As you’ve progressed through your smart home journey, you’ve likely learned how to control your Home Assistant devices using dashboards and automations. The next exciting step is incorporating voice control into your setup, allowing you to manage your home hands-free. Smart assistants like Alexa make this possible, providing a convenient way to interact with your devices using simple voice commands.
In this guide, we’ll focus on setting up voice control with Alexa. Although the primary example will be Alexa, similar methods can be applied to Google Assistant and Siri.
Some smart devices may already appear automatically in Alexa, especially those connected via Wi-Fi to apps like Smart Life or eWeLink, which are then linked to Alexa. However, there are many instances where you’ll want to control devices that don’t natively integrate with these apps—such as Zigbee devices, Home Assistant scenes, automations, or helpers. To achieve this, you’ll need one of two methods: the paid option via Nabu Casa cloud or the free option using the Emulated Hue integration.
Integrating Alexa with Home Assistant
To control devices that don’t appear automatically in Alexa, such as Zigbee devices, Home Assistant scenes, automations, or helpers, you can either use a paid or free method:
Option 1: Paid Method – Nabu Casa Cloud
Nabu Casa offers an easy and seamless way to integrate Home Assistant with Alexa through its cloud service. By subscribing to Nabu Casa, you get direct integration with Alexa, and it takes care of all the configuration and setup for you. This method is recommended if you want a hassle-free experience and don’t mind paying a small monthly fee.
- Subscribe to Nabu Casa: Start by subscribing to Nabu Casa via the Home Assistant settings.
- Link Alexa to Nabu Casa: Once subscribed, go to the Alexa app, enable the Home Assistant skill, and sign in using your Nabu Casa account.
- Discover Devices: Alexa will automatically discover devices, scenes, and entities from your Home Assistant setup. You can now control these through voice commands.
Option 2: Free Method – Emulated Hue Integration
The Emulated Hue integration is a free alternative that allows you to expose Home Assistant entities to Alexa by simulating a Philips Hue bridge. This method requires some manual configuration but is quite effective.
Step 1: Install the Emulated Hue Integration
- Access Home Assistant: Open your Home Assistant dashboard.
- Go to Integrations: Navigate to
Settings
>Devices & Services
>Integrations
. - Add Emulated Hue: Click on “Add Integration” and search for “Emulated Hue.” Follow the prompts to install it.
Step 2: Configure Emulated Hue in configuration.yaml
You’ll need to specify which devices or entities should be exposed to Alexa.
- Open
configuration.yaml
: Open theconfiguration.yaml
file from your Home Assistant configuration directory. - Add the Following Configuration:
emulated_hue:
listen_port: 80
expose_by_default: false
entities:
light.living_room:
name: "Living Room Light"
hidden: false
switch.garage_door:
name: "Garage Door"
hidden: false
- When configuring the Emulated Hue integration in your
configuration.yaml
file, you have the flexibility to expose various types of entities to Alexa for voice control. These can include devices and entities such as"switch"
,"light"
,"group"
,"input_boolean"
,"media_player"
,"fan"
, and"humidifier"
. Additionally, you can expose scripts and scenes, enabling you to trigger complex automations or adjust multiple devices simultaneously with a single voice command. By listing these entities under theemulated_hue
section, you can customize exactly which aspects of your Home Assistant setup are accessible via Alexa. - Restart Home Assistant: After saving the changes, restart Home Assistant to apply the new configuration.
Step 3: Discover Devices in Alexa
- Open the Alexa App: Open the Alexa app on your phone or tablet.
- Discover Devices: Go to the “Devices” tab and click on “Add Device.” Choose “Philips Hue” from the list, and Alexa will search for devices.
- Control Your Devices: Once discovered, you can start controlling your Home Assistant devices using Alexa voice commands.
Summary
Integrating Alexa with Home Assistant enables hands-free control of your smart home devices. While Nabu Casa provides a paid, seamless option, the Emulated Hue integration offers a free alternative for users willing to configure it manually. Both methods allow you to extend voice control to devices, scenes, and automations within Home Assistant that aren’t natively recognized by Alexa.