How to Connect OpenClaw to Home Assistant: Smart Home Control with AI | OpenClaw DC

Yes, OpenClaw can control your smart home through Home Assistant. Install the HA skill, connect via the HA API, and you can control lights, locks, thermostats, and automations by talking to your agent in natural language. Everything runs locally on your network, so your smart home data never leaves your house. If Home Assistant supports a device, OpenClaw can control it.

New to OpenClaw? Start with What is OpenClaw? and follow the install guide to get it running before continuing.

Why Use OpenClaw Instead of Voice Assistants?

Alexa, Google Home, and Siri handle basic commands well. “Turn off the kitchen lights” works fine. But they fall apart when you need context, reasoning, or multi-step logic. Try asking Alexa to “turn off every light except the one in the room where someone is still awake” and you will get an error.

OpenClaw is different. It understands context, remembers your preferences, and can chain together multiple Home Assistant actions into a single natural-language request. It reasons about what you want rather than matching keywords to preset routines. And because it runs locally, there is no cloud dependency, no subscription, and no third party listening to your requests.

Prerequisites

• OpenClaw installed and running
• Home Assistant 2024.1 or later running on your local network
• A Home Assistant Long-Lived Access Token
• Node 22.16+ or Node 24

Step 1: Generate a Home Assistant Access Token

Open your Home Assistant dashboard. Click your profile icon in the bottom-left corner. Scroll to the “Long-Lived Access Tokens” section and click “Create Token.” Name it something like “openclaw-agent” and copy the token immediately. You will not be able to see it again.

Step 2: Install the Home Assistant Skill

openclaw skill install home-assistant

Verify the installation:

openclaw skill list | grep home-assistant

You should see home-assistant listed with a status of installed.

Step 3: Configure the Connection

Point OpenClaw to your Home Assistant instance and provide the token:

openclaw config set homeassistant.url http://192.168.1.100:8123
openclaw config set homeassistant.token "YOUR_LONG_LIVED_ACCESS_TOKEN"
openclaw config set homeassistant.verify_ssl false

Replace the IP address with your Home Assistant server’s address. If you use HTTPS with a valid certificate, set verify_ssl to true.

Step 4: Test the Connection

openclaw skill test home-assistant --action ping

A successful response returns your Home Assistant version and a list of available entity domains (lights, switches, climate, etc.).

To see every device OpenClaw can reach:

openclaw skill test home-assistant --action list-entities

Step 5: Start Talking to Your Home

Once the connection is confirmed, you can control devices through the normal OpenClaw chat interface:

openclaw chat
> Turn on the living room lights and set them to 40% brightness

OpenClaw translates your request into the correct Home Assistant service call and executes it.

Example Automations

Here are six practical automations you can set up with OpenClaw and Home Assistant. Each one uses plain English through the OpenClaw chat or a saved skill.

1. Goodnight routine. Say “goodnight” and OpenClaw turns off every light in the house, locks the front and back doors, sets the thermostat to 65, and arms the security system.

openclaw skill create goodnight \
  --trigger "goodnight" \
  --actions "light.turn_off:all,lock.lock:all,climate.set_temperature:65,alarm.arm_night"

2. Leave-home thermostat adjustment. When you tell OpenClaw you are leaving, it sets the thermostat to 68 in summer or 62 in winter based on the current outdoor temperature.

openclaw skill create away-climate \
  --trigger "I'm leaving" \
  --action "climate.set_auto_away" \
  --prompt "Check outdoor temp. If above 75, set AC to 68. If below 50, set heat to 62. Otherwise turn off."

3. Movie mode. Say “movie time” and OpenClaw dims the living room lights to 10%, turns on the TV, switches the input to your streaming device, and pauses any music playing on other speakers.

openclaw skill create movie-mode \
  --trigger "movie time" \
  --actions "light.turn_on:living_room:brightness=10,media_player.turn_on:tv,media_player.pause:sonos"

4. Morning briefing with climate prep. Say “good morning” and OpenClaw reads your calendar, gives a weather summary, sets the thermostat to 72, and turns on the kitchen lights.

openclaw skill create morning \
  --trigger "good morning" \
  --actions "climate.set_temperature:72,light.turn_on:kitchen" \
  --prompt "Read today's calendar events and current weather. Summarize both."

5. Guest arrival. Say “guests are coming” and OpenClaw unlocks the front door for 10 minutes, turns on the porch light, sets the living room to a warm white preset, and starts a playlist on the living room speaker.

openclaw skill create guest-mode \
  --trigger "guests are coming" \
  --actions "lock.unlock:front_door:duration=600,light.turn_on:porch,light.turn_on:living_room:preset=warm,media_player.play:living_room_speaker:playlist=chill"

6. Bedtime check. Ask “is the house locked up?” and OpenClaw checks every lock, every garage door, and every window sensor, then reports back with anything still open or unlocked.

openclaw skill create security-check \
  --trigger "is the house locked up" \
  --action "status.check" \
  --prompt "Check all locks, garage doors, and window sensors. Report anything open or unlocked."

Which Devices Work?

OpenClaw works with anything Home Assistant supports. That includes:

• Lights: Philips Hue, LIFX, Ikea Tradfri, Govee, Nanoleaf, any Zigbee or Z-Wave bulb
• Thermostats: Ecobee, Nest, Honeywell, Sensi, any Z-Wave thermostat
• Locks: August, Yale, Schlage, Kwikset, any Z-Wave lock
• Cameras: Ring, Wyze, Amcrest, UniFi Protect, Reolink
• Media: Sonos, Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, Plex
• Sensors: Motion, temperature, humidity, door/window contact sensors
• Protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, Thread, Matter, Bluetooth

If it shows up as an entity in Home Assistant, OpenClaw can read its state and call its services.

Security Notes

Your smart home data stays on your local network. OpenClaw communicates with Home Assistant over your LAN, and the HA skill does not send data to any external server. For additional safety:

• Use a dedicated Home Assistant user account for the token
• Limit the token’s permissions to only the entities OpenClaw needs
• Review the OpenClaw security checklist for broader hardening steps
• Audit skill actions with openclaw skill logs home-assistant --last 50

Next Steps

Once your smart home is connected, explore what else OpenClaw can automate. The how to use OpenClaw guide covers skills, scheduling, and multi-step workflows in detail. Combine your HA skills with email, calendar, and file automation for a fully integrated personal AI agent.