![A Home Assistant Green box surrounded by smart plugs, lights, sensors, and other gadgets.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/50UIvWHcMjGBp4EY64pjkqhNKbg=/0x140:4050x2840/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72658272/Home_Assistant_Green___In_context_2.0.png)
Buy enough tech and you can’t escape the siren call of a smart home. Amazon practically throws Echo Dots at you. Google will sneak a Nest Mini in the box with almost anything you buy in its store. Good luck buying a new kitchen appliance that doesn’t beg to be connected to the internet. All of those come with platforms that are locked down and cloud-dependent, requiring you to bend to their corporate wishes to use them.
But for the last decade, Home Assistant has been the go-to software for privacy-focused nerds who want all the benefits that Apple, Google, and Amazon products provide with infinitely better flexibility and fewer security risks. And now, for the software’s 10th birthday, the people behind Home Assistant are introducing a…