Automation Project with Node-RED and Home Assistant

This project deploys a home automation stack using Node-RED and Home Assistant with Docker, designed to automate devices (e.g., WiFi bulb) and control them via Telegram.

🚀 Quick Deployment

To start all services, run in the project root:

docker-compose up -d --build

This will spin up:

• Home Assistant: http://localhost:8123
• Node-RED: http://localhost:1880

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⚙️ Configuration

1. Telegram Bot

To allow Node-RED to communicate with you via Telegram:

1. Open Telegram and search for the @BotFather user.
2. Send the /newbot command.
3. Follow the instructions to give your bot a name and a username.
4. Once finished, BotFather will give you an HTTP API Token (e.g., 123456789:ABCDefGHIjkLmnOPQRstuVWxyz). Save it.
5. You can now close the session with BotFather and enter the bot you just created at t.me/BotName.

Conversation with the Bot

2. Home Assistant

1. Access http://localhost:8123 and create your administrator account.
2. Your custom components (in custom_components) are already loaded automatically (in this case, we include Xiaomi Miot).
3. Add the devices you want to control in Home Assistant from the Devices section.
4. This device will be saved as an entity with a unique ID that will be used in Node-RED to control it.
5. IMPORTANT: Create Token for Node-RED:
   • Click on your Profile (circle with your initials at the bottom left).
   • Scroll to the bottom of the page to the Long-Lived Access Tokens section.
   • Click CREATE TOKEN.
   • Type "NodeRED" as the name and press OK.
   • Copy the token that appears. (Attention! It is only shown once. If you lose it, you will have to create a new one).

Token Generation in Home Assistant

3. Node-RED Flow

1. Access http://localhost:1880.
2. If it's the first time, you'll see an empty canvas or the default flow.
3. To import your automation:
   • Menu (three lines top right) -> Import.
   • Select the flow-node-red.json file from this project (or copy and paste its content).
4. Configure Credentials:
   • Telegram: Double-click on the Telegram Receiver/Sender node. Click the pencil next to "Bot" and paste your API Token and bot name.
   • Home Assistant: Double-click on any Home Assistant node (blue). Click the pencil next to "Server".
     • Base URL: http://homeassistant:8123 (Note that we use the container name homeassistant, not localhost).
     • Access Token: Paste the token you generated in step 2.
     • Entity ID: Paste the ID of the device you added in Home Assistant.
     • Configure the action you want to perform (turn on/off).
5. Click Deploy (top right).

Home Assistant Server Configuration

Final Result

This is how the interaction should look:

Automation Flow in Node-RED

This project is modular; you can add more devices and automations following the same steps, and you can also customize the automation flow with new components or Node-RED libraries.

🎥 Demonstration

Click on the image to watch the demonstration video on YouTube

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📂 Project Structure

• docker-compose.yml: Container orchestration.
• Dockerfile: Custom Node-RED image with extra modules.
• flows.json / flow-node-red.json: Automation flows.
• custom_components/: Extra integrations for Home Assistant (e.g., Xiaomi).