Configuring the XIAO IR Mate Smart IR Remote “Touch Button” in Home Assistant
I recently acquired several XIAO IR Mate Smart Wi-Fi IR Remote Control Hubs for Home Assistant. Setting them up was straightforward by following the official Seeed Studio Wiki getting started guide.
The wiki article mentions the idea of creating a universal “IoT Magic Button.” It describes a scenario where the touch sensor is configured as a standard button to send event notifications to Home Assistant. However, it doesn’t provide implementation details. This led me to explore how to achieve this functionality, and I’m writing this post to share my findings.
Disclaimers: While I have a background in development, it has been some time since I practiced professionally. I am also relatively new to Home Assistant, so I used Claude to help refine the YAML logic. The solution shared here works for my setup, but your mileage may vary. I hope that by sharing my experience, I can both help others and learn from the community’s feedback.
My Scenario: Controlling IR-Enabled Flameless Candles
For this project, I used rechargeable Tea Lights Flameless Candles from Amazon. My goal was to integrate the candles into broader automations—such as a “bathroom ready” routine—to control them via IR through Home Assistant.
Configuration Steps
1. Editing the YAML
To enable the touch button functionality, I started with the default YAML from the XIAO ESPHome projects repository. Rather than cloning the entire repository, I created a Gist to manage the modifications. You can view the original (Revision 1) and the final version (Revision 2) here: [Modified XIAO IR Mate YAML]
(Adding Touch Button Event to XIAO Smart IR Mate for integration with Home Assistant · GitHub).
2. Creating a New Device Profile
In the Home Assistant ESPHome dashboard, begin by creating a new device.
For the configuration, import the logic from the modified YAML file.
Choose to install the configuration onto your device:
Select the “Plug into this computer” option:
Wait for the project to compile:
Once the compilation is complete, save the binary file (.bin) and use web.esphome.io to flash it to the device:
After flashing, the XIAO IR Mate is ready for standard setup; simply follow the wiki instructions. Once completed, the device should appear in your Home Assistant dashboard:
3. Creating the Automation
Before building the automation, verify that Home Assistant is successfully receiving signals from the touch sensor:
- Navigate to the sidebar and open Developer Tools → Events
- Locate the "Listen to events" field and enter esphome.xiao_ir_button
- Select Start Listening
- Trigger the touch sensor on the XIAO IR Remote
- A notification should appear showing action: single_tap
If successful, you should see the event data in the logs:
With the event confirmed, you can now create automations triggered by this specific signal, something like this:
That’s it. I hope it helps!