Mesh Mastery

With an ESP32 development board, you can create your own smart-home devices by connecting sensors, LEDs, buttons, and other electronic components. You can program the ESP32 using open source platforms such as Arduino [1], MicroPython [2], or ESPHome [3]. ESPHome, which I've covered in an earlier Linux Magazine article [4] and wrote a book about [5], is particularly interesting, as it supports the native API of Home Assistant [6]. This allows for an easy and efficient integration with this popular open source smart-home gateway solution.

If you're developing a smart-home device with an ESP32, this normally works over WiFi. However, your WiFi network at home might already be quite busy. Fortunately, alternatives to WiFi exist. Thread [7, 8] is one such option: Thread is a wireless mesh network optimized for battery-operated devices with low bandwidth requirements. This is perfect for temperature sensors, buttons, and more.

As of version 2025.6, ESPHome also supports communicating with Home Assistant over a Thread network. In this article, I'll illustrate this from the ground up: You'll set up your own Thread Border Router, connect it to Home Assistant, and create ESPHome devices with sensors, LEDs, and buttons operating over your Thread network.

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