a1studmuffin

How was the experience? And worth the pain?

It’s up to you to make it cloudless, but Home Assistant is the only solution I know of out there that even allows this possibility. I refuse to use anything in my home that requires a third party app or cloud connection (aside from initial pairing so I can flash it with ESPHome or some other local-only firmware). Admittedly it complicates things, but the payoff is so worth it.

And it’s so nice having zero dependence on the cloud. If the internet drops out, everything still works, including the mobile app.