Adding support for a new platform

Components that interact with devices are called “Entity Components.” They are structured in core and platform logic, which means different brands can use the same logic to handle a light.

For example, the built-in switch component consists of various platforms in homeassistant/components/switch/. The file __init__.py contains the core logic of all platforms and the vendor_name.py files contain only the relevant platform code.

If you’re planning to add support for a new type of device to an existing component, you can get away with only writing platform logic. Have a look at how the component works with other platforms and create a similar file for the platform that you want to add:

• Example sensor platform: hello world of platforms.
• Example light platform: showing best practices.

Interfacing with devices

One Home Assistant rule is that platform logic should never interface directly with devices. Instead, use a third-party Python 3 library. This way, Home Assistant can share code with the Python community and keep the project maintainable.

To integrate the third-party library, create an Entity class for your device. Entities are Home Assistant’s representations of lights, switches, sensors, etc. and are derived from the Entity Abstract Class. This abstract class contains logic for integrating most standard features into your entities, such as visibility, entity IDs, updates, and much more.

Requirements and dependencies

Platforms can specify dependencies and requirements the same way as components:

REQUIREMENTS = ['some-package==2.0.0', 'some-other-package==2.5.0']
DEPENDENCIES = ['mqtt']