Building what's next: State of the Open Home 2026

From a new Community department to a public roadmap awaiting your input – and more. Catch up on the event highlights and help shape what we build next.

Friday, April 10, 2026 · Paulus Schoutsen · 5 minute read

Welcome to the Open Home Foundation Blog! Until now, foundation updates lived alongside product-related news on the Home Assistant Blog. While that served us well in the early days, we've reached a turning point. We have big ambitions for the future, and the depth of our work – building open standards, growing our community, and spreading the word about our shared values of privacy, choice, and sustainability – demands its own stage.

So what better way to start than by sharing our vision from State of the Open Home 2026!

This big annual event is where we celebrate our community, share successes, and get excited about what's coming next: and this year it was extra special. But don't just take my word for it! Check it out for yourself on our full recording of the livestream.

The heart of the Open Home

If you can sense the energy and excitement in the video, I can assure you it was even more intense standing on that stage in Utrecht! Seeing almost 300 of you in person – with thousands more joining us online – was a powerful reminder of how far we've come together.

The theme of State of the Open Home 2026 was "Building in the open". That's more than just a slogan: it's your invitation to help us ensure the future of smart homes is shaped by the people who actually use them.

A three-panel collage showing a busy conference crowd networking, Open Home Foundation President Paulus Schoutsen speaking on stage in a blue T-shirt, and a large seated audience watching a talk under blue lighting.

Kicking off the event, from packed halls to the main stage.

Investing in people

But building in the open only works if we have the resources to support everyone involved. That's why the first thing we shared this year wasn't a feature reveal or secret product (we're not Apple!). It was the introduction of our new Community department, and its lead Melissa Thermidor! 🎉

Three members of the new Community Department at an event: Melissa Thermidor seated on a stage set holding notes, Missy Quarry speaking on stage, and Florencia Martin smiling while holding a clipboard and wearing a staff badge.

From left to right: Melissa Thermidor, Missy Quarry, and Florencia Martin – our new Community department!

Melissa's arrival shows we're putting our money where our mouth is. She brings a fresh perspective to the foundation, and a renewed focus on making sure everyone who finds their way to our community feels genuinely welcome. With our Event Organizer, Florencia Martin, and Community Manager, Missy Quarry, this new department is set up to move beyond maintaining the community to actively growing it. This means better support for contributors and volunteers, more resources for local meetups, and deeper connections with people building in the open all over the world.

"Community is no longer something that just happens around the edges – we're building something really big and really profound. This is the real deal." – Melissa Thermidor, Lead of Community, Open Home Foundation

How we're building in the open

So what does building in the open actually look like? It isn't always easy, that's for sure, and takes a level of vulnerability and coordination that closed-door companies rarely have to face. But the results speak for themselves.

The event explores three examples of how this approach is taking shape, and what it means for you:

With Home Assistant Labs: How we're inviting you to break, test, and influence our ideas while they're still being forged. You give us real-world feedback, and we evolve the design in the open.
With Sendspin: How we're giving you the chance to contribute to features long before they're officially "finished", by opening up new protocols like Sendspin while they're still evolving (with some pretty cool music demos thrown in for good measure 🎶).
With our partners: How we're making it easier to find hardware you can actually trust. From Apollo's ESPHome Starter Kit, to Nabu Casa's new products with infrared (IR) and radio frequency (RF) 👀, it's all about giving you more choice.

These examples are only the beginning. The goal this year is making everything more approachable, and as we say on stage: "Approachability means showing all the context".

We want to open the doors even wider so you can see and contribute to what comes next. That means moving away from the "black box" of development and towards a model where every major milestone is a shared journey. And that starts with being clear about where we're headed.

Franck, Home Assistant Lead, and JLo, Product and Design Lead, standing onstage presenting to a large audience, with a screen behind them reading Building in the open isn't (always) easy, and a softly lit set with plants and shelves.

Franck (Lead of Home Assistant) and JLo (Lead of Product & UX) sharing what it means to build in the open.

Be part of what we build next

That's why the final part of the event sees Laura and Matthias from our Product & UX department join Franck and JLo on stage to talk about our roadmap, which is now public on GitHub!

As the team explains, what makes this roadmap different is that it's a living thing for you to participate in, not just view. We want to know what's missing and what you want to see next. Head to the roadmap, open the cards (demonstrated by Laura in the livestream), and tell us what you think. Because it's your insights and expertise that will help us build what's next.

Want to propose something that's not on the roadmap yet? Submit it on our Home Assistant, Music Assistant, or ESPHome feature requests pages. We read every single one, and selected features are translated into roadmap opportunities by the team.

Four speakers—Frenck, JLo, Matthias, and Laura—seated onstage in a panel discussion, talking through the new roadmap, with low tables and a softly lit set behind them.

From left to right: Franck, JLo, Matthias, and Laura chatting through the new roadmap.

Your voice matters

Crucially, this process isn't just for developers. Whether you're an established user or just getting started, your voice matters. Your experience in your own home is the most valuable resource we have… and you don't need to write a single line of code to help steer our direction.

That's because one of our biggest priorities is making Open Home Foundation projects – Home Assistant, Music Assistant, and even ESPHome – more approachable for anyone. We're reducing the barriers to entry, without removing any of the power established users expect. Or as Franck put it onstage: "We really want to lower the floor without lowering the ceiling".

Finally, thank you!

Setting goals like this is only possible because of the community behind us. The energy we felt in Utrecht – and from everyone watching online – is an amazing reminder of what happens when we actually get together to share our ideas and experiences.

From the atmosphere onstage to the buzz of conversation and laughter at the food stands, there was a feeling at the event that no livestream can quite capture: being there in person was genuinely something special. If you couldn't make it this year, stay tuned – you won't want to miss the next one!

Collage of post-event scenes showing attendees in small groups talking and socializing over drinks, interacting with smart home device demos, and chatting in softly lit indoor and evening settings.

When the talks wrapped, the conversations kept going: drinks, demos, and all.

I'm so incredibly grateful that you're here building this with us: it's your passion, persistence (and, yes, patience!) that make all our work possible. On that note, I also want to give a huge thanks to all our State of the Open Home 2026 speakers and wonderful event staff who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring this production to life. It's been a blast.

For everyone who tuned in online, we'd love to hear your thoughts on how the event went. If you have a spare moment, take our (anonymous) online attendee survey and share your feedback and suggestions.

We couldn't do any of this without you. Let's keep building… and see you next year!

A group of speakers and organizers standing together onstage, smiling and applauding in front of a large screen and event banners, marking the close of the event.

And that's a wrap!