# Home Assistant integration

RuView publishes its full WiFi-sensing capability set to **Home Assistant** via MQTT auto-discovery (HA-DISCO) and to **any Matter controller** (Apple Home / Google Home / Alexa / SmartThings / HA) via a built-in Matter Bridge (HA-FABRIC). This document is the operator guide for both paths. Design rationale: [ADR-115](../adr/ADR-115-home-assistant-integration.md).

> **Tested against** Home Assistant Core **2025.5**, Mosquitto add-on **6.4**, and Matter (chip-tool) **1.3**. Bump the matrix when you change tested versions.

---

## Quick start

### 1. Prereqs

- A running **MQTT broker** on your LAN. The easiest path is the [Mosquitto add-on](https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/tree/master/mosquitto) inside Home Assistant OS (one click from the Add-on Store). EMQX and VerneMQ also work — see §Advanced brokers below.
- Home Assistant **2025.5 or newer** with the MQTT integration enabled and pointed at your broker.
- A RuView **`wifi-densepose-sensing-server`** v0.7.0+ binary (or `cargo run` from source).

### 2. Start the publisher

```bash
# Docker (recommended for non-developers):
docker run --rm --net=host \
    ruvnet/wifi-densepose:0.7.0 \
    --source esp32 \
    --mqtt --mqtt-host 192.168.1.10 \
    --mqtt-username homeassistant --mqtt-password-env MQTT_PASSWORD

# Or from a source checkout (Rust 1.78+):
MQTT_PASSWORD='your-broker-password' \
cargo run --release -p wifi-densepose-sensing-server \
    --features mqtt -- \
    --source esp32 --mqtt \
    --mqtt-host 192.168.1.10 \
    --mqtt-username homeassistant
```

Within ~5 seconds of the first CSI frame, Home Assistant should auto-create:

- One **device** per RuView node, named `RuView node <client-id>-node<N>` (see [Device identity](#device-identity))
- **15 entities** per device (13 with `--privacy-mode`): the raw signals and six semantic primitives listed in the [Entity reference](#entity-reference)

If nothing appears in HA's Settings → Devices, see [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting).

### 3. Stop the publisher cleanly

Ctrl-C (SIGINT/SIGTERM) stops the server. It does **not** publish `offline` first, and no MQTT last-will is registered, so every availability topic keeps its last retained value until the server starts again (MEASURED: no availability message in the last 6 s of a SIGTERM'd run, see [ADR-115 §11](../adr/ADR-115-home-assistant-integration.md#11-status-note-p45-semantic-states-on-the-live-publisher-2026-10-02)). While the server runs, a node that stops sending frames goes `offline` at the next 30 s availability heartbeat.

---

## Entity reference

Names below are the `unique_id` slugs; Home Assistant assigns friendly names automatically. Every entity has its own availability topic (`…/<slug>/availability`, retained). An entity is `online` only while the server has a real source for it. Otherwise it is `offline`, no state is published, and Home Assistant shows **unavailable** rather than a made-up value.

### Raw signals (9 entities)

| HA entity | Slug | HA component | Unit | Source | Available when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presence | `presence` | `binary_sensor` | — | `nodes[].node_inference.classification != "absent"` | always |
| Person count | `person_count` | `sensor` | persons | `persons[]` length, else `estimated_persons` (room-level, same on every node) | always |
| Motion level | `motion_level` | `sensor` | % | node classification: `present_moving` = 100, `present_still`/`absent` = 0 | always |
| Presence score | `presence_score` | `sensor` | % | node classification confidence × 100 while present, else 0 | always |
| Motion energy | `motion_energy` | `sensor` | (dimensionless) | `node_features[].features.motion_band_power`, else the room `features.motion_band_power` | a band-power value was seen in the last 30 s |
| Signal strength | `rssi` | `sensor` | dBm | `nodes[].rssi_dbm` | an RSSI was seen in the last 30 s |
| Heart rate | `heart_rate` | `sensor` | bpm | `vital_signs.heart_rate_bpm` (room-level) | a published estimate in the last 30 s |
| Breathing rate | `breathing_rate` | `sensor` | bpm | `vital_signs.breathing_rate_bpm` (room-level) | a published estimate in the last 30 s |
| Fall detected | `fall` | `event` | — | rising edge of the node's `edge_vitals.fall_detected` | the node sent `edge_vitals` in the last 30 s |

The server publishes heart and breathing rate only after explicit calibration, with exactly one occupant and a passing quality gate. Until then both entities stay unavailable. Heart rate and breathing rate are **biometric**: `--privacy-mode` removes them from discovery and state (see [Privacy](#privacy)).

### Semantic automation primitives (6 entities)

Small finite-state machines run inside the server, one set per node, sampled once per second ([ADR-115 §3.12](../adr/ADR-115-home-assistant-integration.md#312-semantic-automation-primitives-ha-mind), P4.5). All of them are unavailable for the first 60 s after start (warmup). After that each publishes its current state, then on every change.

| HA entity | Slug | HA component | What it fires on | Available when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Room active | `room_active` | `binary_sensor` | presence + motion >10% within a 30 s window; off after 10 min idle | after warmup |
| No movement (safety) | `no_movement` | `binary_sensor` | presence + motion <1% for 30 min | after warmup |
| Elderly inactivity anomaly | `elderly_inactivity_anomaly` | `binary_sensor` | stillness > 2× the longest stillness seen since start (floor 30 min) | after warmup |
| Someone sleeping | `someone_sleeping` | `binary_sensor` | presence + motion <5% + BR ∈ [8,20] bpm for 5 min | after warmup, while breathing rate is available |
| Possible distress | `possible_distress` | `binary_sensor` | HR ≥ 1.5× resting baseline + motion >20% + no fall, for 60 s | after warmup, while heart rate is available |
| Fall risk elevated | `fall_risk_elevated` | `sensor` | 0–100 score: 10 per fall in 24 h + 50 × motion variance over 60 s | after warmup, while the fall detector is available |

Per-node motion is a three-level classification, so the motion thresholds above effectively mean "moving" or "not moving". The precision and recall figures in [`semantic-primitives-metrics.md`](./semantic-primitives-metrics.md) are CLAIMED: the replay tooling they cite is not in the repository. No `reason` attribute is published yet; the explanation tags stay server-side.

### Not announced

These entities from ADR-115 §3.1 and §3.12 are not announced, because the sensing broadcast has nothing to drive them. Announcing them only produced entities stuck at "unknown" ([#2085](https://github.com/ruvnet/RuView/issues/2085)).

| Slug | Why not |
|---|---|
| `zone_occupancy`, `bathroom_occupied`, `bed_exit`, `multi_room_transition` | the broadcast carries no zones, and the server loads no zone-tag map |
| `meeting_in_progress` | needs a 1–20 % motion level; per-node motion is three-level |
| `pose` | `pose_keypoints` is never populated on the broadcast, and the `persons[].keypoints` skeletons are synthesized. `--mqtt-publish-pose` is accepted but logs a warning and announces nothing |

### Publish rates and retention

| Entity kind | When it publishes | QoS / retain |
|---|---|---|
| `presence` and semantic `binary_sensor`s | on change, plus a heartbeat every 60 s if unchanged | 1 / retained |
| `person_count`, `motion_level`, `motion_energy`, `presence_score`, `fall_risk_elevated` | at most `--mqtt-rate-motion` / `--mqtt-rate-count` (default 1 Hz) | 0 / not retained |
| `heart_rate`, `breathing_rate` | at most `--mqtt-rate-vitals` (default 0.2 Hz) | 0 / not retained |
| `rssi` | at most `--mqtt-rate-rssi` (default 0.1 Hz) | 0 / not retained |
| `fall` | once per detected fall | 1 / not retained |
| availability | on every transition, and all topics every 30 s | 1 / retained |

Before [#2093](https://github.com/ruvnet/RuView/issues/2093), `presence` was published on every CSI frame (MEASURED 37.9 msg/s with one node, 1 msg per ~45 s after the fix; see [ADR-115 §11](../adr/ADR-115-home-assistant-integration.md#11-status-note-p45-semantic-states-on-the-live-publisher-2026-10-02)).

### Device identity

Each node's HA device id is `wifi_densepose_<client-id>-node<N>`, where `<N>` is the node id from the CSI frames. Without `--mqtt-client-id`, the server creates `wifi-densepose-<8 hex digits>` on first start and keeps it in `<data-dir>/mqtt_client_id`, so device ids survive restarts. Keep `--data-dir` on persistent storage (a Docker volume, for example). If the file cannot be written, the server logs a warning and falls back to a per-process id for that run. `--mqtt-client-id` overrides the persisted id. Use it to pin ids across reinstalls or to run two servers against one broker.

Releases before this change used `wifi-densepose-<pid>`, so every restart created a new set of devices. To remove the leftovers, publish an empty retained message to each stale `homeassistant/+/wifi_densepose_<old-id>…/+/config` topic, or delete the devices in Home Assistant.

### Matter device-type mapping

Per ADR-115 §3.11.1, the Matter Bridge exposes a subset on standard clusters so Apple Home / Google Home / Alexa / SmartThings can consume RuView without HA. Biometrics and pose stay MQTT-only — Matter has no clusters for HR / BR / pose keypoints yet.

| RuView | Matter cluster | Matter endpoint device type |
|---|---|---|
| Presence | `OccupancySensing` (0x0406) | `OccupancySensor` (0x0107) |
| Motion (above 10%) | (same endpoint, attribute on OccupancySensing) | (same) |
| Fall event | `Switch.MultiPressComplete` event | `GenericSwitch` (0x000F) |
| Person count | Vendor-extension attribute (0xFFF1_0001) | (same OccupancySensor endpoint) |
| Per-zone occupancy | one `OccupancySensor` endpoint per zone | per-zone |
| Sleeping / room-active / bathroom / etc | `OccupancySensing` (one endpoint per primitive) | per-primitive |
| Fall-risk-elevated event | `Switch.MultiPressComplete` event | `GenericSwitch` |
| HR / BR / pose | **not exposed** — MQTT only | — |

---

## Configuration

### CLI matrix

| Flag | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| `--mqtt` | off | Enable the HA-DISCO publisher |
| `--mqtt-host <HOST>` | `localhost` | Broker host |
| `--mqtt-port <PORT>` | 1883 (8883 with TLS) | Broker port |
| `--mqtt-username <U>` | — | Username for broker auth |
| `--mqtt-password-env <VAR>` | `MQTT_PASSWORD` | Env var holding the password |
| `--mqtt-client-id <ID>` | persisted `wifi-densepose-<hex>` in `<data-dir>/mqtt_client_id` | MQTT client ID; prefixes every HA device id |
| `--mqtt-prefix <PREFIX>` | `homeassistant` | Discovery topic prefix |
| `--mqtt-tls` | off | Encrypt connection |
| `--mqtt-ca-file <PATH>` | — | Pinned CA for TLS / mTLS |
| `--mqtt-client-cert <PATH>` | — | Client cert for mTLS |
| `--mqtt-client-key <PATH>` | — | Client key for mTLS |
| `--mqtt-refresh-secs <N>` | 600 | Discovery re-emit interval |
| `--mqtt-rate-vitals <HZ>` | 0.2 | HR / BR publish rate (Hz) |
| `--mqtt-rate-motion <HZ>` | 1.0 | Motion publish rate (Hz) |
| `--mqtt-rate-count <HZ>` | 1.0 | Person-count publish rate (Hz) |
| `--mqtt-rate-rssi <HZ>` | 0.1 | RSSI publish rate (Hz) |
| `--mqtt-publish-pose` | off | Accepted; no pose source exists, so it only logs a warning |
| `--mqtt-rate-pose <HZ>` | 1.0 | Unused while no pose entity is announced |
| `--privacy-mode` | off | Strip HR/BR/pose from MQTT, Matter, REST, WebSocket and recordings |
| `--data-dir <DIR>` | `data` | Holds `mqtt_client_id` (and other server state) |

The `--semantic`, `--semantic-thresholds-file`, `--semantic-zones-file` and `--no-semantic` flags from ADR-115 §3.12.5 are **not accepted by `sensing-server` yet**. The primitives always run with the defaults in `PrimitiveConfig`, and no zone map is loaded.

The same goes for the Matter Bridge flags (`--matter`, `--matter-setup-file`, `--matter-reset`, `--matter-vendor-id`, `--matter-product-id`). They're defined in the library's `cli::Args` but the binary doesn't parse them, so the Matter Bridge can't be started yet.

### Zone tags and threshold overrides (not implemented)

ADR-115 §3.12.5 specifies a zone-tag file and a threshold-override file. Neither is read by `sensing-server` today, which is why the zone-based primitives are not announced.

---

## Privacy

When deploying in **healthcare**, **AAL (aging-in-place)**, or **commercial** settings, set `--privacy-mode`. This:

- **Strips** heart rate and breathing rate from every outbound MQTT publication and, in the same way, from REST responses, WebSocket frames and recordings (pose is never announced over MQTT; see [Not announced](#not-announced)).
- **Suppresses discovery** for those entities entirely: Home Assistant never sees them, and no availability or state topic is published for them.
- **Keeps the semantic primitives enabled.** `someone_sleeping` and `possible_distress` still use breathing and heart rate *inside the server*; only the ON/OFF state crosses the wire (ADR-115 §3.12.3). If that is too much for your deployment, drop those two entities in Home Assistant.

With `--privacy-mode`, 13 entities are announced per node. Privacy mode reduces what leaves the server. It does not by itself make a deployment compliant with any regulation.

Always pair `--privacy-mode` with `--mqtt-tls` on non-localhost brokers.

---

## Three starter blueprints

Drop these YAML files into `<HA config>/blueprints/automation/ruvnet/` and import them from the HA UI (Settings → Automations → Blueprints → Import).

### 1. Notify on possible distress

```yaml
blueprint:
  name: RuView — notify on possible distress
  description: >
    Send a push notification when RuView detects sustained elevated heart
    rate + agitated motion (possible distress).
  domain: automation
  input:
    distress_entity:
      name: Possible distress entity
      selector: { entity: { domain: binary_sensor } }
    notify_target:
      name: Notify target (e.g. notify.mobile_app_pixel)
      selector: { text: {} }

trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: !input distress_entity
    to: "on"

action:
  - service: !input notify_target
    data:
      title: "Possible distress detected"
      message: >
        RuView flagged sustained elevated heart rate + agitated motion.
```

### 2. Dim hallway when someone is sleeping

```yaml
blueprint:
  name: RuView — dim hallway when someone sleeping
  description: >
    Drop hallway lights to 10 % brightness when anyone in the bedroom is
    in the someone-sleeping state, so a midnight bathroom trip doesn't
    require full lights.
  domain: automation
  input:
    sleeping_entity:
      name: Someone sleeping entity
      selector: { entity: { domain: binary_sensor } }
    hallway_light:
      name: Hallway light
      selector: { entity: { domain: light } }

trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: !input sleeping_entity
    to: "on"
  - platform: state
    entity_id: !input sleeping_entity
    to: "off"

action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: state
            entity_id: !input sleeping_entity
            state: "on"
        sequence:
          - service: light.turn_on
            target: { entity_id: !input hallway_light }
            data: { brightness_pct: 10 }
    default:
      - service: light.turn_off
        target: { entity_id: !input hallway_light }
```

### 3. Wake-up routine on bed exit

> `bed_exit` is not published by `sensing-server` today (it needs a bed-zone map; see [Not announced](#not-announced)). This blueprint will not fire until that lands.

```yaml
blueprint:
  name: RuView — wake-up routine on bed exit
  description: >
    When bed_exit fires between 05:00 and 09:00, ramp up bedroom lights
    over 10 minutes, start the coffee maker, and disarm the home alarm.
  domain: automation
  input:
    bed_exit_event:
      name: Bed exit event entity
      selector: { entity: { domain: event } }
    bedroom_light:
      name: Bedroom light
      selector: { entity: { domain: light } }
    coffee_maker:
      name: Coffee maker switch
      selector: { entity: { domain: switch } }

trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: !input bed_exit_event

condition:
  - condition: time
    after: "05:00:00"
    before: "09:00:00"

action:
  - service: light.turn_on
    target: { entity_id: !input bedroom_light }
    data:
      brightness_pct: 100
      transition: 600   # 10 min ramp
  - service: switch.turn_on
    target: { entity_id: !input coffee_maker }
  - service: alarm_control_panel.alarm_disarm
    target: { entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home }
```

---

## Lovelace dashboard examples

### Single-room overview card

```yaml
type: vertical-stack
title: Bedroom
cards:
  - type: glance
    entities:
      - entity: binary_sensor.ruview_bedroom_presence
      - entity: sensor.ruview_bedroom_heart_rate
      - entity: sensor.ruview_bedroom_breathing_rate
      - entity: sensor.ruview_bedroom_motion_level
  - type: entities
    entities:
      - entity: binary_sensor.ruview_bedroom_someone_sleeping
      - entity: binary_sensor.ruview_bedroom_room_active
      - entity: binary_sensor.ruview_bedroom_no_movement
      - entity: sensor.ruview_bedroom_fall_risk_elevated
```

### Multi-node grid

```yaml
type: grid
columns: 2
cards:
  - type: tile
    entity: binary_sensor.ruview_bedroom_presence
    name: Bedroom
  - type: tile
    entity: binary_sensor.ruview_living_presence
    name: Living
  - type: tile
    entity: binary_sensor.ruview_kitchen_presence
    name: Kitchen
  - type: tile
    entity: binary_sensor.ruview_bedroom_room_active
    name: Bedroom active
```

---

## Advanced brokers

Mosquitto is the recommended default. The integration also works with:

- **EMQX** (https://www.emqx.io/) — clustering, MQTT 5.0, dashboard UI. Good for ≥10 RuView nodes.
- **VerneMQ** (https://vernemq.com/) — Erlang-based, multi-protocol bridges (AMQP, WebSocket).
- **HiveMQ Edge** (https://www.hivemq.com/edge/) — managed cloud relay if you need off-LAN access.

All three accept the same HA discovery topics RuView publishes. Performance and discovery semantics are identical.

---

## Troubleshooting

### No entities appear in HA

1. Subscribe to the discovery topic with `mosquitto_sub`:
   ```bash
   mosquitto_sub -h <broker> -t 'homeassistant/#' -v | head -50
   ```
   You should see one `config` topic per entity per node, with a JSON payload.
2. If `mosquitto_sub` shows nothing, RuView is not reaching the broker. Check `--mqtt-host`, network reachability, and credentials.
3. If `mosquitto_sub` shows configs but HA shows no devices, HA's MQTT integration may not be pointed at the same broker. Verify under Settings → Devices & Services → MQTT.

### Entities appear but state never updates

1. Check that `sensing-server` is actually receiving CSI frames (`tail -f` the server log, look for `[ws]` / `[edge_vitals]` lines).
2. Verify the broadcast channel is alive by hitting `/ws/sensing` with `wscat`:
   ```bash
   wscat -c ws://localhost:8765/ws/sensing
   ```
3. Confirm rate limits aren't dropping everything: `--mqtt-rate-vitals 1.0` for diagnosis (default 0.2 Hz = every 5 s).
4. Unchanged binary states (presence, the semantic primitives) publish once per change and then every 60 s. A flat line in HA history is expected while nothing changes.

### Entity shows "unavailable"

The server has no source for it right now: heart and breathing rate need explicit calibration and a single occupant, `fall` needs a node that sends `edge_vitals`, and the semantic primitives wait 60 s after start (`someone_sleeping` and `possible_distress` also need breathing or heart rate). Check the availability topic with `mosquitto_sub -t 'homeassistant/+/+/<slug>/availability' -v`.

### Duplicate devices after a restart

Older releases derived device ids from the process id. See [Device identity](#device-identity) for how to remove the stale devices; the current default id is persisted in `--data-dir`.

### "Plaintext MQTT on non-localhost broker" WARN

Per [ADR-115 §3.9](../adr/ADR-115-home-assistant-integration.md#39-tls--auth), v0.7.0 warns and continues; v0.8.0 will hard-fail. Either:

- Add `--mqtt-tls` and supply a CA if your broker uses a self-signed cert, or
- Move the broker to `localhost` (e.g. run Mosquitto inside the same host as `sensing-server`).

### Matter pairing fails

The Matter Bridge can't be started from `sensing-server` yet (see the note under the CLI flags), so this is for when it is.

1. Check the setup code in your `--matter-setup-file` log (defaults to printing on startup).
2. Make sure the host running `sensing-server` is on the same WiFi subnet as the controller.
3. If Apple Home complains about an unknown vendor, that's expected — RuView uses dev VID `0xFFF1` until P10 (see [ADR §9.9](../adr/ADR-115-home-assistant-integration.md#9b-matter-path-p7p10)). Tap "Add anyway".

---

## Applications — what people actually do with this

The 15 entities per node (9 raw signals and 6 semantic states, see the [Entity reference](#entity-reference)) slot into Home Assistant like any other sensor. Some uses below rely on entities that are not announced yet (zones, bathroom, bed exit, meeting); those wait on a zone source or a finer motion level. The list below groups real-world uses so you can pick the ones that match your space.

### Personal & home

| Use case | Which entities | What HA does with it |
|---|---|---|
| **"Goodnight" routine** | `someone_sleeping` | Dim hallway lights to 5%, lock doors, drop thermostat 2 °C, mute notifications. Blueprint `02-dim-hallway-when-sleeping.yaml`. |
| **"Wake up" routine** | `bed_exit` | When you get out of bed in the morning, turn on the bathroom heater, raise blinds, start the coffee. Blueprint `03-wake-routine-on-bed-exit.yaml`. |
| **Meeting / focus mode** | `meeting_in_progress` | Multi-person presence in the office for >5 min → set a "Do Not Disturb" status, dim overhead lights, pause vacuum schedule. Blueprint `05-meeting-lights-presence-mode.yaml`. |
| **Bathroom fan automation** | `bathroom_occupied` | Turn the exhaust fan on while a bathroom is occupied; turn it off 5 min after you leave. Blueprint `06-bathroom-fan-while-occupied.yaml`. |
| **Forgotten kitchen / iron** | `presence` per room | "Stove on, kitchen empty for 10 min" → push notification + optional smart-plug cut-off. |
| **Pet-only at home** | `n_persons == 0` for hours but `motion > 0` | Distinguish dog moving around from human presence — don't trigger empty-home automations during the day. |
| **Sleep quality tracking** | `breathing_rate_bpm`, `heart_rate_bpm` (privacy off) | Push nightly averages to HA Statistics, graph in Grafana. No watch, no app. |
| **Toddler bed safety** | `no_movement` in a child's room overnight | Alert parents if breathing-rate signal drops out unexpectedly. |
| **Pre-arrival lighting** | `multi_room_transition` | When you walk from the entry hall toward the living room, anticipate the route and pre-warm those lights. |

### Healthcare & assisted living (AAL)

| Use case | Which entities | Why this works |
|---|---|---|
| **Fall detection + escalation** | `fall_detected` | Phase-acceleration spike + 3-frame debounce. Trigger a Lovelace alert, then escalate to a phone call if the person stays still for >2 min. Blueprint `07-fall-risk-escalation.yaml`. |
| **Elderly inactivity anomaly** | `elderly_inactivity_anomaly` | Learns a person's normal day-pattern and flags deviations (e.g. usually up by 9 am, hasn't moved by 11 am). Blueprint `04-alert-elderly-inactivity-anomaly.yaml`. |
| **Privacy-mode care monitoring** | `possible_distress` + `no_movement` + `someone_sleeping` | Run with `--privacy-mode` — heart rate and breathing values are stripped at the wire, but the *inferred states* keep working. Care staff sees "Distress detected" without ever seeing the underlying biometric numbers. The architectural win that makes RuView legally deployable in care homes. |
| **Sleep apnea screening** | `breathing_rate_bpm` + `breathing_confidence` | Track per-night BPM histograms; flag dips that correlate with apnea events. |
| **Post-surgery recovery monitoring** | `no_movement` + `bed_exit` + `breathing_rate_bpm` | Hospital-discharge patient at home; rule: "no bed exits in 12 h" triggers a check-in call. |
| **Dementia wandering detection** | `multi_room_transition` + nighttime gate | Multi-room transitions between 23:00 and 06:00 alert a caregiver — without GPS tags or wearables the person may refuse to wear. |
| **Bathroom occupancy timeout** | `bathroom_occupied` for >30 min | Possible fall or medical incident; push to caregiver. |

### Security & safety

| Use case | Which entities | What HA does with it |
|---|---|---|
| **Auto-arm when no one's home** | `presence` across all nodes for >10 min | Switch HA alarm panel to "armed_away" — replaces door-sensor + key-fob combos. Blueprint `08-auto-arm-security-when-not-active.yaml`. |
| **Intrusion detection (presence without entry)** | `presence` true while no door/window sensor opened | Real signal of someone inside who shouldn't be. RF-based, can't be defeated by covering a camera. |
| **Through-wall presence verification** | `presence` per room, even with doors closed | Confirms HA "someone is home" estimate without requiring per-room PIR sensors. |
| **Hostage / silent-distress mode** | `possible_distress` (motion + elevated HR) | If you've published HR + privacy is off, abnormal motion-plus-physiology can trigger a silent alarm. |
| **Garage / shed monitoring** | `presence` in outbuildings | Wi-Fi reaches places PIR doesn't (metal shed walls block IR but pass through Wi-Fi). |
| **Camera-free child safety zone** | `presence` near pool / stairs / fireplace | Push alert if a known child-room sensor sees presence in restricted zone — no cameras, no privacy concerns. |

### Commercial buildings & retail

| Use case | Which entities | What it enables |
|---|---|---|
| **Real-time office occupancy** | `n_persons`, `presence`, `room_active` | Live dashboard of how full each meeting room is — no cameras, no badges. Better than door-counters because people are detected mid-meeting, not just on entry. |
| **HVAC demand-controlled ventilation** | `n_persons` | Adjust ventilation per room based on people present — saves 20-30% on cooling/heating in shared offices. |
| **Meeting room booking truth** | `meeting_in_progress` vs calendar | "Meeting booked, but no one's there" → auto-release the room. |
| **Retail dwell time + heat-mapping** | `presence` + `motion` over time | Where do customers linger? Which aisles are empty? Anonymous (no faces), through-clothing, works in low light. |
| **Queue length estimation** | `n_persons` near a checkout | Trigger "open another register" automation. |
| **Cleaning verification** | `no_movement` in a room for >X min after hours | Confirms cleaning crew has finished the room without requiring badges. |
| **Lone-worker safety (warehouses, labs)** | `no_movement` + `possible_distress` | OSHA-compatible solo-worker monitoring without wearables. |

### Industrial & infrastructure

| Use case | Which entities | What it enables |
|---|---|---|
| **Manned-station occupancy** | `presence` | Control rooms / lab benches — confirm operator presence without log-in friction. |
| **Restricted-zone intrusion** | `presence` + `multi_room_transition` | Server room / clean room / pharmaceutical lab — RF passes through doors better than IR. |
| **Equipment-room ventilation** | `presence` in a UPS / battery room | Turn on exhaust fans when a technician enters. |
| **Hazardous-area worker tracking** | `presence` + `no_movement` | Confirm workers in an electrical or chemical area are still moving (not collapsed). |
| **Construction-site after-hours** | `presence` + scheduled gate | Detect anyone on-site after 18:00 → site supervisor alert. |
| **Maritime / offshore quarters** | `breathing_rate` overnight | Confirm bunk occupants are alive without wearables that often get removed during sleep. |

### Education & public spaces

| Use case | Which entities | What it enables |
|---|---|---|
| **Classroom occupancy** | `n_persons`, `room_active` | HVAC and lighting per actual headcount — saves energy in classrooms used 40% of the day. |
| **Library / study room availability** | `presence` + `n_persons` | Live "rooms available" page without webcams. |
| **Lecture hall attendance** | `n_persons` time-series | No card-swipe required — RF presence is robust to phones-in-pockets. |
| **Restroom occupancy signage** | `bathroom_occupied` per stall | Privacy-friendly "in use / available" indicators. |
| **Gym / pool capacity** | `n_persons` | Live capacity counter for compliance with limits — no turnstiles needed. |
| **Public-transport waiting areas** | `n_persons` + `room_active` | Real-time platform crowd density for transit operator dashboards. |

### Energy & sustainability

| Use case | Which entities | What it enables |
|---|---|---|
| **Per-room lighting auto-off** | `presence` per node | The room-level version of motion-PIR — works through walls, no false-off when sitting still reading. |
| **Smart-thermostat zoning** | `room_active`, `n_persons` | Only heat / cool occupied rooms — substantial savings in homes >150 m². |
| **Vampire-load cut-off** | `presence` for whole house | When no one is home, smart plugs cut TV / chargers / standby loads. |
| **Solar / battery dispatch tuning** | `n_persons`, `motion_energy` | Predict next-hour load based on activity, dispatch battery accordingly. |
| **Cold-chain refrigeration alerts** | `presence` + `bathroom_occupied` confusion | Trigger door-checks when an unexpected person spends >10 min near a walk-in freezer. |

### Research, prototyping & developer use

| Use case | Which entities | What it enables |
|---|---|---|
| **Behavioral studies** | Full snapshot stream | Anonymous behavioral data — count, motion, vitals — without IRB-blocking cameras. |
| **HCI experiments** | `multi_room_transition` + `presence` | Path-following studies in living labs. |
| **Healthcare datasets** | `breathing_rate_bpm` time-series | Generate breathing-rate corpora for ML training without consent forms for facial data. |
| **Custom RuView Cogs** | Raw CSI feed + the WebSocket sync field | Bring your own model, consume the firmware-side mesh-aligned timestamps for multistatic fusion. |

### Combining entities — recipe patterns

A few patterns appear over and over; if you understand these you can build most of the above yourself:

1. **"Negative + duration" trip wires** — `no_movement` for N minutes AND time-of-day window → most healthcare and pet/child safety automations.
2. **"Two states agree" guards** — `presence == false` AND security panel disarmed AND no door sensor open → strong "house is empty" signal.
3. **"Threshold + cooldown"** — `presence_score > 0.7` for 30 s before triggering (smooths over flicker), then a 5 min cooldown before re-arming (prevents oscillation).
4. **"Calendar vs reality"** — pair an HA calendar event with `n_persons` → meeting-room auto-release, classroom unused-period detection.
5. **"Privacy-mode + semantic-only"** — run `--privacy-mode`, expose only the semantic primitives to HA, keep biometrics on-device. The right default for any deployment with non-tenant occupants.

### What about regulated environments?

With `--privacy-mode`, heart rate and breathing rate never reach the broker; their entities are not even announced. The semantic states still reach Home Assistant, and two of them (`someone_sleeping`, `possible_distress`) are derived from those vitals inside the server, so their ON/OFF values are themselves health-related information.

Privacy mode narrows what crosses the MQTT wire. It is not a compliance certification, and RuView makes no HIPAA, GDPR or CCPA compliance claim. Whether a deployment meets a regulation depends on the whole system: broker access control and TLS, Home Assistant's recorder retention, who can see the dashboards, consent, and local law. Assess that with whoever is responsible for compliance in your setting.

## References

- [ADR-115](../adr/ADR-115-home-assistant-integration.md) — full design rationale
- [`semantic-primitives-metrics.md`](./semantic-primitives-metrics.md) — per-primitive precision/recall
- Home Assistant MQTT integration: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/mqtt/
- Mosquitto add-on: https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/tree/master/mosquitto
- HACS follow-on (planned): https://github.com/ruvnet/hass-wifi-densepose
- Matter spec: https://csa-iot.org/all-solutions/matter/