Enable Noise-protocol encryption on an ESPHome device's native API connection and pair it with Home Assistant
domain: esphome.io · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Generate a 32-byte base64-encoded key, e.g. via openssl rand -base64 32 or a key generator in the ESPHome dashboard/docs UI
Add an api block to the device's YAML with an encryption sub-key containing the generated key
Compile and flash the updated configuration to the device
When adding the device in Home Assistant's ESPHome integration, supply the same key so it can establish the encrypted connection
Store the key securely (e.g. via ESPHome secrets.yaml) rather than committing it in plain text to the device YAML
Known gotchas
if the encryption key is not provided, the docs specify encryption stays disabled until a key is actually set -- don't assume an empty encryption block enables it
losing the key means Home Assistant can no longer connect to the device's API until the key is reset by reflashing
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