Did you know you can connect OpenAI’s Dot to Home Assistant? Your dot can check your home’s current state, understand your rooms and devices, and control them with the permissions you allow. It can also help with the Home Assistant work behind the scenes, including dashboards, scripts, automations, and debugging. Your OpenAI Dot can even proactively monitor your Home Assistant!
I already have this set up with my own dot, Hex, which can look at my Home Assistant through Homeway. Being able to ask your own AI agent about your home is pretty neat!
This guide walks through installing Homeway, connecting its MCP server to ChatGPT, and giving your dot access. Let’s get it set up!
How Does OpenAI Dot Connect To Home Assistant?
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It gives an AI agent tools it can use to get information or take action in another service. In this case, those tools connect your dot to Home Assistant.
Homeway’s remote MCP server handles that connection. You install Homeway on your Home Assistant setup, connect your account, and add Homeway to ChatGPT as a plugin. Your dot gets access through that installed and enabled plugin.
What You Need
- A working Home Assistant setup.
- A desktop browser for the ChatGPT connection steps.
Step 1: Install Homeway For Home Assistant
First, you will need Homeway to let your OpenAI dot connect to Home Assistant. Homeway is a free Home Assistant community project that provides tools like remote access, MCP servers, AI assistants, and more.
Start with the Homeway setup guide. It walks you through installing Homeway and linking your Home Assistant to your account. If your Home Assistant supports Apps, setup takes only 20 seconds!
Step 2: Add The Home Assistant MCP Server To ChatGPT
Open ChatGPT Plugins in your desktop browser.
- Select the + button, then Add custom MCP server.
- Name the plugin Homeway.
- Under Connection, enter this server URL:
https://homeway.io/api/mcp - Select OAuth authentication. If a transport choice appears, use HTTP or Streamable HTTP.
- Review the connection warning and acknowledge it to proceed.
- Select Create as a plugin, then install the resulting plugin.
- Complete the Homeway sign-in and authorization prompts using the account linked to your Home Assistant.
OpenAI’s servers will discover the rest of the setup details and redirect you to Homeway to log in. Once you’re logged in and you give OpenAI access, you’re good to go!
Step 3: Ask Your Dot To Check Your Home
Open your dot’s conversation and ask it something about your Home Assistant. Start with something like: “tell me about the devices in my home”. The dot should automatically find the Homeway Home Assistant MCP plugin and use it to gather data from Home Assistant.
If the connection works, you’re ready to start using your dot with Home Assistant! 🥳
What Can Your Dot Do With Home Assistant?
The useful part is that your agent can discover the structure of your home and work with its actual devices and settings. You don’t need to paste a list of entity IDs into every conversation.
Here are a few things to try, depending on the devices and permissions available:
- Check your home: “Which windows are open, and what is the temperature upstairs?”
- Monitor your home: “Keep an eye on my air quality monitor and alert me if the conditions get bad.”
- Control devices: “Set the living room lights to 30%.”
- Understand an automation: “Read my hallway lighting automation and explain when it runs.”
- Build something new: “Help me create a dashboard for the downstairs rooms. Show me the plan before changing anything.”
- Debug a problem: “Help me investigate why this automation isn’t running. Read the relevant configuration first.”
For configuration changes, review the proposed edit and keep a backup. For device control, start with something simple, like a lamp, and check the result in Home Assistant.
Privacy And Control
You’re in full control of the Home Assistant MCP connection to OpenAI. You can enable and disable specific read and write access controls from the Homeway MCP settings. You can also fully revoke OpenAI’s access to your Home Assistant at any time.
Homeway has a strong Privacy Commitment that clearly says we don’t record, store, or track any of your data. Homeway was built by the Home Assistant community for the Home Assistant community; your data is not our business.
Is The Homeway MCP Server Free?
Yes! Homeway offers its remote Home Assistant MCP server for free. Your OpenAI account still needs access to the features used in this guide. Homeway is a community-supported project. Our optional Supporter Perks help fund development and the service, and include higher-priority MCP routing.
Does This Also Set Up Home Assistant Voice?
This guide connects your OpenAI dot to Home Assistant. To add an AI voice assistant inside Home Assistant’s Assist pipeline, see our separate Homeway Sage setup guide.
Join The Community
If you get stuck or build something awesome, join our Homeway community and let us know. We’d love to see what you try!
