead focus on providing a serial proxying framework
These boundaries are intentionally defined to avoid scope creep while ensuring long-term extensibility.
Further things to consider
One thing to note here is that the RCP protocol used between the Radio and OpenThread is not suited for proxying over network since it is very timing sensitive.
A lot is being done with it, especially with SMLite products. For quite some people it seems to work quite reliable, at least over Ethernet but we need to consider a more holistic architectural view.
Furthermore, recently a new serial protocol which implements the NCP architecture got implemented that moves more OpenThread logic into the radio microcontroller, especially the time sensitive ones. This should be better suited for proxying over network.
Plan
The work will be broken down into high-level epics:
Epic 1: Establish serial proxy protocol
- Define protocol
- Use ESPHome as basis
Epic 2: Introduce integration framework for HA integrations
- Define framework to build (proxying) integrations in HA
- Define discovery and what / how to expose upon connection serial proxying device
Epic 3: Have a Home Assistant Integration
- Have a reference HA integration
- Further scoping tbd
Epic 4: Investigate on a portable ZBT-2 version
Epic 5: Expansion & Iteration
- Incrementally expand supported integrations
- Incorporate community feedback and real-world usage
Prioritization will focus on delivering a usable, end-to-end experience early, then expanding coverage over time.
Related Feature Requests
This opportunity addresses long-standing community interest in improving connectivity through proxying serial communication.
Related and overlapping feature requests include:
(Exact links to existing Feature Requests should be added here once identified.)
Additional Context
Decision Log
No response
Q&A
No response
Goals
Improve serial connection capabilities by having a framework to build with.
This opportunity is important for Home Assistant’s future because:
Vision
Serial proxying should become a first class citizen and should feel approachable by integrators to use and build upon in a consistent manner
Scope & Boundaries
In Scope
Out of Scope
These boundaries are intentionally defined to avoid scope creep while ensuring long-term extensibility.
Further things to consider
One thing to note here is that the RCP protocol used between the Radio and OpenThread is not suited for proxying over network since it is very timing sensitive.
A lot is being done with it, especially with SMLite products. For quite some people it seems to work quite reliable, at least over Ethernet but we need to consider a more holistic architectural view.
Furthermore, recently a new serial protocol which implements the NCP architecture got implemented that moves more OpenThread logic into the radio microcontroller, especially the time sensitive ones. This should be better suited for proxying over network.
Plan
The work will be broken down into high-level epics:
Epic 1: Establish serial proxy protocol
Epic 2: Introduce integration framework for HA integrations
Epic 3: Have a Home Assistant Integration
Epic 4: Investigate on a portable ZBT-2 version
Epic 5: Expansion & Iteration
Prioritization will focus on delivering a usable, end-to-end experience early, then expanding coverage over time.
Related Feature Requests
This opportunity addresses long-standing community interest in improving connectivity through proxying serial communication.
Related and overlapping feature requests include:
(Exact links to existing Feature Requests should be added here once identified.)
Additional Context
Decision Log
No response
Q&A
No response