HomeAssistantX - Home Assistant for .NET and PowerShell

HomeAssistantX is a typed, event-driven Home Assistant client for .NET and PowerShell. It connects the native Home Assistant hierarchy—floors, areas, devices, entities, states, and actions—so applications and scripts can discover an unfamiliar house before operating it.

The same engine owns REST, WebSocket notifications, authentication, reconnect, troubleshooting, Supervisor operations, typed everyday controls, and protected raw access for custom integrations.

• joined floor, area, device, entity, live-state, integration, and action inventory
• exact friendly-name or native-ID resolution with ambiguity errors instead of silent guesses
• typed controls for lights, switches, climate, covers, media players, remotes, locks, scenes, scripts, buttons, fans, valves, vacuums, lawn mowers, alarms, sirens, humidifiers, water heaters, and common helpers
• runtime action discovery, including descriptions, fields, examples, defaults, and selectors supplied by Home Assistant and installed integrations
• the documented Home Assistant REST API: state, history, logbook, actions, events, templates, calendars, cameras, intents, and conversations
• WebSocket events and reconnect-safe state notifications without polling
• persistent and notify-entity messages, plus reconnect-safe persistent-notification updates
• calendar discovery, timed/all-day event management, and live event-list updates
• labels and scoped categories, including create/update/delete with explicit nullable-field clearing
• Energy preferences, validation, solar forecasts, fossil-energy calculations, Recorder long-term statistics, and maintenance
• typed current weather observations plus daily, hourly, and twice-daily push forecasts
• typed camera state, bounded/scaled snapshots, HLS and signed MJPEG paths, stream capabilities, preferences, and reconnect-safe state updates
• Home Assistant-native media-source and media-player browse, search, and resolve APIs
• frontend panels plus Lovelace dashboard, configuration, and resource management
• automation runtime state and execution kept separate from administrator-managed definitions
• OAuth authorization, proactive and rejection-triggered refresh, revocation, and host-owned token persistence
• dependency-free local IPv4 mDNS discovery plus typed companion-app registration and webhook contracts
• logs, Repairs, system health, diagnostics, traces, integrations, and updates
• Home Assistant OS and Supervisor information, logs, jobs, backups, apps, updates, and restarts
• Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7 on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• .NET Framework 4.7.2, .NET Standard 2.0, and .NET 10 from one package
• a local .NET 10 MCP server for AI-assisted discovery, diagnostics, and automation drafts

The endpoint-by-endpoint contract is maintained in the Home Assistant support matrix.

PowerShell cmdlets are thin task-oriented surfaces over the .NET engine. The generated command reference covers every command and parameter set.

HomeAssistantX owns the Home Assistant protocol and joined provider inventory. Applications still map that data into their own product models and safety/UI policy:

Home Assistant -> HomeAssistantX -> product mapper -> application model -> UI

The first public NuGet and PowerShell Gallery packages are pending. The commands below apply after publication. Until then, build the repository from source; the MCP server can run directly from that checkout.

dotnet add package HomeAssistantX

Install-Module -Name HomeAssistantX -AllowClobber -Force

The separate HomeAssistantX.Mcp host uses the same C# client as the PowerShell module and Windows applications. It offers entity and action discovery, issues, updates, system logs, automation inspection, draft validation, and guarded automation definition saves. It uses local stdio, so the Home Assistant token stays in the local process environment. See MCP setup and workflow.

Connect-HomeAssistant validates REST and WebSocket access, returns the connection, and stores it as the default for the current PowerShell runspace. Other commands use that default when -Connection is omitted.

$token = (Get-Content -LiteralPath $env:HOME_ASSISTANT_TOKEN_FILE -Raw).Trim()
Connect-HomeAssistant -Uri 'https://home.example.net' -AccessToken $token | Out-Null

Get-HomeAssistantInfo
Get-HomeAssistantFloor
Get-HomeAssistantArea
Get-HomeAssistantArea -Floor 'Ground Floor'
Get-HomeAssistantDevice -Area Kitchen
Get-HomeAssistantEntity -Area Kitchen
Get-HomeAssistantEntity -Area Kitchen -Domain light

Home Assistant calls a physical location an area. -Room is accepted as an alias where it helps interactive use. Entity area assignment follows Home Assistant: an entity's own area wins; otherwise it inherits its device's area.

Discovery objects retain Home Assistant's full friendly names, registry aliases, and native IDs. Every explicit -Entity value must resolve exactly once; ambiguous or missing names fail with candidate IDs instead of producing a partial selection.

Entity, device, area, and floor discovery remains available to non-administrator users. When Home Assistant denies administrator-only configuration-entry enrichment, the joined inventory reports IsConfigEntryEnrichmentAvailable = false and leaves integration details empty instead of failing otherwise permitted entity reads.

$actions = Get-HomeAssistantAction -Entity 'Kitchen light'
$actions | Select-Object Domain, Action, Name, Description

$turnOn = Get-HomeAssistantAction -Domain light -Action turn_on
$turnOn.Fields | Select-Object Field, Name, Description, Required, Example, Selector

The action catalog comes from the connected Home Assistant instance. It therefore includes actions and fields registered by custom integrations, not only the domains known when HomeAssistantX was built.

# Every light in the Kitchen area
Set-HomeAssistantLight -Area Kitchen -Power On -BrightnessPercent 45 -WhatIf
Set-HomeAssistantLight -Area Kitchen -Power On -BrightnessPercent 45 -Confirm:$false

# One light by friendly name or entity ID
Set-HomeAssistantLight -Entity 'Kitchen island' -Power Off
Set-HomeAssistantLight -Entity light.kitchen_island -Power On -RgbColor 255,180,90

# Discovery objects can flow directly into typed controls
Get-HomeAssistantEntity -Area Kitchen -Domain light |
    Set-HomeAssistantLight -Power Off

Set-HomeAssistantSwitch -Area Utility -Power On
Set-HomeAssistantClimate -Entity 'Downstairs thermostat' -HvacMode heat -Temperature 21.5
Set-HomeAssistantCover -Entity 'Kitchen blind' -PositionPercent 60
Set-HomeAssistantMediaPlayer -Area LivingRoom -VolumePercent 30 -Playback Play
Set-HomeAssistantMediaPlayer -Entity media_player.kitchen `
    -MediaContentId 'media-source://media_source/local/dinner.mp3' `
    -MediaContentType music -Announce
Invoke-HomeAssistantRemote -Entity remote.harmony -Action TurnOn -Activity 'Watch TV'
Invoke-HomeAssistantRemote -Entity remote.living_room `
    -Action SendCommand -Command Power -RepeatCount 2 -WhatIf
Set-HomeAssistantLock -Entity lock.front_door -Action Unlock -WhatIf

Invoke-HomeAssistantRoutine -Entity scene.evening -Action ActivateScene
Set-HomeAssistantFan -Entity fan.office -Percentage 35
Set-HomeAssistantValve -Entity valve.garden -PositionPercent 50 -WhatIf
Set-HomeAssistantVacuum -Entity vacuum.downstairs -Action ReturnToBase
Set-HomeAssistantLawnMower -Entity lawn_mower.garden -Action Dock -WhatIf
Set-HomeAssistantAlarm -Entity alarm_control_panel.home -Action ArmNight -WhatIf
Set-HomeAssistantSiren -Entity siren.house -Action TurnOn `
    -Tone alarm -VolumePercent 40 -Duration '00:00:10' -WhatIf
Set-HomeAssistantHumidifier -Entity humidifier.bedroom -HumidityPercent 50
Set-HomeAssistantWaterHeater -Entity water_heater.tank -Temperature 52
Set-HomeAssistantHelper -Entity input_number.volume -Domain InputNumber -Number 15

Typed commands validate common values, expose PowerShell completion for enums, resolve friendly targets, and support -WhatIf / -Confirm. Lock operations use high confirmation impact, as do alarms, sirens, and lawn mowers. The calling application or script still owns its authorization policy for consequential actions.

Range-based climate calls require both low and high temperatures and cannot be combined with a scalar temperature. Media-player Off and Toggle are standalone power operations; combine additional playback, source, or volume changes with Power On or omit Power so later actions cannot reverse a requested shutdown. Starting media content is already a playback operation, so content and a separate Playback or SeekSeconds action cannot be combined in one call. Queue placement and announcement playback are alternative Home Assistant modes. Remote power, send, learn, and delete operations share one typed command whose parameters are validated for the selected action. Light color temperature and RGB are alternative representations and cannot be sent together.

The default is runspace-local, not process-wide. Jobs and parallel runspaces do not inherit it. Explicit pipeline use remains available, and -NoDefault is useful when working with more than one home. Establishing another default disposes the previous default connection; a -NoDefault connection remains caller-owned:

$home = Get-HomeAssistantConnection
$lab = Connect-HomeAssistant -Uri 'https://lab.example.net' `
    -AccessToken $labToken -Name Lab -NoDefault

$home | Get-HomeAssistantEntity -Domain light
$lab  | Get-HomeAssistantEntity -Domain light
$lab  | Get-HomeAssistantEntity -Domain light |
    Set-HomeAssistantLight -Power Off
$lab  | Disconnect-HomeAssistant

# Disconnects the current runspace default
Disconnect-HomeAssistant

Entities emitted by the module retain their source connection for typed-control pipeline use. Passing a different explicit -Connection, combining entities from different homes in one action, or piping an entity without provenance and without -Connection fails before dispatch.

Typed commands cover the common domains. Invoke-HomeAssistantAction remains the direct path for integration-specific actions and uncommon fields discovered with Get-HomeAssistantAction:

Get-HomeAssistantAction -Domain vacuum

Invoke-HomeAssistantAction vacuum send_command `
    -EntityId vacuum.downstairs `
    -Data @{ command = 'clean_spot'; params = @{ repeats = 2 } } `
    -WhatIf

Get-HomeAssistantNotification
Send-HomeAssistantNotification -Persistent -Message 'Garage is open' `
    -Title Security -NotificationId garage-open
Send-HomeAssistantNotification -Area Kitchen -Message 'Dinner is ready' -WhatIf
Receive-HomeAssistantNotification -Count 1 -TimeoutSeconds 30

Receive-HomeAssistantEvent -EventType automation_triggered

$nextChange = Receive-HomeAssistantEvent `
    -EntityId light.kitchen, lock.front_door `
    -Count 1 -TimeoutSeconds 30

The receive commands hold bounded WebSocket subscriptions until canceled or their count/timeout is reached. Persistent notifications emit an immediate current snapshot and then added, updated, or removed changes. Reconnect-safe state subscriptions are also available through the .NET client.States API.

Get-HomeAssistantCalendar
Get-HomeAssistantCalendarEvent -EntityId calendar.home `
    -EndTime (Get-Date).AddDays(7)

Set-HomeAssistantCalendarEvent -EntityId calendar.home -Summary Dinner `
    -StartTime '2026-08-27T18:00:00+02:00' `
    -EndTime '2026-08-27T20:00:00+02:00' -WhatIf
Receive-HomeAssistantCalendarEvent -EntityId calendar.home -Count 1

Get-HomeAssistantLabel
Set-HomeAssistantLabel -LabelId security -ClearColor -Description 'Safety devices'
Get-HomeAssistantCategory -Scope automation
Set-HomeAssistantCategory -Scope automation -Name Comfort -Icon mdi:sofa

Calendar parameter sets distinguish timed and all-day events, while -Uid selects update behavior. Label/category setters distinguish create from update; -ClearColor, -ClearDescription, and -ClearIcon explicitly send null instead of silently omitting a field.

Get-HomeAssistantEnergy
Get-HomeAssistantEnergy -Info
Get-HomeAssistantEnergy -Validation
Get-HomeAssistantEnergy -SolarForecast
Get-HomeAssistantEnergy -FossilConsumption `
    -StartTime (Get-Date).AddDays(-1) -EndTime (Get-Date) `
    -EnergyStatisticId sensor.grid_energy `
    -Co2StatisticId sensor.co2_intensity -Period Hour

Get-HomeAssistantStatistic -Kind Sum
Get-HomeAssistantStatistic -StatisticId sensor.grid_energy `
    -StartTime (Get-Date).AddDays(-7) -Period Hour -Type Change, Sum
Get-HomeAssistantHistory sensor.grid_energy -StartTime (Get-Date).AddHours(-6)
Get-HomeAssistantLogbook -StartTime (Get-Date).Date -EntityId light.kitchen
Test-HomeAssistantStatistic

Get-HomeAssistantWeather
Get-HomeAssistantWeather weather.home -Forecast -ForecastType Daily
Receive-HomeAssistantWeatherForecast weather.home -ForecastType Hourly -Count 1

Energy sources and solar forecasts may contain integration-defined fields, so their named APIs preserve those portions as JSON while typing stable Home Assistant fields. Recorder mutation commands use high-impact confirmation and validate their parameter sets before -WhatIf; clearing statistics and purging Recorder data are deliberately explicit operations.

Get-HomeAssistantCamera
Get-HomeAssistantCamera camera.front -Capabilities
Get-HomeAssistantCamera camera.front -Stream
Export-HomeAssistantCameraSnapshot camera.front ./front.jpg `
    -Width 1280 -Height 720

$library = Get-HomeAssistantMedia
Get-HomeAssistantMedia -PlayerEntityId media_player.kitchen -Search dinner
Get-HomeAssistantMedia -Resolve `
    -MediaContentId 'media-source://media_source/local/dinner.mp3'

Get-HomeAssistantDashboard
Get-HomeAssistantDashboard -Configuration -UrlPath house-main
Set-HomeAssistantDashboard -ConfigurationJson $dashboardJson `
    -UrlPath house-main -WhatIf

Get-HomeAssistantAutomation
Invoke-HomeAssistantAutomation automation.morning -WhatIf
Get-HomeAssistantAutomation morning-routine -Configuration
Test-HomeAssistantAutomationDraft -ConfigurationJson $automationJson
Set-HomeAssistantAutomation morning-routine $automationJson -WhatIf

Camera snapshots are bounded by the connection response limit and exported through an atomic local-file replacement. Media trees retain provider-specific fields while exposing stable browse/play identifiers. Lovelace writes require an administrator and storage-backed dashboards/resources. Automation entity execution is a runtime action; editing uses the separate administrator-only configuration identifier and never happens implicitly during Invoke. Draft validation checks trigger, condition, and action fragments with Home Assistant without saving the definition; it does not test physical effects.

Get-HomeAssistantInfo -OperationalSnapshot
Get-HomeAssistantInfo -Capabilities
Get-HomeAssistantInfo -Health
Get-HomeAssistantLog | Where-Object Level -In Error, Warning
Get-HomeAssistantIssue
Get-HomeAssistantIntegration -Domain mqtt
Get-HomeAssistantTrace automation morning_lights
Test-HomeAssistantConfiguration
Export-HomeAssistantDiagnostic entry_id ./diagnostic.json

# Home Assistant OS / Supervised installation and suitable permissions required
Get-HomeAssistantInfo -Supervisor
Get-HomeAssistantApp
Get-HomeAssistantBackup
Get-HomeAssistantUpdate -AvailableOnly

Use the operational snapshot as a first read when investigating a home. It returns entity availability, available-update, active unignored Repairs, and system-log entry counts without entity names or log messages. Counts are null when a section is not installed or its read failed; IsPartial and UnavailableSections distinguish read failures from missing capabilities. C# callers use the same engine:

var snapshot = await client.Operations.GetOperationalSnapshotAsync(cancellationToken);
if (snapshot.IsPartial)
    Console.WriteLine(string.Join(", ", snapshot.UnavailableSections));

Logs and diagnostics may contain sensitive installation information. Treat the output as confidential and review it before sharing.

using HomeAssistantX;
using HomeAssistantX.Inventory;

var baseUri = new Uri(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("HOME_ASSISTANT_URL")!);
var token = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("HOME_ASSISTANT_TOKEN")!;

using var client = HomeAssistantClient.Create(baseUri, token);
var inventory = await client.Inventory.GetSnapshotAsync();

foreach (var floor in inventory.Floors)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"{floor.Name}: {floor.Areas.Count} areas");
}

var kitchenLights = await client.Inventory.GetEntitiesAsync(
    new HomeAssistantEntityQuery
    {
        Area = "Kitchen",
        Domain = "light",
        AvailableOnly = true
    });

foreach (var light in kitchenLights)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"{light.Name} [{light.EntityId}] = {light.State}");
}

The joined snapshot contains raw registry/state objects as well as the resolved view, so consumers can use new or integration-specific fields without waiting for another model.

using HomeAssistantX.Controls;
using HomeAssistantX.Services;

var kitchen = client.Inventory.ResolveArea(inventory, "Kitchen");
var result = await client.Controls.Lights.TurnOnAsync(
    HomeAssistantTarget.ForArea(kitchen.AreaId),
    new HomeAssistantLightOptions
    {
        BrightnessPercent = 45,
        Transition = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1)
    });

client.Controls exposes focused clients for lights, switches, climate, covers, media players, remotes, locks, routines, fans, valves, cleaning devices, alarms, sirens, humidifiers, water heaters, and common helpers. client.Notifications, client.Calendars, client.Registries, client.Cameras, client.Media, client.Dashboards, and client.Automations own their corresponding platform contracts. client.Services retains the generic fluent action builder for every other domain and custom integration.

Typed controls use WebSocket calls by default. Hosts that deliberately keep commands on the REST transport can set HomeAssistantClientOptions.ControlServiceCallTransport to HomeAssistantServiceCallTransport.Rest; the same typed validation and payload ownership apply on either transport. Explicit Services.CallAsync and Services.CallRestAsync calls continue to select their named transport.

using HomeAssistantX.States;

using var subscription = await client.States.SubscribeAsync(
    HomeAssistantStateFilter.ForDomains("light", "switch", "lock"),
    (change, cancellationToken) =>
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"{change.EntityId}: {change.CurrentState?.State ?? "removed"}");
        return Task.CompletedTask;
    });

await subscription.Completion;

The state client subscribes before loading its initial snapshot, buffers changes that race the snapshot, reconnects, and reports changes missed while disconnected.

using HomeAssistantX.Discovery;
using HomeAssistantX.MobileApp;

var instances = await new HomeAssistantDiscoveryClient().DiscoverAsync(
    TimeSpan.FromSeconds(3));

var registration = await client.MobileApp.RegisterAsync(
    new HomeAssistantMobileAppRegistrationRequest
    {
        AppId = "com.example.controller",
        AppName = "Example Controller",
        AppVersion = "1.0",
        DeviceName = Environment.MachineName,
        Manufacturer = "Example",
        Model = "Desktop",
        OperatingSystemName = "Windows",
        SupportsEncryption = true
    });

Discovery returns untrusted connection hints; the host chooses and verifies an instance before authentication. Registration creates a Home Assistant mobile_app integration and returns a webhook identifier and, when requested, a secret that the host must store securely. Encrypted webhooks require an IHomeAssistantMobileAppPayloadProtector implementation compatible with Home Assistant's NaCl SecretBox format. HomeAssistantX fails closed when a secret is present without that protector; it does not implement or silently downgrade cryptography. Unencrypted webhooks remain available for hosts that deliberately use that Home Assistant mode over a trusted HTTP(S) path.

For production applications, keep OAuth tokens in Keychain, Credential Manager, or another platform credential store. HomeAssistantOAuthClient builds authorization URLs, exchanges codes, refreshes access tokens, and revokes refresh tokens. RefreshingAccessTokenProvider refreshes shortly before expiry and once when Home Assistant unexpectedly rejects an otherwise unexpired access token. Concurrent requests share the same refresh, and the host-provided persistence callback receives the replacement before it becomes active.

REST requests retry once after HTTP 401. A rejected WebSocket token is refreshed and authenticated on a new socket because Home Assistant closes the rejected session. StaticAccessTokenProvider does not retry rejected long-lived tokens; the authentication failure is returned to the caller. Custom providers can opt into the same one-retry policy by implementing IHomeAssistantAccessTokenRecovery. HomeAssistantX does not log or persist credentials itself.

Custom REST and WebSocket calls retain authentication, same-origin checks, timeouts, bounded response sizes, and classified failures. WebSocket connections negotiate Home Assistant message coalescing as command 1 and bound each received batch by both bytes and message count:

var preferences = await client.WebSocket.RequestAsync("energy/get_prefs");
var image = await client.Rest.GetBytesAsync("api/camera_proxy/camera.front_door");

• Supervisor features require Home Assistant OS or a supervised installation and suitable permissions.
• State writes through /api/states change Home Assistant's state representation; they do not control the physical device.
• Restore, wipe, recovery, and host shutdown are not convenience operations.
• Refresh-capable providers make one recovery attempt after a rejected access token. Static tokens and failed refreshes surface an authentication failure; there is no hidden infinite retry loop.
• HomeKit uses a different protocol and credential model.
• Product-specific device normalization, UI, and action policy stay in the consuming application.

See Docs/SUPPORT.md for precise coverage and Docs/ROADMAP.md for open work.

dotnet restore HomeAssistantX.slnx
dotnet build HomeAssistantX.slnx --configuration Release --no-restore
dotnet test HomeAssistantX.Tests/HomeAssistantX.Tests.csproj --configuration Release --no-build
dotnet pack HomeAssistantX/HomeAssistantX.csproj --configuration Release --no-build
./Tests/PowerShell/Test-Module.ps1 `
    -AssemblyPath ./HomeAssistantX.PowerShell/bin/Release/net10.0/HomeAssistantX.PowerShell.dll

The contract suite uses a real loopback HTTP/WebSocket peer and runs on .NET Framework 4.7.2 and .NET 10. It proves transport framing, concurrency, cancellation, reconnect, joined discovery, target resolution, typed payloads, runspace defaults, -WhatIf, and PowerShell 5.1/7 behavior.

When an intentional public API change requires a new compatibility baseline, build every target first, let only the .NET 10 test update the file, clear the update flag, and then verify both runtime surfaces:

dotnet build HomeAssistantX.slnx --configuration Release
$env:HOMEASSISTANTX_UPDATE_API_BASELINE = '1'
dotnet test HomeAssistantX.Tests/HomeAssistantX.Tests.csproj --configuration Release --framework net10.0 --no-build --filter 'FullyQualifiedName~PublicApiCompatibilityTests'
Remove-Item Env:HOMEASSISTANTX_UPDATE_API_BASELINE
dotnet test HomeAssistantX.Tests/HomeAssistantX.Tests.csproj --configuration Release --framework net10.0 --no-build
dotnet test HomeAssistantX.Tests/HomeAssistantX.Tests.csproj --configuration Release --framework net472 --no-build

Do not set the update flag on a multi-target dotnet test; the net472 lane deliberately refuses to write the shared baseline.

Optional live tests use HOME_ASSISTANT_URL and HOME_ASSISTANT_TOKEN. They read the actual installation without calling actions or changing the home.

• Generated PowerShell command reference
• PowerShell design guide
• Home Assistant support matrix
• Roadmap
• Runnable .NET example
• Issues

HomeAssistantX is licensed under the MIT License.

HomeAssistantX is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Home Assistant project.