AI MCP Server

[mattmeye]

Describe the protocol enhancement

I'd like to create ESPHome Devices within AI Coding Agents (Copilot, Claude Code, etc.). A MCP on top of the current API would be perfect. Methods could be:

• esphome_list_devices
• esphome_create_device
• esphome_select_device (for context)
• esphome_update_device (requires context)
• esphome_get_config (requires context)
• esphome_validate_config, ... and many more

Use cases

Connect the AI Coding world with ESPHome Devices :)

Anything else?

No response

[Hedda]

Maybe also post the idea to as comment here and add a reverse link back here from there:

• https://community.home-assistant.io/t/building-the-ai-powered-local-smart-home/929642/

Tip would be to have it as a custom component for Home Assistant so might also get get some inspiration from these custom components projects:

• https://github.com/sbenodiz/ai_agent_ha
• https://github.com/ITSpecialist111/ai_automation_suggester
• https://github.com/ITSpecialist111/Automation-Inspector
• https://github.com/ITSpecialist111/CopilotPerplexityMCP

Btw, allenporter has written a guide on using MCP agents from Home Assistant here:

• https://gist.github.com/allenporter/b0e9946feb2ab60901c4f467ac1ba6f9

[balaclava-guy]

Would also be great if this could deal with ESPHome's LVGL implementation for quickly building UIs

[balaclava-guy]

Just noticed the docs are on context7's mcp server:

https://context7.com/esphome/esphome-docs?tab=chat

They need a refresh (I have requested), but even with just the in brows3r chat you can actually get it to whip up a quick LVGL UI for you (give it a try 'make me an LVGL gui with four light switches')

[Hedda]

Could also take inspiration from this ha-mcp ”The Unofficial and Awesome Home Assistant MCP Server” project:

• https://github.com/homeassistant-ai/ha-mcp/

[kdkavanagh]

FWIW, I've taken a stab at this at https://github.com/kdkavanagh/esphome-mcp. (Well, claude-code took the stab under my supervision)

[Hedda]

Seen a lot of arguments lately why offering an MCP server is overkill for smaller projects with the arument that it is simpler to offer a dedicated CLI utility which is purposly designed for LLMs, (so in this case CLI toolkit that allow an LLM to manage ESPHome configurations). See example:

• https://github.com/balloob/home-assistant-build-cli

Note that the linked Home Assistant Builder (hab) was made by Home Assistant's balloob (Paulus Schoutsen) as as a use case example the use of it has been implemented in this custom OpenCode AI-Powered Configuration Assistant for Home Assistant (made by @magnusoverli) which uses that CLI tool instead of MCP:

• https://github.com/magnusoverli/opencode

Quote:

• "hab CLI Integration - Includes the Home Assistant Builder CLI by @balloob — a CLI purpose-built for AI agents to manage Home Assistant via REST and WebSocket APIs. Enables dashboard CRUD, area/floor management, helper creation, backup/restore, and bulk admin operations that would otherwise require direct API calls or UI interaction."

[Hedda]

FYI, floated this idea of a ESPHome CLI utitlity purposly designed as a tool for AI agents in a separate discussion thread here:

https://github.com/orgs/esphome/discussions/3587

Also posted feature request asking for such a CLI tool for AI agents to the OpenCode AI Assistant repo for Home Assistant:

• [IDEA] Include a ESPHome CLI utility for ESPHome Device Builder (similar to Home Assistant Builder CLI) to allow AI LLM building/coding configurations for ESPHome devices magnusoverli/opencode#20

UPDATE: while there is not yet a seperate dedicated ESPHome CLI utility for AI agents there is apparently a basic esphome command group in the above mentioned Home Assistant Builder CLI utility (home-assistant-build-cli) for managing ESPHome devices through the ESPHome Dashboard API. See these pull requests for it here for reference:

• Add ESPHome device support and refactoring balloob/home-assistant-build-cli#38

and

• Add ESPHome workflows, diagnostics, and network commands balloob/home-assistant-build-cli#72

Again that is at least meant to allow AI agents to trigger esphome builds and read the logs from devices:

Note: This PR has grown beyond its original scope during development. In addition to the ESPHome commands, it includes a cmd package refactoring, expanded test coverage, and several bug fixes found during live testing against HA 2026.3.0b2. Happy to split this into separate PRs if preferred.

Commands

Command Description
esphome list List configured devices with online/offline status, platform, and version
esphome build <config> Compile firmware with real-time streaming output
esphome logs <config> Stream live device logs (--port for OTA/serial)
esphome validate <config> Validate device configuration without compiling
esphome config-read <config> Read device YAML configuration
esphome config-write <config> Write YAML config (--data or --file)
esphome upload <config> Flash compiled firmware to device (--port)
esphome run <config> Build + flash in one step (--port)

Implementation Details

• Auto-discovery: Discovers the ESPHome addon via the HA Supervisor WebSocket API (supervisor/api command), then creates an ingress session for authentication. Falls back to HAB_ESPHOME_URL env var for standalone ESPHome installations.
• Ingress auth: Uses the HA WebSocket API to create ingress sessions (the REST /api/hassio/ proxy rejects long-lived tokens, but the WebSocket supervisor/api command works reliably).
• Streaming output: Text mode prints lines in real-time with proper ANSI color support. JSON mode emits NDJSON ({"event":"line","data":"..."} per line, then {"event":"exit","code":0}).
• ANSI handling: ESPHome sends escape codes as literal \033 strings in JSON; these are decoded to real ESC bytes (0x1B) so terminals render colors correctly.

Summary

• add richer ESPHome workflows for catalog scaffolding, config patch/update flows, saved device context, info/serial helpers, and Tasmota migration
• add diagnostics and network admin command groups, plus automated coverage for the new ESPHome and network paths
• harden live behavior by normalizing catalog package URLs, falling back when the ESPHome /info cache is stale, and supporting uvx esptool for serial recovery

Testing

• go test ./...
• go vet ./...
• go build -o hab .
• ./test/run_integration_test.sh esphome misc
• live verification against Home Assistant + ESPHome including diagnostics, network configure, catalog create/import, validate/build/upload, and OTA update/restore of the kitchen ventilator

[Hedda]

FYI, newly released upstream ESP-IDF v6.0 apparently contains an optional built-in-in MCP server designed for AI assistants. Check out their for reference:

• https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v6.0/esp32/api-guides/tools/idf-py.html#esp-idf-mcp-server