> I wasn’t even aware node-red could interface with HomeBridge.
It's actually kind of horrifying. There's a Node-RED module that uses the hap-node-client library, which is designed to talk to the hap-nodejs library that powers Homebridge. Which means Node-RED ends up talking the HomeKit Accessory Protocol to Homebridge as though it were HomeKit itself.
Given your use case the switch definitely makes sense. I wasn’t even aware node-red could interface with HomeBridge.
It sounds like HomeAssistant has made some significant quality of life improvements since I gave it a test drive. I’ll give it a second look.
And you’re lucky your wife shares your interest in home automation! “I saw this cool wall mounted HomeAssistant dashboard…” isn’t something I can imagine my wife saying, haha.