ReSpeaker Lite ESPHome Config — Updated for 2026.3.x (Working)
If you’ve been pulling your hair out trying to get the Seeed Studio ReSpeaker Lite working on ESPHome 2026.3.x, this post is for you.
The YAML configuration published on the Seeed Studio wiki page breaks on ESPHome 2026.3.x in at least 9 places due to breaking changes in the YAML parser and ESPHome API. The wiki page even acknowledges that newer ESPHome versions may cause issues — but doesn’t tell you what to do about it.
I spent the time tracking down every breaking change and put together a fully working updated configuration:
What was broken and what was fixed
| # | Issue | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | sensor.template.publish action removed |
Replaced with publish_state() via lambda |
| 2 | !lambda tags rejected in script.execute parameter blocks |
Converted to C++ lambda calls |
| 3 | !lambda tags rejected in homeassistant.event data blocks |
Global string buffer workaround |
| 4 | light.turn_on with brightness: !lambda rejected |
Converted to C++ light call API |
| 5 | media_player name: None parsed as YAML null |
Changed to quoted name: "None" |
| 6 | select.state deprecated |
Replaced with current_option() |
| 7 | Mute/unmute sound entity name invalid |
Renamed to Mute-unmute sound |
| 8 | "Factory Reset Coming Up" LED effect undefined |
Added missing effect definition |
| 9 | get_i2c_bus() removed |
Replaced with i2c::I2CDevice |
What’s included
- Fully working config tested on ESPHome 2026.3.1 with Home Assistant
- Local Wyoming Satellite / Whisper + Piper tested and working
- Five wake words out of the box: Okay Nabu, Hey Jarvis, Hey Mycroft, Kenobi, and Stop (timer cancel)
- Optional 3.5mm headphone jack routing (commented out by default)
- Optional XMOS firmware auto-update block with clear instructions for both fresh devices and manually updated devices
- Full changelog in the README explaining every change and why it was needed
It’s based on the excellent work by formatBCE — all credit to him for the original integration. This is just the 2026.3.x compatibility update.
Hope this saves someone the hours I spent on it. Happy to answer questions if anyone runs into issues.