Second Rapsberry Pi for remote configuration

I work away from home for extended periods and would like to spend my free time programming new devices while my current installation is still running where it is installed.

I have HA running on a Pi 4 with SSD.

I was thinking of getting another Pi 4 with SSD and cloning the SSD. I will then setup my router with the same IP and SSID as my current installation.

When I am back home, I can then just clone the new config to the “home” SSD and install the devices.

Will this work or am I opening a can of worms?

You can´t have 2 devices with the same IP on the same network. It´ll generate conflicts.

Why don´t you just enable access through DuckDNS + Let’s encrypt and SSH & Web terminal? Like that you can do all you want remotely.

I prefer Cloudflare as that also eliminates the meed for port forwarding

Easier than cloning would be to do a backup and restore, it will be just as quick and not mean having to swap cards around to clone them.

A problem with working remotely is if something big goes wrong it may be difficult to restore over Cloudflare. Not very likely but we all know it happens as we’ve all done it.

It will not be on the same network because the setup will be at a different location with different router.

I prefer not working on a working installation remotely. If something goes wrong I am not there to reset or investigate and everything will be off until I am able to go back home.