My transition from Hubitat to Home Assistant abruptly stopped. But it was for the best possible reason.
I had finally decided to make the jump. I was tired of Hubitat’s antiquated and limited Rule Machine. I knew Home Assistant was far superior for automations, dashboards, and overall flexibility. My plan was to go all-in, and then I found a much better way.
Why I Wanted to Leave Hubitat for Home Assistant
Don’t get me wrong, Hubitat Elevation has been rock-solid for me. It has run my 100+ devices reliably for years. But writing automations in Rule Machine feels like coding with mittens on. Every complex automation takes 20 clicks and a workaround.
From my initial research, I knew Home Assistant would solve that. My secret sauce was going to be installing the OpenCode app in Home Assistant and letting the Big Pickle AI agent do the heavy lifting for me. Big Pickle is free. Absolutely free, no strings attached. It creates wondrous automations I could never have accomplished in Hubitat.
My Initial Home Assistant Setup Was Surprisingly Easy
I dedicated an old mini PC to be my Home Assistant server. The process was actually easy:
- Wiped the old PC clean
- Did a bare-metal install of HAOS (Home Assistant Operating System)
- Installed Zigbee support
- Plugged in a Zigbee USB dongle
This is the dongle I used – it works well and is inexpensive: Zigbee USB Dongle on Amazon. I factory reset a Zigbee smart plug I had on hand and it was easy to add it to HA. For a second, I thought, “This is going to be a breeze.”
Where My Hubitat to Home Assistant Plan Hit a Wall: Alexa Voice Control
Then I hit the real problem: Amazon Alexa integration.
In Hubitat, Alexa voice control just works. You install the Amazon Echo Skill app, select your devices, and you’re done. “Alexa, living room lights ON” works instantly, reliably, every time.
I then began researching how I could do this with Home Assistant. Then researched some more. And more. I visited countless websites and watched many YouTube videos.
Yes, you can achieve voice control with HA, but the complexity, IMHO, was confounding. Your options are basically:
- Nabu Casa Cloud ($6.50/month): The easiest way, but a subscription.
- Manual Alexa Smart Home Skill: Build your own skill in AWS, deal with Lambda, account linking, SSL certificates, and port forwarding.
- Emulated Hue Bridge: A hack that tricks Alexa into thinking your devices are Hue bulbs, with lots of limitations.
I’m not trying to make a permanent hobby out of Home Assistant. I just want a better home automation system than Hubitat. For a moment I thought about abandoning HA completely and just sticking with Hubitat.
The Hybrid Solution That Saved My Smart Home
Then I came up with a solution that works perfectly for me and my Hubitat to Home Assistant journey:
- Keep my existing Hubitat system exactly as-is.
- Use the Hubitat Maker API app to integrate Hubitat with HA.
- That exposes all of my 100+ Hubitat devices to HA instantly.
- That exposure allows me to control all of my devices from Day One in HA.
- My excellent Hubitat voice control remains completely untouched.
- All future automations and dashboards that I create will be made in HA.
- Any future devices I add will be added to Hubitat, then with one mouse click, made available to HA.
This is truly the BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.
How I Set Up the Hubitat Maker API to Home Assistant Integration
If you want to do this hybrid approach, this is the simple workflow I used:
1. In Hubitat: Install the built-in app called Maker API. Select all the devices you want to expose. It will give you a local API URL and a cloud URL.
2. In Home Assistant: Go to HACS or Integrations and install the “Hubitat” custom integration. Paste in your Maker API details. Within seconds, all my Hubitat devices appeared in Home Assistant as entities.
You can find the official docs here: Hubitat Maker API Documentation and Home Assistant Official Site.
Once that was done, I removed the Zigbee dongle and shut down the Zigbee radio in HA. I won’t be needing it going forward. No more re-pairing 100+ devices one by one.
My New Workflow: The Best of Both Worlds
Here is what my life looks like now after stopping my full Hubitat to Home Assistant migration:
I don’t have to manually add 100+ devices to HA. I avoid the arduous learning curve, with a lot of newbie trial and error, of getting voice control working within HA. Alexa voice control works perfectly on my network, as it always has, because Hubitat is still handling it.
And I have now fully settled in with OpenCode’s Big Pickle AI agent in HA. I just tell Big Pickle, “Create an automation that turns on the entryway lights to 30% if the front door opens after sunset, but only if I’m home,” and it writes the perfect automation YAML for me. Something I could never accomplish in Hubitat’s Rule Machine. No matter how complex your task is, Big Pickle can handle it. No more hitting my head against the wall with Hubitat’s Rule Machine.
My Hubitat hub is now essentially a super-reliable Zigbee/Z-Wave radio and Alexa bridge. Home Assistant is the brain.
Is This Hubitat to Home Assistant Hybrid Right for You?
If you have a large, stable Hubitat setup and your biggest fear about switching is losing Alexa/Google control or having to re-pair everything, this hybrid model is for you. You get to keep 100% of your reliability while you learn Home Assistant at your own pace, without pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not just move everything to Home Assistant?
You absolutely can. But for me, moving 100+ devices, rebuilding every automation, and fixing voice control was weeks of work. The Maker API integration took 5 minutes and gave me the same end result.
Does the Maker API add lag?
In my experience, no noticeable lag at all. The commands go from Home Assistant -> local Maker API -> Hubitat hub -> device in milliseconds. It’s all local. No cloud whatsoever.
What about new Zigbee devices?
I still add all new devices to Hubitat. It’s what I know and it’s rock solid. Then in the Maker API app, I just add the new device to the exposed list. One click and it’s in Home Assistant.
Bottom line: My Hubitat to Home Assistant transition stopped because I realized I didn’t need a transition. I needed an integration. And now I have the most powerful, voice-controlled, AI-automated smart home I’ve ever had.