Building a privacy-first smart home with Frank Nijhof | Episode 8 | The GitHub Podcast

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In this episode, recorded live at GitHub Universe 2025, Andrea sits down with Frank “Frenck” Nijhof, a GitHub Star and project lead for Home Assistant, one of the most active open source projects on the platform. They unpack how millions of households run privacy-first automations locally (no cloud required), why the Open Home Foundation exists to prevent vendor lock-in and e-waste, and how this famously welcoming community scaled to 21k+ contributors. Frank also shares insights about the development of “Assist,” an open, local-first voice assistant (with optional AI), as well as the new “Home Assist Green” hardware device, plus practical ways non-coders can meaningfully contribute to the project, too.

Links mentioned in the episode:

https://github.com/frenck
https://www.home-assistant.io
https://www.home-assistant.io/green
https://www.home-assistant.io/voice
https://www.home-assistant.io/assist
https://www.esphome.io
https://github.com/home-assistant
https://www.raspberrypi.com

The GitHub Podcast is hosted by Abigail Cabunoc Mayes, Kedasha Kerr and Cassidy Williams. The show is edited, mixed and produced by Victoria Marin. Thank you to our production partner, editaudio.

— CHAPTERS —
00:00 - Live from GitHub Universe
01:47 - What is Home Assistant?
02:58 - Running a smart home on a Raspberry Pi
04:01 - Weirdest automations (the brick factory)
06:16 - The Open Home Foundation explained
10:50 - Assist: a local voice assistant
14:08 - Home Assistant hardware
16:52 - How to build a welcoming community
21:27 - Non-code contributions matter
22:26 - The future of the smart home

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