homeThing is a collection of open-source hardware and software — a 3D-printable ESP32 remote, an ESPHome menu system, and components for controlling Home Assistant devices — for makers and Home Assistant users who want a battery-powered physical remote with a screen and scroll wheel instead of a touch screen.

What it is

homeThing is a set of three parts: the case and circuit board designs, the menu system code, and the code that controls smart home devices. The hardware is built around ESP32 boards with integrated displays, and the software runs on ESPHome, the firmware framework used to connect ESP32 devices to Home Assistant. The menu system is modeled on an iPod's menu, so a user scrolls through a list and presses the center button to select. Two reference remotes are documented, both based on Lilygo TDisplay boards, and the project also runs on a wide range of generic ESP32 hardware.

The concrete problem it solves is controlling smart home devices without a touch screen. The remotes are designed for exactly that use case, and the project moved from its first Lilygo TDisplay-based remote to the homeThing S3 because the original device had slow performance, lacked buttons, and presented challenges during assembly. In place of a phone app or a touch panel, homeThing gives a scroll wheel, configurable physical buttons, a power-efficient sleeping screen, and purpose-built apps for media players, televisions, and infrared devices. It fits inside the ESPHome and Home Assistant ecosystem rather than standing apart from it, and it replaces the touch-screen remote and the handset app as the everyday control surface.

Key capabilities

• ESPHome menu system requiring minimal config, with scrolling list selection by pressing the center button; the top button goes back when a scroll wheel is present, and on M5Stack hardware scrolling up past the top of the list also goes back.
• Now playing screen for media players such as Sonos, Spotify, and Google Home, with scroll-wheel volume, source changes from Spotify playlists, Sonos Favorites, and custom lists, and speaker group management.
• A television control app offering menu navigation up, down, left, right, and select via the scroll wheel, plus power, back, home, and pause in a second menu, TV source lists, and optional soundbar support.
• An IR Remote app with a custom UI and buttons for controlling infrared devices, backed by the IR blaster on the homeThing S3 hardware.
• Games, specifically Snake and Breakout, on the remote's display.
• Power management where the display sleeps after 10 seconds of idle and the device sleeps after 2 hours of idle, with the screen returning to now playing after the display sleeps.
• Simple YAML configuration with adjustable font size and UI size, and all of the complicated code kept in other files; the menu system header is always shown at the top with current state information.

Who uses it and how

• Home Assistant users who run ESPHome and want a dedicated physical remote for media and television control instead of reaching for a phone.
• Makers who print the three-part TDisplay case or the two-part S3 case themselves, order the case 3D files or parts from PCBWay, or buy a fully assembled unit.
• Households with Sonos, Spotify, or Google Home speakers that manage playback, volume, sources, and speaker groups from the scroll wheel.
• Owners of existing ESP32 display boards, including the M5Stack Fire, M5Stick C, Lilygo T-Display T4, Lilygo T-Display TTGO, and Lilygo T-Display S3, who want to reuse hardware they already own.
• Voice Assistant users, since the homeThing S3 includes an internal microphone; the project was mentioned in the Home Assistant Voice Contest.

Getting started

The documented path is to follow GettingStarted.md, which explains how to build your own remote, using the published ESPHome Config and case 3D Files, with parts or a fully assembled unit orderable from PCBWay. A fully assembled homeThing ships within 3 business days from Canada, and more information is available at homething.io.

How it compares

The facts provided do not name any commercial products that homeThing replaces, and they do not name comparable open-source remotes either. On the evidence in this registry it stands alone, distinguished by its GPL-3.0 licence and its dependence on the ESPHome and Home Assistant stack. Its positioning is as open, customizable, 3D-printable hardware paired with open firmware rather than as a sealed consumer product.

When to use it — and when not to

A self-hoster must already operate Home Assistant and ESPHome, compile YAML configuration, and either assemble hardware or source a finished unit, so anyone without that stack or without access to a 3D printer and PCBWay parts faces real setup work. The original Lilygo TDisplay remote is no longer available for purchase and was documented as having slow performance, missing buttons, and assembly challenges, so new builders should treat the homeThing S3 as the intended target. Anyone who wants a touch-screen interface or a device that works without Home Assistant should look elsewhere, and the repository, which carries 13 open issues and a small maintainer base relative to its 546 stars, offers no support guarantee beyond the community Discord.