This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/homeassistant by /u/daftest_of_dutch on 2025-05-30 12:26:17+00:00.
I use voice a lot. two atom echos and a PE. nabu casa cloud and google AI.
I can check the news (local rss feeds and html2txt script that can handle a cookie wall) control my music send emails, whatsapp sms. public transport information. city night agenda and lots more. Hell home assistant can even help me keeping my linux servers stable.
Here some thing i learned that i think is good practice.
- Use scripts. when call a sentence triggered automation.
The standard out of the box voice isnt that well. you want to make commands based on your preferred words. (or room depended commands for example) You can make all functionality in the automation.
But i recommend to use scripts. end a script with stop. and return a variable. in {'setting':'value'} json format.
this way the automation can use the script with feed back. and It is also usable for AI if you want to use that. With out redundant code.
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Use scripts. The same script you wrote for the automation can be used by AI. just explain the script using the description and set the input variables description. Most scripts are used by the AI with out editing the AI system prompt.
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Use scripts
Don't setup dynamic content in the AI prompt but make the AI use scripts to get any dynamic information.
If you setup some yaml in the system prompt.
The AI is bad at understanding the info is updated all the time. Except if you use an script. to get the information and then it always uses the current information. (you might need to explain that the script needs to always be executed with out asking in some circumstances)
- If you use cloud services make a local fail over.
You can use binary_sensor.remote_ui or a ping to 8.8.8.8 to check online status of home assistant.
and you can make a automation that turns the (voice) system into offline state. By selecting a other voice agent in the voice assistants.
you can also label voice automatons to only work in offline mode. To many voice automatons limit the flexibility to talking to AI. But if the AI is not reachable you still want to live in the 21 century and use voice.
So you have the flexibility of AI not blocked by fixed commands when online. but it works if you say fixed commands when offline.
- Be aware of the levenshtein function. The voice detection of home assistant isnt 100% But if you have a list with good answers you can use the levenshtein function. I use this for selecting artists, albums, getting linux servers searching phone and email of contacts.