Home model and CANVAS
Rooms, floors, areas, devices, capability-aware controls, dashboards with revision history, and household users with distinct roles.
Current build
What works today, what is in development, and what is planned.
HELIX is in private alpha. This page describes the current product posture without treating a planned capability as a shipped one.
Working now
Audited in a real home.
Each item below has been verified running on the HELIX test appliance, not only in the codebase. Last audited October 12, 2026.
Isolated connectors
Each integration runs as its own process over a versioned MQTT protocol, so one failing vendor does not take down the home.
HELIOS conversation
Ask about the home, control supported devices, author dashboards and automations, and get explanations grounded in recorded events.
Automations
Sunrise and sunset with offsets, schedules, room presence, device changes, spoken phrases, and school-day or weekend conditions, running every day in a real home.
How the household lives
Sleep, waking, comings and goings, and room use learned from sensors, calendars, and sleep records, with the evidence behind every statement and a way to correct it.
Automation review
A dry run that compares the automations HELIX would write against the ones that exist: keep, refine, add, or retire, each with its reasoning.
Repairs and self-checks
Each sensor is judged by its own reporting rhythm; a device that goes quiet is asked to report again and, if it does not, logged in a repair ledger the household can see and close.
Model routing and failover
Models are checked at start-up and routed by capability; an unavailable or failing model is replaced rather than silently degrading answers.
Integration lifecycle
Install, link, enable, disable, restart, and remove integrations, with credentials kept separate from configuration.
Add-on platform
Containerised add-ons for ESPHome, Zigbee2MQTT, a Matter bridge, and an OpenThread border router, managed from HELIX.
Matter over Thread
Matter devices commissioned onto HELIX's own Thread network, including smart locks.
Calendars and expected presence
Google calendars sync into HELIX; school calendars, days off, and custody schedules tell it who is expected home, and when.
Approvals
Changes HELIX proposes, from automations to device actions, wait for a household member to approve or decline them.
Learning and corrections
HELIX remembers household facts and the corrections people make, and uses them in later answers and decisions.
Linked devices
One physical device reached through several integrations, such as a TV over two connectors, is treated as one thing.
Alarms
Alarm clocks set in conversation or on the dashboard, rung on the home's speakers.
Hardware and services
Working with HELIX in a real home.
Each of these has been connected and used in the HELIX test home. Trademarks belong to their owners; listing them does not imply endorsement.
- Zigbee via Zigbee2MQTT
- Matter and Thread
- Eufy smart locks
- Apple HomeKit accessories
- Aqara presence sensors
- Tuya / Smart Life
- Samsung SmartThings
- Samsung TVs
- Google Nest thermostat and sensors
- Google Cast
- Plex
- Reolink cameras (live video and snapshots)
- ESPHome devices, with an ESPHome add-on
- Home Assistant Voice satellites
- Amazon Alexa announcements
- OpenWeather
- Google air quality and pollen
In development
Built in part, not yet proven end to end.
Home Assistant migration
Read-only scan, curation, preview, commit, and rollback are built and tested; not yet proven on a full migration of a real home. Importing Home Assistant automations works today.
AI-assisted connector authoring
Drafting a connector from a vendor's API description, validating it, and refining it against the live API has worked in testing; installing generated connectors is still being finished.
Suggestions
HELIX proposes automations and alerts from observed patterns; the review, learning, and household-control experience is still being refined.
Voice and personality
Voice satellites, speaker recognition, and an adjustable assistant personality work; appliance-grade, whole-home voice is still in progress.
Device and protocol breadth
The integrations above work; broad parity across the residential device market is not claimed.
Backups
Scheduled weekly backups of the database, identity, settings, and credentials run today; restoring a home from a backup has not yet been exercised on a real home.
Energy
Electricity tariffs and per-device power profiles are recorded; household energy insight is still being built.
Wall displays and widgets
Room-scoped displays and installable dashboard widgets exist and are being tested; they are not yet a finished experience.
Roadmap
Important direction that should not be mistaken for shipped capability.
Mass-market appliance experience
Turnkey hardware, guided setup, recovery, support, mobile polish, and compatibility expected by mainstream households.
Richer automation analysis
Conflict detection, health scoring, simulation, explainability, and safer change recommendations.
Full CANVAS authoring
Conversational layout generation, direct manipulation, per-device layouts, revision history, export, and templates.
Broader local protocol support
Continued expansion across device families and local-first protocol paths based on vendor documentation and field demand.
Development standard
Proof over theater.
The product story should evolve only when the implementation, test evidence, and real-device behavior justify the claim.
- Mark capabilities as working, in development, or roadmap.
- Use real CANVAS visuals and recorded workflows rather than generic AI imagery.
- Document vendor limitations separately from HELIX limitations.
- Keep requested action, dispatch, acknowledgement, reported state, and verified outcome distinct.
- Do not claim protocol or device compatibility without current evidence.
- Publish pilot case studies only after real deployment results exist.
Participate in the build
Test the system where the boundaries become real.
HELIX needs advanced households willing to work through actual devices, difficult integrations, network constraints, and long-lived automation behavior.