Remote Inputs
Use a button or sensor on another device — an ESPHome board or another boneIO — as if it were an input of this controller.
A remote input follows an input of another device and treats it like one of this controller's own inputs: it runs actions, can appear in Home Assistant, and can be used in a condition.
Typical uses:
- a button on another boneIO switches a relay on this one, with only the MQTT broker in between,
- a door sensor on an ESPHome board closes a cover on this controller.
The other device must first be added under Remote Devices.
Adding a remote input
- Open Settings → Connections → Remote Inputs
- Click Add New
- At the top set Type: Binary Sensors (pressed / released) or Events (single, double, long … clicks)
- Fill in the form and save
Basic Settings
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Display Name | Name shown in the panel and Home Assistant. Optional. |
| Custom Input ID | Optional. If left empty, the ID is made from the device and the input, e.g. garage_esp_door. |
| Device | The remote device. The panel sets the protocol from it. |
| Input/Sensor ID | The input on that device. For ESPHome it is picked from the sensors the device reported; for MQTT it is typed in, e.g. in_04. |
| MQTT topic | MQTT devices only. Leave it empty for another boneIO — the default is the topic it publishes its own inputs on. Fill it in for anything else. |
| Area / Room | Area in Home Assistant. |
| Device Class | How Home Assistant shows it, e.g. door, motion, window. |
Under Options:
| Option | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Forward to Home Assistant | off | Publishes the input to Home Assistant. Leave it off if the other device already shows up in Home Assistant by itself. |
| Inverted | off | Swaps the two states. |
If the device you want is not in the Device list, add the input in the YAML editor (see below).
Actions
With Binary Sensors the form has Pressed Actions and Released Actions; with Events it has the click tabs Single, Double, Triple, Long and Sequences, as for a local event. The actions are the same as for local inputs, see Actions.
In Advanced Settings of an event-type remote input, these settings take effect: Double Click Duration, Long Press Duration, Sequence Mode, Enable Triple Click and Long Press MQTT Mode.
Mirroring another boneIO
Add the other boneIO under Remote Devices with the MQTT protocol, then add a remote input with its input ID. No topic is needed: by default the input listens where a boneIO publishes its own inputs, <device_id>/input/<input_id> — the device ID is the other controller's topic prefix (its serial).
With Events the click the other boneIO has already recognised (single, double, long …) is passed through as it is.
Other MQTT devices
For anything that is not a boneIO, fill in the MQTT topic. These messages are understood (upper or lower case):
| On | Off |
|---|---|
on, true, 1, pressed, open, opening, active | off, false, 0, released, closed, closing, inactive |
Any other message is written to the log and ignored — the state stays as it was.
A remote input only follows a state that exists on another device; nothing can set it from this controller or from Home Assistant. For a mode that the controller itself should keep — Evening, Away — use a virtual switch.