Reflecting on the past 11 years, it’s evident that Home Assistant couldn’t thrive without the passionate involvement of its users. We celebrated this relationship during our anniversary live stream, hosted by Missy Quarry and community member Andrej Broz—widely known as Bearded Tinker. Their engaging conversations with Frenck and other team members revealed genuine insights and follow-up moments that candidly illustrate the connection between our development team and the users.

This event was much more than a standard digital gathering; it served as a heartfelt acknowledgment of the efforts and contributions from our community. Each user plays a role in not just testing and improving the platform but in fostering an environment where ideas and ingenuity flourish. The support received through Home Assistant Cloud subscriptions gives us the freedom to prioritize our users’ needs without external pressures from investors.

Highlights from the Live Stream

During the live stream, several key points were discussed, illuminating the various aspects of our community dynamics:

• 0:00 – Gratitude expressed through a compilation from our code owners.
• 0:02 – An engaging introduction by Missy and Bearded Tinker.
• 0:05 – Discussions on what community means to each participant.
• 0:13 – Insights into beta testing and the reliability of dot-zero releases.
• 0:18 – Strategies for keeping the community aligned with Home Assistant’s objectives.
• 0:22 – The evolution and growth of the Home Assistant community.
• 0:31 – Transitioning to date versioning for easier tracking of updates.
• 0:37 – Customizability features of Home Assistant and the role of HACS.
• 0:47 – Changes in naming conventions within Home Assistant.
• 0:55 – A focus on enhancing user experience (UX) and user interface (UI).
• 1:03 – Balancing the continued use of YAML with new user-friendly features.
• 1:09 – Distinguishing between smart homes and automated homes.
• 1:16 – Origins of our beta program.
• 1:21 – The introduction of a dedicated community manager to foster growth.
• 1:27 – Recent updates to our Discord community.
• 1:30 – Announcement of Home Assistant Day—a future event to look forward to.
• 1:34 – Gathering feedback on what users would like to see evolve within the community.
• 1:41 – Encouraging community support for Home Assistant initiatives.

A live Q&A session followed this event, hosted on our Discord platform, utilizing its new Stage feature. Unfortunately, this interaction was a one-time opportunity and couldn’t be revisited, showcasing the real-time connection between team members and community participants.