Offline by default is great. It lets me decide which devices are remote controllable (thermostat) and use a VPN to access my home network for everything else.

Offline by default is great. It lets me decide which devices are remote controllable (thermostat) and use a VPN to access my home network for everything else. I’ve got a mix of Lutron and Phillips Hue devices with a Honeywell Thermostat tied together with Home Assistant on a raspberry pi. (Lutron needs a hub. The hue devices connect directly to the pi.) It’s been absolutely rock solid. I’m using Lutron Pico remotes as switches. I haven’t had to replace a battery in over a year after installing everything. Hue motion sensors just work. Lutron switches are absolutely critical to my setup. They work (and paired remotes work!) when the network is down, which makes automation a progressive enhancement. Same with the thermostat, it’s offline first. Wifi connectivity is optional. I tried living with smart bulbs but they get really expensive if you’re doing a whole house. And rebooting light switches is absolute insanity. I do not want automation bad enough to make my light switches less reliable to get it.