# Home Assistant Yellow - Setup Guide

**Created:** 2026-02-09
**Hardware:** Home Assistant Yellow (owned, not yet set up)

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## What's In the Yellow

- Custom carrier board with Zigbee 3.0 radio (external antenna)
- Matter-ready architecture
- M.2 slot for NVMe SSD (add terabytes of storage)
- Power supply with international adapters (or PoE)
- Custom heatsink and thermal pad
- Ethernet cable

**Important:** Yellow production ended October 2025, but continues receiving full software updates. No action needed -- it's still fully supported.

**Requires separately:** Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 or 5
- Minimum: CM4 with 2GB RAM + 16GB eMMC
- Recommended: CM4 4GB RAM + 32GB eMMC
- CM4 Lite option requires NVMe SSD (no eMMC)
- CM5 supported since HAOS 14 (November 2024)

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## Setup Process

### Hardware Assembly

1. Install CM4/CM5 -- align CE mark at bottom, press firmly onto connectors
2. Apply thermal pad to SOC (silver square near Raspberry icon)
3. Place heatsink on thermal pad
4. (Optional) Install NVMe SSD in M.2 slot
5. Close enclosure

### First Boot

1. Connect Ethernet cable to router
2. Connect power supply
3. Wait 5-10 minutes for initial setup
4. Access Home Assistant at `http://homeassistant.local:8123`
5. Follow onboarding wizard:
   - Create admin account
   - Set location and timezone
   - Auto-discover devices on network

### Post-Setup Essentials

1. **Install HACS** (Home Assistant Community Store) -- for custom integrations
2. **Configure Zigbee** -- ZHA integration auto-detects the built-in radio
3. **Set up backups** -- Automatic daily backups to NAS or cloud
4. **Install File Editor** -- for editing YAML configs in browser

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## Local Voice Assistant (Replace Alexa/Google)

### Core Components (All Local, No Cloud)

**Whisper** -- Speech-to-text (OpenAI's engine, runs locally)
- Processing: ~8 seconds on RPi4 for transcription
- Languages: English primary, expanding multilingual

**Piper** -- Text-to-speech (neural TTS, optimized for RPi)
- Multiple voice options
- Very fast synthesis
- Natural-sounding output

**Wyoming Protocol** -- Communication standard between voice services
- Connects Whisper, Piper, and wake word detection
- Supports remote satellites

**openWakeWord** -- Wake word detection
- "Hey Jarvis", "Alexa" (custom), "OK Nabu"
- Custom wake words trainable
- English-only currently

### Setup Steps

1. Go to Settings > Add-ons
2. Install "Whisper" add-on > Start
3. Install "Piper" add-on > Start
4. Install "openWakeWord" add-on > Start
5. Go to Settings > Voice Assistants
6. Create new assistant:
   - Speech-to-text: Whisper
   - Text-to-speech: Piper
   - Wake word: openWakeWord
   - Conversation agent: (Home Assistant default, or Ollama later)

### Voice Satellites (Room-by-Room Control)

**Option 1: Wyoming Satellite (RPi-based)**
- Raspberry Pi Zero 2W + microphone + speaker
- ~$30-50 per room
- Full wake word + voice processing

**Option 2: ESPHome Voice Satellite (ESP32-based)**
- ESP32-S3 + I2S microphone + speaker
- ~$15-25 per room
- Auto-discovery via Zeroconf
- Supports media player, timers, conversations
- ESPHome 2025.5.0+ integration

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## Key Integrations

### Zigbee (Built-in Radio)

The Yellow has a Silicon Labs Zigbee radio. Use ZHA (Zigbee Home Automation) integration:
- Auto-detected on first boot
- Supports 100+ Zigbee device brands
- No additional dongle needed

**Recommended Zigbee Devices:**
- Lights: IKEA Tradfri, Philips Hue (Zigbee mode)
- Sensors: Aqara door/window, motion, temperature
- Switches: Sonoff SNZB series
- Plugs: Innr, IKEA, Sonoff

### Victron Solar (Future Crossover)

When Victron MultiPlus II + Cerbo GX are installed:

**Integration Methods:**
- **Modbus TCP** (recommended): Direct polling via `hass-victron` custom integration
- **MQTT**: Bidirectional via Cerbo GX
- **VRM API**: Cloud-based (60-minute refresh, built-in since HA 2025.10)

**Best Practice:** Use 5-second Modbus scan interval (not 20 seconds)

**Energy Automations:**
- Run high-load devices when battery SOC > 75%
- Trigger charging at 25%, stop at 50%
- EMHASS (Energy Management for Home Assistant) for optimal solar usage

### Ollama / Local LLM

Native Ollama integration (HA 2025.6+):
1. Settings > Devices & Services > Add Integration > "Ollama"
2. Enter Ollama server URL: `http://<llm-server-ip>:11434`
3. Settings > Voice Assistants > Select "Ollama" as conversation agent

**Extended OpenAI Conversation** (HACS custom component):
- Supports OpenAI-compatible APIs (Ollama, LiteLLM)
- Function calling for HA service control
- Create automations, query APIs, control devices via natural language
- Install via HACS custom repository

**Multi-Model Strategy:**
- Agent 1: Qwen 2.5 7B for real-time voice commands (fast, <1s response)
- Agent 2: Llama 3.1 70B for complex reasoning (slower, smarter)
- Route via LiteLLM proxy

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## Sources

- https://www.home-assistant.io/yellow/
- https://yellow.home-assistant.io/guides/install-cm4/
- https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/wyoming/
- https://www.home-assistant.io/voice_control/voice_remote_local_assistant/
- https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/ollama/
- https://github.com/jekalmin/extended_openai_conversation
