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ESPHome

Device Builder for your ESP32/ESP8266 gadgets — edit YAML, compile, and flash firmware · https://eh.fmm.house

What it's for

ESPHome turns a short YAML config into firmware for small Wi-Fi microcontrollers. This is the ESPHome Device Builder dashboard, where each of your devices (Sonocotta HiFi speakers, Bluetooth proxies, sensors, and so on) is a tile you can edit, compile, and flash. You describe what the device is in YAML — its sensors, outputs, and integrations — and ESPHome builds and installs the firmware over the air.

Getting in

  • Open: https://eh.fmm.house — on the home Wi-Fi/LAN, or from anywhere with Tailscale connected.
  • Sign in: maker/admin tool. Log in with the ESPHome dashboard credentials.

How to use it

Open a device's config

The dashboard shows one card per device. Each card has its online/offline status and a menu; click Edit to open that device's YAML in the built-in editor. The YAML names the device, its board, Wi-Fi, and every component (sensors, lights, switches, BLE proxy, etc.).

Edit the YAML

  • Make your changes in the editor — add a sensor, tweak a pin, adjust an interval.
  • The editor validates as you go and flags syntax problems before you build.
  • Save when you're happy. Saving doesn't change the physical device yet — you still have to install.

Note

Secrets (Wi-Fi passwords, API keys, encryption keys) live in a shared secrets.yaml, not in each device file. Reference them with !secret wifi_password and keep the real values in that one file.

Install (flash the firmware)

Use Install from the device menu. You'll be offered how to deliver the build:

  • Wirelessly (OTA): the normal path once a device already runs ESPHome. It compiles, then pushes the new firmware over Wi-Fi — no cables.
  • Plug into this computer / Manual download: needed the first time a fresh board is flashed, before it has any ESPHome firmware or Wi-Fi to receive an OTA. Connect it over USB (or download the binary and flash it with ESPHome Web / esptool), and after that first flash it can update over the air.

View logs

Pick Logs on a device to stream its serial/network log output live. This is where you confirm a device booted, joined Wi-Fi, and is reading its sensors — and where errors show up when something isn't working. Logs work over the network for an online device, or over USB for one that's plugged in.

Tips

  • First flash is always physical. A brand-new board can't receive an OTA — do the initial install over USB, then everything after is wireless.
  • Don't hardcode secrets. Put credentials in secrets.yaml and reference them with !secret; it keeps the per-device configs safe to read and share.
  • Watch the logs after an install. A device can compile and flash fine but still fail to join Wi-Fi or read a sensor — the log tells you within seconds.