About Private Home Lab

Private Home Lab publishes practical local-first smart home guides for Home Assistant, Zigbee2MQTT, Aqara, Xiaomi, and privacy-conscious connected devices.

What this site covers

You’ll find pairing steps, exposed entities, integration quirks, network settings, and notes on cloud dependencies.

What local-first means here

The guides cover what runs on your network, which features still need a vendor account or cloud service, and what stops working when the internet goes down.

Sources and testing

Guides draw on product documentation, integration support notes, and setup checks. For tested setups, look for the model, firmware, integration version, and limitations in the article. If a detail is missing, ask before assuming it applies to your device.

Disclosure policy

Advertising and affiliate recommendations are not active yet. If they are added later, monetized links will be disclosed near the relevant recommendation and on a dedicated disclosure page before they go live.

Corrections

Smart home integrations change quickly. Send corrections, missing model notes, or privacy concerns to admin@privatehomelab.com.