This repository provides an "Agent Skill" plugin for AI coding assistants, specifically designed to impart Home Assistant best practices. It targets AI agents that support the open Agent Skills standard, enabling them to generate more idiomatic and maintainable Home Assistant configurations, automations, and dashboards. The primary benefit is embedding persistent, expert knowledge directly into the AI's workflow, improving code quality and reducing common errors.

How It Works

The project delivers Home Assistant best practices as a portable Markdown knowledge pack, adhering to the Agent Skills standard. AI coding agents (like Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) integrate this skill, allowing them to access and apply structured guidance on Home Assistant development directly within their coding environment. This approach ensures consistency and leverages expert knowledge without requiring manual lookups by the user.

Quick Start & Requirements

• Primary Install: Requires Node.js 18+. Install via npx skills add homeassistant-ai/skills.
• Supported Agents: Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, VS Code, Gemini CLI, and others supporting the Agent Skills standard.
• Update: npx skills update
• Claude Code Plugin: Run /plugin marketplace add homeassistant-ai/skills then /plugin install home-assistant-skills@homeassistant-ai-skills.
• Claude Desktop / claude.ai: Download/clone the repo, zip the home-assistant-best-practices folder, and upload via Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
• Links: Agent Skills Standard (implied by context).

Highlighted Details

• Covers native Home Assistant constructs over templates, helper selection, and automation modes.
• Includes guidance on Zigbee button patterns, device control best practices (entity_id vs. device_id), and safe refactoring workflows.
• Provides detailed documentation for dashboard configuration, including layout, views, custom cards, and CSS styling.
• Offers decision workflows, quick-reference routing, and YAML examples combining multiple best practices.

Maintenance & Community

No specific details regarding maintainers, community channels (like Discord/Slack), or project roadmap are present in the provided README.

Licensing & Compatibility

• License: MIT.
• Compatibility: The MIT license is permissive and generally compatible with commercial use and linking within closed-source projects.

Limitations & Caveats

This skill requires integration with AI coding agents that explicitly support the Agent Skills standard. Installation necessitates Node.js 18+ for the npx command-line tool. Specific integration steps may vary slightly depending on the chosen AI agent.