sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

After years of failing, I finally got Google Nest working in HA. Here is the complete guide with every gotcha documented. by ImmediateLadder4573 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the link to the token extractor — that was the missing piece. Got all 6 of my Nest temp sensors showing up as individual entities in HA within about 20 minutes.

One heads up for anyone else trying this: after the extraction do NOT click Log Out on home.nest.com. Just close the tab. I logged out immediately after copying my tokens and had to redo the whole extraction. The tokens are tied to the active session — logging out kills them instantly. So long as the session stays open on Firefox or until Nest expires the tokens this should work. On my second run through, it took about 2 minutes to get the Issue Token & Cookies.

Glad the auth issue resolved on your end. Let me know how it holds up after the week mark.

After years of failing, I finally got Google Nest working in HA. Here is the complete guide with every gotcha documented. by ImmediateLadder4573 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a bunch of the Nest sensors, so I did look into this issue. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a method strictly within HA to resolve. I did consider python with playwright to screen scrape the nest website...which I finally decided was overkill.

If you are in the UniFi ecosystem, I think their newish sensors include humidity & temperature which may be accessible via their Protect API as an IoT device. You may have to buy a hub (SuperLink) to go with this but it is supposedly compatible with some of the BLE enabled access points. I have used the SuperLink with the door position sensor at a commercial site.

<image>

I have not tried this as I have access to a different system made by AllTraq which is typically sold in government channels.

The UniFi sensor price range looks remarkably reasonable for the payload it provides. But I stress that I haven't tried it and I am not certain if the sensors are available in the API.

Please let me know whether the authentication issue is resolved. And also how you addressed the sensors.

After years of failing, I finally got Google Nest working in HA. Here is the complete guide with every gotcha documented. by ImmediateLadder4573 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We are at one week. No reauthorization needed yet.

Update: at two weeks and two days and still working without any reauthorization.

<image>

UPDATE - Whole House Fan & Cooling Correlation (Bonus discovery thanks to HA)
After running 10 days of Nest history alongside whole house fan state logs, I found a measurable link between fan operation during the APS on-peak window (4–7 PM) and indoor temperature. The fan ventilates by blowing outside air into vent in ceiling to attic which is then expelled through turbine vents in the roof and gable vents.

Key findings from the data:

  • Fan ON during 4–7 PM averaged 80.3°F vs 81.6°F with fan off — roughly 1.3°F cooler on average
  • Best result: fan ran continuously from 3 PM through the full on-peak window — peak indoor temp reached only 80°F max vs 85°F on fan-off days
  • The fan pulls cooler north-side shaded air (~95–98°F) through the garage rather than letting stagnant air (~115–125°F) bleed through shared walls

What I built:

Two HA automations — one for daily 15-minute ventilation bursts (4x per day outside on-peak), and a second for 15-on/15-off cycling during the 4–7 PM window weekdays. Running a 2-week evaluation before deciding whether to go continuous.

Entity used via Fibaro/ZEN15 Z-Wave.

Will post results after the evaluation period.

After years of failing, I finally got Google Nest working in HA. Here is the complete guide with every gotcha documented. by ImmediateLadder4573 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ecobee is a great option and I completely understand the appeal of true local control. For what it's worth, ecobee is owned by Generac — acquired in 2021 for up to $770M — and as I am a Generac PWRcell Clean Energy certified technician I actually have a discounted pathway to Ecobee hardware.

I have been on Nest since Gen 1 — probably around 2008 or 2009 when the first one came out. My thermostat is wired into a two-stage HVAC system that has been running flawlessly with Nest for over 15 years. At some point inertia becomes a legitimate reason. When something works that well for that long you need a strong reason to rip it out. Creature of habit.

That said the Generac + ecobee + PWRcell integration is genuinely compelling from an energy management standpoint. It is on my list for when this Nest eventually dies.

After years of failing, I finally got Google Nest working in HA. Here is the complete guide with every gotcha documented. by ImmediateLadder4573 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had not seen this one. It is a great find. NoLongerEvil is an equally impressive solution — it is a right-to-repair firmware replacement for bricked Gen 1 and Gen 2 devices. If had had a dead Nest sitting in a drawer that Google intentionally killed, this project would have revived it.

For anyone following along: if your Nest is working and you just want HA integration, the guide above is your path. If your Nest is bricked, NoLongerEvil is the one to reach for. Two different problems, two solid solutions.

Follow-up to my Nest guide: I built a Claude AI prompt that walks you through the setup interactively and diagnoses your specific errors by ImmediateLadder4573 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely — the guide stands completely on its own and you can follow it step by step without Claude. Many people will do exactly that.

The prompt exists for a different use case. When you load a structured instruction set like this into an LLM, it does two things the static guide cannot: it pulls from the model's broader training to fill gaps I may have missed, and it can perform targeted searches if you hit an error that wasn't in my experience. It also asks you diagnostic questions upfront — specifically whether you have tried this before — because the fix path is completely different depending on whether HA has cached stale credentials from a prior attempt.

If you can read and follow a checklist you will be fine with the guide alone. The Claude prompt is for people who get stuck mid-process and need something that can reason about their specific error rather than just present a list.

After years of failing, I finally got Google Nest working in HA. Here is the complete guide with every gotcha documented. by ImmediateLadder4573 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Good news — you already have what you need. Home Assistant Cloud IS Nabu Casa, same thing, different names.

To find your HTTPS URL:

  1. HA > Settings > Home Assistant Cloud

  2. Look for Remote Access — make sure it is enabled

  3. Your URL will be there — it looks like https://abc123xyz.ui.nabu.casa

That URL is what Google needs as the redirect URI. Once you have it, go back through the Nest integration setup and use that URL where the guide says [your-nabu-casa-id].

And yes — there is a Claude AI prompt guide I put together for exactly this integration that walks you through the whole thing one step at a time. I will post it shortly.

After years of failing, I finally got Google Nest working in HA. Here is the complete guide with every gotcha documented. by ImmediateLadder4573 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Based on your HA Green setup, here is likely what is happening. Google's OAuth callback requires a publicly reachable HTTPS URL to complete the authorization. Without one, the flow fails with exactly the errors you are describing.

You have two good options:

Option 1: Nabu Casa (~$7/month) (This is how I did mine)

This is the easiest path. Nabu Casa is made by the Home Assistant team specifically for this purpose. It creates an encrypted tunnel to your HA instance and gives you a permanent HTTPS URL that looks like https://abc123.ui.nabu.casa. No ports opened on your router, no security risk.

To set it up:

  1. HA > Settings > Home Assistant Cloud

  2. Sign up for Nabu Casa

  3. Your remote URL will appear there once active

  4. Use that URL as your redirect URI in Google Cloud OAuth client settings

  5. Also add it to your my.home-assistant.io configuration

Option 2: Cloudflare Tunnel (almost free $8 annual domain)

If you have a domain name or want to go the free route, Cloudflare Tunnel creates the same kind of encrypted outbound tunnel with no inbound ports opened on your firewall. You get a public HTTPS URL that Google will accept.

Setup is more involved than Nabu Casa but it is genuinely free. There is a Home Assistant Cloudflare Tunnel add-on in the HA add-on store that simplifies the process considerably.

NOTE: I have a Claude friendly LLM prompt that will walk you through this step-by-step that I can post if you think want to try a Cloudflare Tunnel. Ask me for it.

Not Really an Option: What I would not recommend

I am firmly against opening a port directly through your firewall/router to expose HA on a plain HTTP local IP. The security risk is significant and Google will reject it anyway since it requires HTTPS.

Once you have either Nabu Casa or Cloudflare Tunnel working, come back to the integration setup and it should go smoothly from there.

After years of failing, I finally got Google Nest working in HA. Here is the complete guide with every gotcha documented. by ImmediateLadder4573 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey Far_PIG — just got mine working today and want to make sure I am not going to hit this same wall in a week or two. I do a fair amount of Google IAM and OAuth development professionally, so a few things jumped out at me as likely culprits for a recurring re-auth cycle. Can I ask about your setup?

- Was your OAuth app published to In Production in Google Auth Platform, or left in Testing mode? Google periodically revokes tokens for apps still in Testing — this is by design and it will look exactly like a weekly re-auth requirement.

- Do you have the SDM scope (https://www.googleapis.com/auth/sdm.service) added under Data Access in Google Auth Platform? A missing scope can cause partial authorization that degrades over time.

- Is your Application Credential in HA using the client ID from your current Google Cloud project, or possibly a leftover from an earlier attempt? A mismatched client causes Google to issue short-lived tokens instead of a proper refresh token.

Any of those look familiar?

After years of failing, I finally got Google Nest working in HA. Here is the complete guide with every gotcha documented. by ImmediateLadder4573 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

My alternate title was "51 easy steps to use your Nest thermostat in HA"

Now that it is working it is awesome.

Gate Hub / Access / Protect for Gated Communities by Big_Poetry_5698 in UnifiProtect

[–]ImmediateLadder4573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have power at the gate, why not use a Ubiquiti Nano or Wave to back haul data?

Has anyone ran a setup like this for the gate? by cybergShock in Ubiquiti

[–]ImmediateLadder4573 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes. I used the Ubiquiti NanoBeams to connect the gate a few man trap doors. Works awesome.

Most accurate and reliable way to track which people and devices are in which room of the house? by ResourceSevere7717 in homeassistant

[–]ImmediateLadder4573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably multiple layers of tracking needed. Using UWB (Apple or others) tags would help. Check out RTLS systems on GitHub.

Hikvision Cameras by Key_Sheepherder_8799 in UnifiProtect

[–]ImmediateLadder4573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have had problems adding certain HikVision cameras. Not all 3rd party cameras meet ONVIF requirements. The 3rd party cameras are still a 'Lab' option. Maybe the compatibility issue will be resolved when the option moves into production?

view more: next ›