Smart Home
Smart home & Home Assistant runbooks
Operator-grade troubleshooting and planning for the home automation stack — Matter, Thread, HomeKit, the Apple Home upgrade, the Alexa+/Gemini churn, and Home Assistant on your own hardware. Every page leads with diagnosis (logs, admin screens, IPv6/mDNS and Thread mesh checks), is source-backed against first-party docs, and is date-stamped because this layer moves fast.
Matter & Thread
The protocol layer underneath the apps — fragmented Thread border-router meshes, Matter-over-Thread commissioning that stalls, and sharing one device across ecosystems (multi-admin).
Untangle a fragmented Thread mesh — multiple uncoordinated border routers, the 'requires a Thread border router' error, and the Thread 1.4 credential sharing that merges them.
Open runbookSplit a stuck Matter commission into its two phases — BLE pairing (PASE) vs join-network and operational discovery (mDNS/CASE) — and fix the IPv6/VLAN causes behind each.
Open runbookUse Matter multi-admin correctly — share from the first controller (don't re-scan the QR), and understand the SupportedFabrics ceiling that makes the 4th ecosystem fail.
Open runbookApple Home & voice assistants
The HomeKit and assistant layer — the 'No Response' diagnostic, the Apple Home architecture upgrade that knocked devices offline, and the Alexa+/Gemini-for-Home churn (including what can and can't be reverted).
Fix HomeKit 'No Response' the operator way — one accessory vs all, the home hub, and the IPv6/mDNS/AP-isolation network causes behind it.
Open runbookRecover after the Apple Home architecture upgrade — the iPad-is-no-longer-a-hub trap, guest-device lockouts, minimum OS versions, and the can't-view-home path.
Open runbookNavigate the 2026 assistant churn — what Alexa+ and Gemini for Home change, how to revert each, and the one-way trap on Nest/Home speakers. Date-stamped.
Open runbookHome Assistant
Running HA as an operator — installing it on a NAS (Docker vs HAOS VM), migrating to a new server with a tested restore, ZHA vs Zigbee2MQTT, automations that won't trigger, and unreliable presence detection.
Decide how to run Home Assistant on a NAS — the plain Docker container has no add-ons and awkward radio passthrough; HAOS in a VM gets Supervisor, add-ons, and clean USB passthrough.
Open runbookMove Home Assistant to new hardware with a tested restore — full backup, the same-radio no-re-pairing rule, and the area/IP gotchas to verify before you wipe the old box.
Open runbookFix unreliable presence in Home Assistant by solving the right layer — home/away (device_tracker) vs room occupancy (mmWave) vs which-room (BLE) are different problems with different tools.
Open runbookChoose between ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT and migrate cleanly — the three operations people conflate (coordinator swap, software switch, asymmetric ZHA↔Z2M) and where re-pairing is unavoidable.
Open runbookDebug a Home Assistant automation that won't fire — the single-mode block, state vs numeric_state, trigger vs condition, the reload trap, and reading the trace.
Open runbookDevices & reliability
Individual accessories that drop off — smart locks disconnecting, and the radio/mesh and battery causes behind them.
Stop a smart lock dropping off — the transport differs by brand (Bluetooth/Thread/Wi-Fi), so the fix differs: a hub near the lock, Thread mesh density, calibration, or batteries.
Open runbook12 smart-home runbooks, and growing. New Matter/Thread, Apple Home, and Home Assistant operator pages are added as each theme is built out.