Hi everyone,
today I'd like to introduce FLODE — a visual flow editor for Home Assistant automations, similar to Node-RED, but without an external server and with 100% native HA YAML as output.
GitHub: GitHub - SH1FT-W/flode: Visueller Flow-Editor für Home Assistant · GitHub
First things first: This is a fork — full transparency
FLODE is not a completely original project, but a fork of C.A.F.E. by @FezVrasta. I loved the core idea of the original: draw your automations visually as a diagram, while the result is still plain Home Assistant YAML — no vendor lock-in, no additional service, and everything remains editable in the built-in HA editor.
In practice, however, I ran into a number of bugs that bothered me in daily use (import crashes, broken rendering of choose: blocks, missing translations, etc.). Instead of just filing issues, I started fixing things myself — and that's how FLODE came to be.
Being honest here too: I develop this project in my spare time and actively use Claude (Anthropic) as a coding assistant. This is also stated in the README. However, every change is tested by me and properly documented in the CHANGELOG.
What is FLODE?
FLODE stands for Flow + Node Editor. The core idea:
- Visual flow editor — connect triggers, conditions, and actions via drag-and-drop on a canvas
- 100% native YAML — FLODE translates the flow into standard HA automation YAML, stored directly in HA core. No proprietary format!
- Bidirectional — import existing automations, edit them visually, and save them back
- Trace integration — debugging via the official HA trace view
- State machine support — complex loops and branches are mapped automatically
- German & English — full translation of the entire UI
- Dark & light mode — automatically follows your HA theme
Node types: trigger (yellow), condition (blue), action (green), OR/AND/NOT groups (purple).
(You can find screenshots in the README on GitHub — light and dark mode side by side.)
What has changed compared to the original?
Since the fork (baseline 0.6.0), more than a dozen releases have accumulated. A selection of the most important fixes and improvements:
Bug fixes:
- Fixed import crash with non-standard trigger formats ("Graph must have at least one trigger node")
- Fixed crash with time conditions (
after/before) - The
variables:section was being overwritten during the save/import cycle — fixed stop:actions were displayed as "Unknown node" — they are now parsed and exported correctlychoose:blocks are now visualized correctly: cases attach to a shared entry point, triggers are matched to their corresponding trigger-ID condition, no more crossed lines- Device triggers showed UUIDs instead of device names — fixed
- Various UI fixes (save dialog on small screens, cursor in light mode, etc.)
Improvements:
- Complete German translation of the entire UI, including all validation errors
- Service dropdown shows friendly names ("Turn on" instead of
light.turn_on), search works for both - Automatic layout (ELK) significantly improved — clean column layout for triggers | conditions | actions
- Connections rendered as smooth Bezier curves, loops recognizable by a dashed back-arrow
- HACS validation runs automatically on every push/PR
The full list is in the CHANGELOG.
Installation
Via HACS (recommended)
- Open HACS → Integrations → ⋮ → Custom repositories
- Enter the URL
https://github.com/SH1FT-W/flode, select type Integration → Add - Search for FLODE → Install
- Restart Home Assistant
- Settings → Devices & Services → Add Integration → FLODE
The README also includes a My Home Assistant button for one-click installation.
Manual
Download flode.zip from the releases page, copy the flode/ folder to config/custom_components/flode/, restart HA, and add the integration.
FLODE will then appear in the HA sidebar.
Beta notice
FLODE is currently in beta. The editor is designed not to overwrite any existing data — nevertheless, I strongly recommend backing up your automations (or your entire config) before editing. Better safe than sorry.
Why I'm posting here: Testers wanted! 
I'm actively developing FLODE in my spare time and testing as much as I can — but every HA installation is different, and especially with YAML import there are countless edge cases that I could never cover on my own.
So here's my request:
- Try out FLODE and import your existing automations — does the round trip (import → edit → save) work cleanly?
- Please report bugs as a GitHub issue — ideally with the YAML of the affected automation (with any sensitive data removed first, of course)
- Feedback on the UI, translations, and missing features is just as welcome
- Pull requests, naturally
I appreciate any feedback — whether it's praise, criticism, or a bug report. The more people testing, the faster this thing gets really polished.
Thanks for reading — and a big thank you to @FezVrasta for the fantastic original project, without which FLODE wouldn't exist!
License: Apache 2.0 Repo: GitHub - SH1FT-W/flode: Visueller Flow-Editor für Home Assistant · GitHub
