LIVE from GitHub Universe: Privacy-First Smart Homes with Frenck from Home Assistant

The GitHub Podcast

In this episode, recorded live at GitHub Universe 2025, Andrea sits down with Frank “Frenck” Nijhof, a GitHub Star and project lead for Home Assistant, one of the most active open source projects on the platform. They unpack how millions of households run privacy-first automations locally (no cloud required), why the Open Home Foundation exists to prevent vendor lock-in and e-waste, and how this famously welcoming community scaled to 21k+ contributors. Frank also shares insights about the development of “Assist,” an open, local-first voice assistant (with optional AI), as well as the new “Home Assist Green” hardware device, plus practical ways non-coders can meaningfully contribute to the project, too.

Links mentioned in the episode:

https://github.com/frenck

https://www.home-assistant.io

https://www.home-assistant.io/green

https://www.home-assistant.io/voice

https://www.home-assistant.io/assist

https://www.esphome.io

https://github.com/home-assistant

https://www.raspberrypi.com

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