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  First newsletter went out Friday. Subscribers got it first, but I made this one public too, so you can see what kind of thing it is. It is mostly notes, links, thoughts, and a drawer being slightly less full. Read it here: https://frenck.dev/email/e333f2c3-b6d3-4159-96ab-89c679c558aa/ If you want the next one in your inbox: https://frenck.dev/newsletter/

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  A smart home will not save the planet. Not by itself. Not with magic. Not because a dashboard turns green. But Home Assistant can help with the useful, boring part: measuring waste, automating small improvements, keeping energy data local, and avoiding cloud-driven e-waste. #HomeAssistant I wrote about that here: https://frenck.dev/a-smart-home-will-not-save-the-planet/

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  Home Assistant just added the Reolink Elite Floodlight WiFi and Trackmix WiFi to Works with Home Assistant. Reolink now has 10 certified cameras. That matches my setup: I use Reolink throughout my new home. Local control, reliable integration, no extra cloud-only app island. Certified products: https://works-with.home-assistant.io/certified-products/?brand=reolink

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  I’ve been quietly working on a new, extremely focused open-source project. The sensible part of me says: finish the tests and documentation first. The impatient part has already hovered over the publish button more than once. Soon™ 😀 #OpenSource

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  My first personal newsletter shipped. The next one is already slowly forming from links, notes, and things I did not want to lose in a browser tab forever. If you want one from the next batch, subscribe here: https://frenck.dev/newsletter/

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  I’ve been working on something new! Presenting YAMLRocks 🪨 A fast, correct YAML library for Python, written in Rust. It fills a gap I kept running into: YAML 1.2 (and 1.1) correctness, safe defaults, includes, source locations, and round-trip editing that keeps comments and formatting intact. It is about 5 to 10x faster than PyYAML’s C loader! 🚀 Still early, pre-1.0 software, but already pretty useful. #OpenSource https://yaml.rocks/

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  My second newsletter is out! 🚀 This one has RSS, YAML, Thread plumbing, old-web nostalgia, and the slightly uncomfortable confession that my Home Assistant setup has 294 devices and zero automations. Curious what people think when they open it from their inbox.

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  Sometimes you wake up with one of those random brain waves and you just have to validate it immediately. That was my Saturday morning. 😄 I ended up opening a tiny Home Assistant PR that removes wasted work in one of the hottest paths we have: template rendering. In my benchmark, this makes that path about 51% faster. 🚀 Not a shiny feature. Not a new integration. Nice way to start the weekend. 🍻 https://github.com/home-assistant/core/pull/173664

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  Home Assistant automation modes: why the default isn’t your friend. The default mode is “single”. It is safe, conservative, and backwards-compatible. It also drops new triggers while the automation is still running. So if you never picked a mode, you may have been relying on the wrong behavior all along. Learn how to pick the mode you actually need: Single, restart, queued, or parallel. 🙂 https://frenck.dev/automation-modes-in-home-assistant-why-the-default-isnt-your-friend/

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  Open source won. That is why LGTM stopped being enough. In projects like Home Assistant, a pull request is not just a diff. It can affect real homes, data, and trust. Review got heavier because the stakes changed. I wrote about what “looks good to me” needs to mean now. #OpenSource #LGTM https://frenck.dev/open-source-won-lgtm-stopped-being-enough/

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  Some people still think Home Assistant automations mean YAML and a quiet evening to question your life choices. 😅 Nope! The new triggers and conditions let you start with what you want your home to react to, not which technical trigger type fits. More power, less complexity! https://frenck.dev/more-power-less-complexity/ #HomeAssistant #OpenSource

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  What my day looks like nowadays with CodeRabbit....

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  OK I'm done with the complex network setup... #FromScratch #Matter

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  I am ready for it! State of the Open Home 2026! Are you?! #HomeAssistant

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  On my way to Utrecht to prepare for the State of the Open Home 2026! The Dutch railroad 🚂 in the mean time be like: safe travels and enjoy the view… 🧽🧼 🙈 #ns #trains #roflpimplmao

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  Templating has felt like homework for too long in @homeassistant. 😅 So these past weeks I reworked the docs with one goal: make them more approachable. 😃 Every template function now has its own page with real examples. There are learning pages, two step-by-step tutorials. Live now, first pass, feedback welcome 🙏 https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/templating/ #HomeAssistant #SmartHome #OpenSource

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  I said for years I probably wouldn’t go for smart locks. Yet here we are 😅 About to install my first smart locks. NUKI Smart Lock Ultra and Keypad 2. Will integrate with Home Assistant (of course 😉) Interested in practical real world tips. What automations have proven useful? What became annoying over time or just really golden? #HomeAssistant #SmartHome #HomeAutomation

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  On my way to the Home Assistant Community Meetup in Cologne! 🚗 Excited to meet everyone! 🤗 #HomeAssistant #Community

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  You know the rule: if it has a screen and a processor, someone will make DOOM run on it. Home Assistant just joined the club. I built a custom integration that runs the real DOOM (1993) inside a dashboard card using js-dos. Binary sensor, session tracking, daily trivia, and a hidden iddqd easter egg. If DOOM runs in Home Assistant, it should behave like one. Open source, installable via HACS: https://github.com/frenck/home-assistant-doom Blog: https://frenck.dev/home-assistant-can-run-doom/...

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  🚀 I've just opened 2 new roles in my department at the Open Home Foundation to work full-time on #HomeAssistant! 🖥️ Frontend Engineer 🔐 Security Engineer Fully remote. Full-time. #OpenSource every day. Best job in the world. Working on open source for a non-profit, building the biggest smart home platform on the planet. It changed my life; your chance to change yours. Boosts appreciated! 🙏 🔗 https://www.openhomefoundation.org/jobs #SmartHome #Hiring #RemoteWork #FOSS #InfoSec https://w...

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  An amazing Home Assistant cake at @homeassistant Community Meetup in Cologne yesterday! 🤩🍰😋 Isn’t the our community the best? 🫶 #HomeAssistant #HomeBakeAutomation #SmartHome