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75 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
75 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
# Product assessment & market position
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*Written 2026-07-05. Sources: GitHub API star counts and HA docs verified 2026-07-06;
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see links inline. Update this file when the landscape shifts.*
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## What the product is
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An interactive floor plan for Home Assistant delivered as one HACS package:
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a storage **integration** (server-side config, WS API, file uploads, auth) + a
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**Lovelace card** (rendering, room markup editor, drag layout, zoom, live states,
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temperature, Zigbee LQI, device metadata with PDF manuals, virtual markers,
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en/ru localization). GUI-first: no YAML, no hand-made SVG.
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## Competitive landscape (stars verified 2026-07-06)
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| Competitor | Stars | Approach | Weakness we exploit |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| [ha-floorplan](https://github.com/ExperienceLovelace/ha-floorplan) (incumbent) | 1 562 | hand-made SVG + YAML/CSS/JS rules | steep barrier: Inkscape + YAML; no GUI editor; config in card YAML |
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| native `picture-elements` | built-in | absolute % coordinates in YAML | trial-and-error positioning, no zones, no editor |
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| native Areas/Home dashboard (2025.4→2025.12) | built-in | auto card grid by area/floor | **not spatial** — leaves the visual-plan niche open |
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| [Dwains Dashboard](https://github.com/dwainscheeren/dwains-lovelace-dashboard) | 2 049 | auto-generated menus | not a floor plan |
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| [Bubble Card](https://github.com/Clooos/Bubble-Card) | 4 391 | GUI card collection | not a floor plan; sets the GUI-quality bar |
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| [zigbee-floorplan-card](https://github.com/TheLarsinator/zigbee-floorplan-card) | 71 | LQI over a plan image | single-purpose; validates our LQI feature |
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| [kishorviswanathan/ha-floorplan](https://github.com/kishorviswanathan/ha-floorplan) (2026-01) | 155 | external web editor → YAML export | editor outside HA, still YAML at runtime |
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| [Padraigggs-ha-interactive-floorplan](https://github.com/Padraiggg/Padraigggs-ha-interactive-floorplan) (2026-03) | 41 | editor+viewer cards, "no YAML" | weeks old, card-only, no server-side integration |
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| [easy-floorplan](https://github.com/nicosandller/easy-floorplan) (2026-05) | 11 | draw walls/furniture in the card | drawing-centric, immature |
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**Demand evidence:** a dedicated [Floorplan forum category](https://community.home-assistant.io/c/third-party/floorplan/28);
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the "100% Floorplan UI" mega-thread (500k+ views); a visible 2025–2026 wave of new
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floorplan projects (three launched in the last six months alone). The pain is constant:
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*people want a floor plan without Inkscape and YAML.*
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## Honest assessment
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**Usefulness — high.** A floor plan is the most natural "at a glance" home UI, and the
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GUI-first workflow (upload image → outline rooms → devices appear → drag) removes the
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exact barrier that keeps most users on lists of entity cards.
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**Demand — real but niche-shaped.** Floorplan is a perennial top request, but the
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audience is enthusiasts with wall tablets. Realistic trajectory given the field:
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hundreds of stars in the first year *if* discoverability is solved (HACS default +
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demo GIF + forum post). Bubble Card (4.4k★) proves polished GUI cards can go
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quasi-mainstream; ha-floorplan's 1.5k★ with a hostile workflow shows the demand floor.
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**Unique position — currently unoccupied.** Nobody else combines: server-side config
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(integration + `.storage`, survives dashboard edits, shared across users/devices,
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optimistic locking, live multi-client sync) + in-card room polygon editor bound to HA
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areas + curated auto-placement + drag layout + LQI/temperature overlays + config flow +
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en/ru localization + CI/quality-scale discipline. The newcomers are card-only toys so
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far; the incumbent is powerful but YAML/SVG-locked. Our moat grows if we integrate
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deeper with the areas/floors registry (Phase 9) — that is the direction HA core itself
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is signalling with the native Areas dashboard.
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**Risks.**
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1. *HA core ships a native spatial plan.* The Areas dashboard is grid-based today, but
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core moving spatial would commoditize us. Mitigation: registry integration, speed.
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2. *Discoverability.* 0 stars until the HACS queue (~2 months) clears. Mitigation:
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demo assets + forum/Reddit showcase now, custom-repo installs meanwhile.
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3. *Single maintainer bus factor* — mitigated by docs/ discipline and tests.
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4. *Frontend API churn* (undocumented hass internals custom cards rely on).
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Mitigation: minimal surface, CI against beta HA (add to Phase 8).
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## Recommended next moves (priority order)
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1. **Demo GIF + English forum/Reddit posts** — cheapest adoption lever, do before the
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HACS queue clears so the storefront lands with social proof.
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2. **Phase 7 quality items** (runtime_data, unloading, storage migrations, single_config_entry)
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— cheap now, expensive later; also a credibility marker for reviewers.
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3. **Registry-driven onboarding** (import floors/areas as spaces/rooms suggestions) —
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the feature that makes first-run magical and that no competitor has.
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4. **Editable icon rules** — removes the last dacha DNA and answers the #1 predictable
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user complaint ("wrong icon for my device").
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5. **Click actions (toggle from the plan)** — most requested behavior in every
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floorplan thread; we currently only open info dialogs.
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