Expose network information (IP, MAC address, Wi-Fi SSID) as diagnostic entities and connections

[mik-laj]

I’d like to suggest exposing more network-related information for devices in this integration, specifically:

• MAC address – added to the device.connections property. This way Home Assistant will automatically display a clickable link to the DHCP browser in the Device Info panel (see screenshot below for an example from WLED).
• IP address – published as a diagnostic entity.
• Wi-Fi SSID (network name) – also published as a diagnostic entity. This is useful to confirm that the device is connected to the correct network (e.g. an isolated IoT VLAN with different security policies).

Optionally, other parameters (hostname, Wi-Fi channel, RSSI, packet loss rate, etc.) could also be included.

Using the diagnostic entity category ensures these don’t clutter the main dashboard but are still easily accessible when troubleshooting. Some entities can be disabled by default, similar to the WLED integration.

Why this is useful

1. Faster troubleshooting – When a device becomes unavailable, being able to see its last IP/MAC in HA helps check DHCP leases, ping the device, or investigate conflicts.
2. Network segmentation checks – Seeing the Wi-Fi SSID directly in HA helps confirm that devices are connected to the correct VLAN (e.g. IoT-only network) with the expected security policy.
3. Consistency with other integrations – WLED, ESPHome, Shelly, etc. already expose IP/MAC/SSID as diagnostics. It makes network management in HA much more consistent.
4. Device management – Storing MAC in connections gives HA users a direct link to their router’s DHCP browser. That makes it trivial to locate or reserve IPs.
5. Security and inventory – Easy way to detect unexpected IP changes or a device jumping between SSIDs.
6. Feature parity – I personally own a xiaomi.kettle.v20. In the Xiaomi app I can see its IP and MAC address, but these values are not available in Home Assistant. Having them exposed in HA would bring the integration in line with the app’s functionality.

Example references (from WLED integration):

• Diagnostic entities:

• Device info with MAC as connection:

[SusanPhevos]

I follow the instructions of https://developers.home-assistant.io/docs/core/integration-quality-scale/rules/diagnostics , but still have some questions. My implementation does not fully meet your requirements.
I implement diagnostics feature at https://github.com/SusanPhevos/ha_xiaomi_home/tree/feat-diagnostics. Now xiaomi_home can show "Download diagnostics" interface for the integration and for each device. The MAC address is displayed in the Device info page if the device has a valid MAC address. But there are no diagnostic entities and I don't know why.

[mik-laj]

I haven't looked at the code yet, but to add diagnostic sensors, you need to add new sensors with entity_category=EntityCategory.DIAGNOSTIC. here is an example: https://github.com/home-assistant/core/blob/5e43708a406f988cb78c9be89048518a1422fb81/homeassistant/components/wled/sensor.py#L88