Home Automations V1

Goal

Create a small, reliable first wave of family smart-home automations using the existing networked setup.

Confirmed devices/services on network: - IKEA TRADFRI gateway - Sonos speakers (Dining Room, Bedroom, Family Room) - AirPlay endpoints (Living Room, Dining Room, Joshua’s Mac mini, SCOTT’s Mac mini)

Philosophy: - Keep it simple - Use manual triggers where timing varies - No PAM/Cambium integration for now - Optimize for delight + reliability

Automation 1 — Weekday Morning Routine

Schedule

• Monday–Friday

Actions

7:00am

• Play Beatles’ Greatest Hits from Apple Music
• Output: Dining Room

7:36am

• Flash the Kitchen light
• Purpose: signal that kids need to put their shoes on

Notes

• Keep flash short and noticeable, not aggressive
• Prefer 2–3 pulses max
• Morning audio should remain Dining Room only unless later expanded

Automation 2 — Dinner Mode

Trigger

• Manual only

Actions

• Turn off all connected lights except:
• Kitchen
• Dining Room
• Play a fun Apple Music dinner playlist
• Output: Dining Room only

Notes

• Manual is correct here because dinner timing varies
• Warm lighting preferred if color temperature is available
• Playlist still needs final selection

Automation 3 — Friday Movie Night

Trigger

• Manual only (for now)

Actions

• Turn off all connected lights
• Leave “stars” alone (not connected / separately controlled)

Notes

• Do not fake star integration
• This should remain a simple one-tap scene

Recommended Implementation Strategy

Layer 1 — Native ecosystem first

Use the simplest control surfaces already in the home: - HomeKit / Apple Home for scenes and schedules where possible - Sonos for room audio - Apple Music for playlist playback

Layer 2 — Manual scenes

For Dinner Mode and Movie Night, create named manual scenes/buttons.

Layer 3 — No orchestration platform yet

Do not integrate PAM or Cambium at this stage.

What can be done now

Ready to implement immediately

1. Morning weekday automation spec
2. Dinner manual scene spec
3. Friday movie night scene spec
4. Smart-home control architecture

Still needs one-time setup details

1. Exact dinner playlist choice
2. Whether Beatles’ Greatest Hits is a playlist/library item accessible under that exact name in Apple Music
3. Which specific kitchen light device is the flashing target if multiple kitchen bulbs exist

Best next step

Try to implement with the fewest moving parts: 1. Scheduled morning playback in Dining Room 2. Scheduled 7:36 kitchen flash 3. Manual Dinner Mode scene 4. Manual Friday Movie Night scene

If native setup is too clumsy, consider Home Assistant later — but not before proving these are genuinely useful.