r/homebridge•
dean1d

IMO a better way to manage Alexa Routines and HomeKit scenes

Here is a recommendation for those of you like me that love HomeKit, but use voice control on Alexa since they are much cheaper then Homepods in every room.

I add devices to my smart home often and I was getting sick and tired of adding devices to my scenes in both HomeKit and the Alexa app so that they are the same scene regardless of if you are talking to Siri or Alexa.

My solution was to edit the scenes only in HK, especially since it is a much better interface for setting scenes. The Alexa app if very convoluted and time consuming if you have multiple devices since you can only add one at a time.

Then created a fake nonstateful switch (the switch turns on for 1 second so that it can trigger automation then turns off so that it can be triggered in the future) for each scene via one of the many HB plugs. Here is one of them (https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge-dummy#readme thanks nfarina). In HK set automation for when for example the fake Goodnight switch is trigger, run the Goodnight scene.

Next I used https://github.com/NorthernMan54/homebridge-alexa#readme (Thanks NorthernMan54) to have the switches viewable in the Alexa app. Set up the Alexa routines when you say for example Alexa, Goodnight. It will just turn on the Goodnight switch.

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Hope that helps those of you that struggled with managing both Alexa Routines and HomeKit scenes.

Posted Oct 25, 2020, 2:02 PM UTC

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