Evaporating Clouds: Taking Back My Smart Home

It started with a light switch that didn’t work.

Not because the bulb had burned out or the wiring had failed, but because a server I’d never seen, owned by a company I’d never spoken to, was having a bad afternoon. My internet was fine. My Wi-Fi was fine. The switch was three meters from the bulb. And still, nothing.

That’s the quiet bargain most smart homes make: convenience now, in exchange for depending on someone else’s cloud forever. Apps get redesigned, APIs get shut off, subscriptions appear where there were none, and devices you paid for turn into e-waste when a company changes its mind.

I want a smarter home, but not at the cost of control. So I’m working toward one that runs locally: devices that talk to a hub in my house, automations that keep working when the internet doesn’t, and data that stays under my roof.

What this blog is

Evaporating Clouds documents that journey, one device, integration and automation at a time. Expect practical projects, honest experiments (including the ones that fail), and lessons learned about what actually works without the cloud.

What it isn’t

This isn’t a purity contest. Some things will stay cloud-connected because the trade-off is worth it, and I’ll say so when that happens. The goal is fewer dependencies, chosen deliberately.

Where I’m starting

The heart of the house is Home Assistant, running on a Proxmox server. Devices talk to it directly over Zigbee and Z-Wave, two radio protocols that work entirely inside the house: no vendor app, no account, no round trip through someone else’s data center.

That’s the foundation. I’ll write up the rest of the setup, and the cloud-dependent devices still on my list to replace, in the posts ahead.

Deals, too

Local-first hardware isn’t always cheap, so I keep a running list of discounts on devices I’d actually use. You’ll find it under Deals.

Local control. Less cloud. A home that’s yours. Let’s get started.