ESPectre - Wi-Fi Motion Detection for Home Assistant

FJRpilot · September 19, 2026, 1:43am

francescopace:

external_components:
  - source:
      type: git
      url: https://github.com/francescopace/espectre
      ref: main
      path: src/cpp/frontend/esphome/components
    components: [espectre]
    refresh: always

espectre:

I tried re-compiling and uploading to the board and received the below error:

esptool.js

Serial port WebSerial VendorID 0x303a ProductID 0x1001

Connecting…

Detecting chip type…

ESP32-S3

Chip Revision: 0

Chip is ESP32-S3 (QFN56) (revision v0.2)

Features: Wi-Fi,BLE,Embedded Flash 4MB (XMC),Embedded PSRAM 2MB (AP_3v3)

Crystal is 40MHz

MAC: 10:20:ba:31:28:58

Uploading stub…

Running stub…

Stub running…

Flash ID: 164020

INFO ESPHome 2026.9.0

INFO Reading configuration C:\Users\kevsc\esphome\espectre-28-58.yaml…

INFO Updating https://github.com/francescopace/espectre@main

INFO Generating C++ source…

INFO Setting CONFIG_LWIP_MAX_SOCKETS to 12 (TCP=6 [api=3, captive_portal=3], UDP=3 [captive_portal=1, mdns=2], TCP_LISTEN=3 [api=1, ota=1, web_server_base=1])

INFO Compiling app… Build path: C:\esphb\ZYg4z5VU\build\espectre-28-58

INFO Checking ESP-IDF 5.5.5 framework …

INFO Checking ESP-IDF 5.5.5 framework installation …

INFO Checking ESP-IDF 5.5.5 Python environment …

INFO Discovering available ESP-IDF components…

Executing action: reconfigure

Running cmake in directory C:\esphb\ZYg4z5VU\build\espectre-28-58\build

Executing “cmake -G Ninja -DPYTHON_DEPS_CHECKED=1 -DPYTHON=C:\esphb\idf\penvs\5.5.5\Scripts\python.EXE -DESP_PLATFORM=1 -DSDKCONFIG=C:\esphb\ZYg4z5VU\build\espectre-28-58\sdkconfig.espectre-28-58 -DCCACHE_ENABLE=1 C:\esphb\ZYg4z5VU\build\espectre-28-58”…

-- Found Git: C:/Users/kevsc/AppData/Local/ESPHome Device Builder/git/cmd/git.exe (found version “2.55.0.windows.4”)

-- Component directory C:/esphb/idf/frameworks/5.5.5/components/esp_blockdev does not contain a CMakeLists.txt file. No component will be added

-- Minimal build - OFF

-- ccache will be used for faster recompilation

-- The C compiler identification is GNU 14.2.0

-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 14.2.0

-- The ASM compiler identification is GNU

-- Found assembler: C:/esphb/idf/tools/xtensa-esp-elf/esp-14.2.0_20260121/xtensa-esp-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32s3-elf-gcc.exe

-- Detecting C compiler ABI info

-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done

-- Check for working C compiler: C:/esphb/idf/tools/xtensa-esp-elf/esp-14.2.0_20260121/xtensa-esp-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32s3-elf-gcc.exe - skipped

-- Detecting C compile features

-- Detecting C compile features - done

-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info

-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done

-- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/esphb/idf/tools/xtensa-esp-elf/esp-14.2.0_20260121/xtensa-esp-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32s3-elf-g++.exe - skipped

-- Detecting CXX compile features

-- Detecting CXX compile features - done

-- Building ESP-IDF components for target esp32s3

CMake Error at C:/esphb/idf/frameworks/5.5.5/tools/cmake/component.cmake:231 (message):

CMake Warning (dev) at build_properties.temp.cmake:8:

Syntax Warning in cmake code at column 106

Argument not separated from preceding token by whitespace.

Call Stack (most recent call first):

C:/esphb/idf/frameworks/5.5.5/tools/cmake/scripts/component_get_requirements.cmake:3 (include)

This warning is for project developers. Use -Wno-dev to suppress it.

CMake Error at

C:/esphb/ZYg4z5VU/external_components/6efea655/src/cpp/frontend/esphome/components/espectre/CMakeLists.txt:17

(message):

ESPHome sensing schema does not match this SDK.  Regenerate

sensing_schema.py for the selected SDK.

Call Stack (most recent call first):

C:/esphb/idf/frameworks/5.5.5/tools/cmake/scripts/component_get_requirements.cmake:107 (include)

C:/esphb/idf/frameworks/5.5.5/tools/cmake/scripts/component_get_requirements.cmake:160 (\__component_get_requirements)

Call Stack (most recent call first):

C:/esphb/idf/frameworks/5.5.5/tools/cmake/build.cmake:668 (__component_get_requirements)

C:/esphb/idf/frameworks/5.5.5/tools/cmake/project.cmake:752 (idf_build_process)

CMakeLists.txt:56 (project)

-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

cmake failed with exit code 1, output of the command is in the C:\esphb\ZYg4z5VU\build\espectre-28-58\build\log\idf_py_stderr_output_22416 and C:\esphb\ZYg4z5VU\build\espectre-28-58\build\log\idf_py_stdout_output_22416

ERROR Component discovery failed

francescopace · September 19, 2026, 12:24pm

This is most likely caused by a stale cached checkout.

Please try the following:

Close ESPHome Device Builder.
Use Clean build files, if available, or delete the device build folder and the cached ESPectre checkout under C:\esphb\...\external_components\.
Restart ESPHome Device Builder and build again.

Let me know

francescopace · September 20, 2026, 3:01pm

I’ve added ESPectre Traffic Generator, a Home Assistant add-on that supplies external traffic to ESPectre sensors. Several sensors can share one multicast stream, or you can send traffic to individual device IP addresses.

It includes a sidebar panel where you can:

Start and stop the generator.
Switch individual devices or a selection of devices between internal and external traffic.
Check traffic and CSI rates, Wi-Fi signal strength, and device IP addresses.

The device controls work with ESPectre sensors already added to Home Assistant through ESPHome or Native MQTT Discovery. You’ll need 64-bit Home Assistant OS and ESPectre 3.0 firmware, including prereleases.

Installation instructions and screenshots are available on GitHub.

If you try it with several sensors, I’d be interested in how multicast behaves on your network. Please include your router or access point model when reporting problems.

haaahaha · October 3, 2026, 12:30am

I can’t get rc3 to work, logs keeps showing it is calibrating, anyone facing the same problem?

francescopace · October 3, 2026, 8:43am

Hi @haaahaha can you share a couple of line of logs while calibrating? Likely the occupancy kpi is lower than 70%, meaning we need to tune your configuration in order to work with your specific environment. Feel free to open an issue and I will help you

francescopace · October 11, 2026, 1:25pm

Hi everyone, two updates on ESPectre:

v3.0.0 is out (release notes). The SDK is now on the Espressif Component Registry, so you can add motion detection to your own ESP-IDF firmware.
ESPectre is now a built-in ESPHome component, built on the same SDK. It is available for testing in the ESPHome 2026.10 beta, on ESP-IDF and Arduino.

Note for external component users: the built-in component uses a different YAML configuration, so check the documentation before switching. Once the built-in component is in a stable ESPHome release, I will deprecate the external component and point to the official one.

Feedback and suggestions are very welcome. Thank you!