“HA over iHost” Open Source Project is Officially Live — Try It Out and Join the Community!

iHost Open Source Project HA over iHost
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Hello community! :wave:

We’re excited to introduce a new experimental open source project — HA over iHost — an adaptation of Home Assistant Operating System for the SONOFF iHost (RV1109 / RV1126 platform). The project is now officially available. We encourage you to try it, share your thoughts, and participate in its development.

:pushpin: About iHost & Project Background

iHost is a locally focused smart home gateway designed specifically for home automation. It comes equipped with Zigbee, Matter, Wi-Fi, BLE, Ethernet, microphone, and speaker hardware resources, aiming to deliver a stable, flexible, and reliable local smart home solution.

To better meet user needs and expand ecosystem possibilities, we launched the iHost Open Source Project. The goal is to open up the uboot, kernel, and operating system, creating a truly open hardware platform that allows users to freely install any Linux-based system — similar to the experience offered by the Raspberry Pi.

As the first milestone of this initiative, we have released the “HA over iHost” experimental project, which successfully brings the Home Assistant Operating System to iHost, offering users a new way to run HA on local hardware.

:rocket: Why Did We Build HA over iHost?

HA over iHost was not created in a vacuum — it was born from real community needs and user-driven technical exploration .

We’ve seen iHost users deploying HA Core in Docker on the native iHost system to leverage its hardware capabilities alongside Home Assistant. Some advanced users went even further — compiling and modifying the system to run a fully functional Home Assistant Operating System directly on iHost hardware.

We especially thank a GitHub contributor whose early exploration helped inspire this project:
:point_right: This project is a derivative development based on Darkxst’s ha-operating-system project on GitHub. We sincerely appreciate the original author for his foundational contributions.

These community-driven initiatives clearly demonstrate: running Home Assistant on iHost is not only in demand — it’s technically feasible.

So we’ve taken the next step to standardize, open source, and productize the solution — bringing you a maintainable, deeply integrated HA over iHost platform .

:star2: Why Choose iHost?

iHost is more than just a device capable of running Home Assistant — it’s a deeply optimized edge hub designed for local smart home ecosystems. It offers superior cost-performance, connectivity options, and out-of-the-box usability compared to similar products.

:moneybag: 1. Balanced Performance, Affordable Price

  • RV1109 dual-core version (DDR4 2GB): $71.90
  • RV1126 quad-core version (DDR4 4GB): $89.90

:art: 2. Consumer-Grade Industrial Design

  • 5 buttons, 1 RGB light strip
  • Ready for home use

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:package: 3. Plug-and-Play

  • :white_check_mark: Built-in Ethernet Port
    Provides a stable network connection, ideal for local automation scenarios.
  • :white_check_mark: Built-in Zigbee MG21 Chip
    Natively supports ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT without requiring an external dongle, making deployment more convenient.
  • :white_check_mark: Built-in Matter Certificate (CSA Certified)
    iHost comes with an official Matter device certificate issued by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) .
    When used as a Matter Bridge, it is securely recognized and reliably connected by Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa , and other major platforms — providing platform-level trust and a smoother user experience.
  • :white_check_mark: Built-in Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Support
    Powered by the RTL8723DS module , enabling both wireless networking and Bluetooth functionality for more flexible deployments.
  • :white_check_mark: Integrated Speaker and Microphone
    Audio input and output capabilities are built in at the hardware level for future use.

:jigsaw: 4. Companion add-ons

We’re developing dedicated add-ons optimized for iHost to enhance your Home Assistant experience. Stay tuned and follow our progress at iHost Open Source Project · GitHub!

  • Now available:

    1. iHost Hardware Control Add-on
      Control physical buttons, RGB indicators, and light strips directly from Home Assistant.
      Map hardware inputs to automations for seamless interaction between physical and virtual environments.
      You can click here for the tutorial.

    2. MG21 Flashing Add-on : Upgrade MG21 firmware, with optional support for flashing either Zigbee or Thread stacks.
      You can click here for the tutorial.

    3. Node-Red :This add-on is a standalone packaged version of Node-RED, exclusively designed to support the linux/arm/v7 architecture. It has been packaged by SONOFF, specifically tailored for iHost user.
      You can click here for the tutorial.

  • Coming soon:

    1. eWeLink Smart Home Add-on : Connect to the eWeLink cloud to expand device compatibility and control.

We’re not just making iHost capable of running Home Assistant — our goal is to make it a powerful, hardware-integrated edge platform with deep ecosystem compatibility and a smooth user experience, built for smart home enthusiasts with real needs.

:sparkles: How to Get Started?

We currently provide a method for installing the Home Assistant Operating System via TF card , allowing users to switch freely between the original iHost eWeLink CUBE system and Home Assistant .
:point_right: For detailed steps, please refer to the Quick Installation Guide.

We’re also evaluating more convenient startup methods in the future — aiming for a true out-of-the-box experience without requiring a TF card .

Feel free to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments — we’ll actively respond to every message. Developers are also welcome to contribute via PRs or Issues on GitHub.

Thank you for supporting the HA over iHost project.
We believe that, with the help of the community, we can build a smarter, more open, and truly local smart home platform — together.

:warning: Disclaimer

Thank you for your interest in and use of the HA over iHost project! To help users better understand the scope and risks of using this project, we hereby provide the following statement:

:pushpin: 1. Risk Notice

HA over iHost is an open-source experimental project that involves low-level system flashing and switching.
We provide official installation procedures and verified system images, designed with consideration for data isolation and system compatibility .

:warning: Please note:
If you choose to perform system flashing using non-recommended methods — including but not limited to using unofficial images, modifying partition layouts, or replacing the bootloader — you may encounter the following risks:

  • Failure to boot the original iHost system
  • Malfunction or loss of the system switching mechanism
  • Irreversible data loss or corruption

Please carefully read the documentation, review all prerequisites, and back up your data before proceeding. If you are unsure about any step, we strongly recommend consulting the community before continuing.

:hammer_and_wrench: 2. Community-Driven Maintenance

This project is developed and maintained by the open-source community . It is still under active development and may contain instability or limitations.

If you encounter issues or discover bugs, please submit a GitHub Issue or refer to the documentation.
While official technical support is not provided , assistance may be available from other community members based on voluntary contributions.

:wrench: 3. Modification & Redistribution

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License .
You are free to use, modify, and redistribute the project code under the following conditions:

  • You must retain all original copyright and license notices
  • You must clearly indicate the source of the project
  • You must not violate any terms of the Apache-2.0 License

:balance_scale: 4. Limitation of Liability

This project is provided “as is” , without any express or implied warranties — including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

We shall not be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages resulting from the use, modification, or deployment of this project.

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Here are some frequently asked questions (FAQ) to assist you with any concerns or issues that may arise after the release. We hope this post helps you get the most out of your iHost device while running Home Assistant.

1. Is the HA over iHost image created and supported by SONOFF?

Yes, the HA over iHost image in the iHost Open-Source Project is officially created by SONOFF. This project is part of an open-source initiative aimed at bringing more developers together to contribute and maintain it. If you encounter any issues or have questions, feel free to submit them on our GitHub issues page. We’ve built this image on the foundation of Darkxst’s HA operating system hosted on GitHub, and we are grateful for their initial contributions and support.

2. Will the Ethernet port work if it was damaged previously by flashing other HA images?

Unfortunately, if the Ethernet port was damaged due to previous flashing methods (e.g., opening the device and using a button to enter flashing mode), the damage is irreversible. This hardware issue is not covered under warranty, and we advise against any modifications that could void the warranty.

3. What is iHost’s warranty policy? Does it cover flashing HA images via TF card?

The iHost warranty policy covers devices using eWeLink CUBE and the official HA image flashed via TF card. These are fully supported under SONOFF’s one-year warranty from the date of purchase. However, if the device is opened or modified (e.g., flashing the device outside of our official methods), the warranty will be voided.

4. How do we handle the issue of HA add-ons requiring 64-bit support on a 32-bit iHost?

Currently, iHost supports only a 32-bit architecture, which means some HA add-ons that require 64-bit support will not work. However, we are actively planning an upgraded version of iHost with 64-bit support, 5G Wi-Fi, and larger eMMC storage, scheduled for release later this year. We encourage all users to share their ideas and feature requests for the new hardware.

5. How can I troubleshoot issues with accessing Home Assistant?

If you’re having trouble accessing Home Assistant, here are a few steps to help troubleshoot:

  • Confirm that your iHost Ethernet port is working by verifying it connects to eWeLink CUBE and has an IP address.
  • Ensure the HA image is downloaded from our official GitHub and not from unofficial sources.
  • Check that the IP is reachable (ping test).
  • Use the Supervisor diagnostic interface (http://<HA_IP_or_HA_DOMAIN>:4357) to check if Supervisor is running.
  • If everything seems fine but you’re still facing issues, try rebooting the iHost and checking the brand and write speed of the TF card used.

6. I can’t switch back to eWeLink CUBE after using HA over iHost, what should I do?

If you are unable to switch back to the eWeLink CUBE system, press the Mute button multiple times immediately after powering on your iHost. The system should recognize this input, and if it doesn’t work the first time, try again.

We hope this FAQ clears up some common issues, but if you encounter anything that isn’t covered here, If you have further questions or insights about Home Assistant OS over iHost , feel free to continue the discussion in the linked thread above

or Home Assistant Forum thread.

Lastly, I want to sincerely apologize for any confusion and inconvenience caused by the delay in the release. We understand your frustration, and we truly appreciate your patience. A good product team always listens to its users, learns from their experiences, and accepts criticism, as it helps guide the product in the right direction. We recognize that working in isolation and avoiding community feedback is never the solution. That’s why, at this point, we’ve chosen to embrace the community and Home Assistant through open-source efforts.

We understand that it’s never too late to start, and we are committed to improving. Thank you for your positive remarks about iHost as hardware. Despite the challenges, we appreciate your recognition of the design, and we truly value the constructive criticism you’ve shared. We are always open to hearing from our users, and we will continue working hard to meet your expectations..

Thank you for your support and positive feedback! We’re always happy to hear your thoughts.

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Hello @KwayLi99.

This marketing pitch is as well-worn as your grandma’s favorite slippers. Since the grand debut of iHost (and trust me, it’s been months), there’s been about as much progress as a snail in molasses. Recently, you managed to squeeze out a crumb of excitement by praising the ability to run a 32-bit Home Assistant version lovingly cobbled together by a group of enthusiasts—bless their hearts. But let’s be real here: even if you shoved a magic wand into iHost’s USB port, it wouldn’t suddenly sprout wings or rain confetti. Buying an iHost is about as practical as wearing roller skates in a sandpit when, for the same dough, you can grab an RPi with a Zigbee dongle or Home Assistant Green, complete with all the bells and whistles.

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Thank you for your candid feedback. I want to clarify that our primary goal is not to merely promote iHost, but to demonstrate our commitment to embracing the open-source community. We will continue to move in that direction.

Additionally, I would like to emphasize that iHost currently offers a very competitive price-performance ratio, and objectively speaking, it is much cheaper than Home Assistant Green. We have also mentioned that there will be hardware performance updates in future iterations, so please stay tuned!

By the way, do you have any suggestions regarding our current marketing approach for iHost? I would love to hear insights from a critic’s perspective. Thank you very much! :heart:

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You are welcome. The opinion is honest but I am not sure if it is objective. Everyone has their own expectations and whether mine are worth taking into account, I don’t know.

As I mentioned earlier and in other threads, the demonstration of your commitment to the open source community came too late and after weeks of tug-of-war with users.

It’s great that you’re heading in that direction—but do you actually have a plan, or is this just another round of “let’s make iHost prettier and hope for the best”? Because so far, I’m not seeing much beyond a facelift.

And let’s talk about those new products (like the SNZB-03P or SNZB-06P). Claiming they “work with Home Assistant” is a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? Sure, you can add them through ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT, but beyond the basics, it’s really just the community doing all the hard work—deciphering mysterious communication protocols like some sort of tech archaeology project.

That’s not how it should be if you’re serious about making real progress. If the goal is true integration, then the responsibility shouldn’t fall entirely on the community to crack the code. So… are we actually moving forward, or are we just shuffling things around and hoping no one notices?

Oh sure, iHost is cheaper—by just enough to make you think you’re getting a bargain, but not enough to actually feel good about it. With a 32-bit hardware platform vs. Home Assistant Green’s 64-bit power and its effortless out-of-the-box HA integration, the Sonoff option really stands out… as the choice you’d pick if you just love making things harder for yourself. Is this an irresistible deal, really?

Do I have any suggestions about the current marketing approach to iHost? I would like to read the truth, not the praise of more or less real possibilities, which so far have been mainly on the infamous future list. Oh, no pressure at all—you just need to somehow bridge the gap between eWeLink and HA while gracefully tiptoeing into the open-source world. Easy, right? Of course, iHost is just one delightful complication in this grand puzzle of Sonoff devices. And I’m sure you’ll come up with a perfectly reasonable solution to make everything work seamlessly across both ecosystems. No rush, but, you know, I’ll be patiently waiting for this stroke of genius. And let’s not forget the other platforms you’re ambitiously trying to wrangle—because why stop at just two? So… can you actually pull this off? I’ll grab some popcorn. :popcorn:

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Thank you for your thoughtful feedback.

  1. To be honest, we do have plans in place. Our approach involves breaking down our large-scale objectives into numerous smaller goals and implementing them, much like our current project of HA over iHost. While the current situation may not satisfy everyone, and even if we achieve our goals in the future, there may still be some dissatisfaction. However, we are committed to investing time and effort to achieve what we believe is the best outcome.

  2. The community is the source of our new ideas, and we recognize that the community has taken on a significant amount of work. We sincerely appreciate each of you as part of the community. Our current actions are aimed at informing the community that we are ready to take responsibility for this matter. In the future, we will truly move towards the open-source direction. I can share that we plan to launch more add-ons compatible with the 32-bit system while continuing to iterate on iHost’s hardware capabilities to support 64-bit systems.

  3. As a new member of the SONOFF/eWeLink marketing team, I am genuinely impressed by your pragmatic attitude and commitment to truth. In a sense, you act more like a mentor, helping me to understand our products and adapt to new content from different perspectives. I will forward any points you raise to our internal product team for analysis and evaluation. Please know that we are listening to your voice, and thank you for your insights!

Best regards,
Kway

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Hi! Is there a chance to boot and run HA from internal storage? If no option to boot HA from internal storage, is it possible to put only boot partition on sd card and run the system directly on internal storage?

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We will provide a solution to flash HA on eMMC in order to boot and run HA (and also other Smart Home OSes) from internal storage. eMMC is clearly much faster and more durable than TF card.

In our plan, the solution will come with our new iHost. Technically the solution will also work on existing iHost. The reason we haven’t prioritized it is that existing iHost only has 8GB eMMC which is not big enough for HA in many cases.

Could you check how much storage has been used in your HA installation? You can find the “Used space” in Settings → System → Storage → Disk metrics.

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5.4% of 128Gb card used. 105GB remaining.

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That’s why I said 8GB was probably not sufficient for daily usage.

But we have also found that HA has a feature called “MOVE DATA DISK” at the same location (Settings → System → Storage → Disk metrics) which works like a charm. So the solution could really work like this:

  1. We provide a mechanism which installs Home Assistant OS directly onto eMMC;
  2. Boot Home Assistant OS from eMMC using normal boot procedure;
  3. Use HA OS buildin method to move data disk to external storage like USB flash disk or TF card.
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That would be a good solution. One more question. If I install it on eMMC, how can I go beck to Cube?

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Referring to this conversation.
is it possible in IHOST CUBE to provide space in eMMC (e.g. 1GB) for basic add-ons such as ewelink smart home. So that you can have the add-on installed without a memory card.
The add-on takes up about 300 MB

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Not really. That’s why you use a TF card for add-ons.

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You can install eWeLink CUBE OS again onto eMMC which also means HA OS is erased from eMMC. You can use data backup and restore feature to put device into specific state.

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Technically it is possibly. iHost comes with 8GB eMMC, and eWeLink CUBE OS itself takes less than 1GB eMMC space, so indeed there is a lot of space on eMMC for storing user data, like device state and meta data, system backups, logs, etc.

We could put add-on (docker actually) images and containers in eMMC and provide a mechanism to move them to TF card if eMMC is out of space. The reason we didn’t design the add-on feature this way is because if user starts to use add-on, they tend to use more and more add-ons, so sooner or later, they have to use TF card.

Nevertheless, I think the core point of your question is that why does user have to download eWeLink Smart Home Add-on if user is running eWeLink CUBE OS, why can’t the eWeLink Smart Home Add-on feature just be built into eWeLink CUBE OS itself.

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Users in general have all sorts of strange tendencies and they like to accumulate :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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that’s exactly what I meant.