From grimoire
Designs smart home automation systems with protocol selection, device architecture, and automation logic.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/grimoire:design-smart-home-automationThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Design a cohesive, interoperable smart home system with protocol selection, device architecture, and automation logic.
Design a cohesive, interoperable smart home system with protocol selection, device architecture, and automation logic.
Adopted by: CEDIA-certified smart home integrators; CSA Matter protocol adopted by Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung; Z-Wave Alliance with 700M+ devices deployed globally Impact: Professionally designed smart home systems have 80% fewer device compatibility failures; Matter protocol reduces setup time by 60% vs. proprietary systems; structured automation logic reduces "automation regret" (unused automations) by 55% Why best: Protocol-first design prevents the most common failure mode: buying devices that cannot communicate with each other or require multiple separate apps to control
Sources: CSA Matter Specification v1.3 (2023); Z-Wave Alliance Standards (2023); CEDIA Smart Home Design Guidelines (2022)
Define use cases before selecting devices — List the specific problems to solve: energy savings, security, convenience, accessibility, entertainment. Prioritize 3–5 core use cases. Device selection follows use case, not the reverse.
Choose a primary protocol ecosystem:
Select a hub/controller platform — The hub is the most important long-term decision:
Design the network infrastructure first — Smart homes require strong Wi-Fi coverage throughout. Deploy a mesh Wi-Fi system (Eero, Ubiquiti, TP-Link Deco) before any devices. Place IoT devices on a separate VLAN/network for security.
Plan device categories by zone:
Design automation logic with triggers, conditions, and actions:
Plan occupancy and mode-based scenes — Define home modes: Away, Home, Sleep, Morning, Guest. Each mode sets a baseline state for lighting, climate, locks, and alarms. Automations reference modes as conditions rather than absolute times.
Address failure modes — Every automation must have a manual override. Network outages, hub failures, and cloud service disruptions are inevitable. All critical devices (locks, lights) must be operable without the automation system.
Design for security — Change all default credentials; enable two-factor authentication on hub accounts; use a separate IoT VLAN; disable UPnP on the router; update firmware regularly; choose local-processing options over cloud-dependent where possible.
Document the system — Record: device list with model/firmware/location, hub configuration export, automation logic in plain language, network diagram, and vendor account credentials in a password manager. Without documentation, the system becomes unmaintainable.
npx claudepluginhub jeffreytse/grimoire --plugin grimoireApplies agentic design patterns (tool use, routing, planning, exception handling, memory) to Home Assistant for smart home automation and IoT orchestration.
Provides best practices for Home Assistant automations, helpers, scripts, and dashboards. Guides on avoiding templates, using native constructs, and safe refactoring.
Creates and manages Home Assistant automations including rules, triggers, conditions, actions, scripts, scenes, and blueprints. Covers device triggers and conditional logic.