Trouble getting ESPHome configured

Hello all, I’m very new to ESPHome so apologies for my lack of understanding.
Trying tutorials online, I wasn’t able to connect to initially my network with the device. I was getting this error:

INFO ESPHome 2023.11.2
INFO Reading configuration /config/esphome/pondswitch.yaml...
INFO Starting log output from pondswitch.local using esphome API
WARNING Can't connect to ESPHome API for pondswitch: Error resolving IP address: [Errno -5] No address associated with hostname (APIConnectionError)
INFO Trying to connect to pondswitch in the background

I was able to get the device discovered by:

  • Enabled “use ping for status”
  • Added a static DNS

Now it seems to be discovered on ESPHome, however I’m not able to configure it. I get the error: “Can’t connect to ESP. Please make sure your YAML file contains an ‘api:’ line.”

here is the log:

INFO ESPHome 2023.11.2
INFO Reading configuration /config/esphome/pondswitch.yaml...
INFO Starting log output from 192.168.20.88 using esphome API
INFO Successfully connected to 192.168.20.88 in 3.367s
INFO Successful handshake with 192.168.20.88 in 0.123s
[20:58:53][I][app:102]: ESPHome version 2023.11.2 compiled on Nov 23 2023, 20:57:52
[20:58:53][C][wifi:559]: WiFi:
[20:58:53][C][wifi:391]:   Local MAC: C8:F0:9E:EB:FF:00
[20:58:53][C][wifi:396]:   SSID: [redacted]
[20:58:53][C][wifi:397]:   IP Address: 192.168.20.88
[20:58:53][C][wifi:399]:   BSSID: [redacted]
[20:58:53][C][wifi:400]:   Hostname: 'pondswitch'
[20:58:53][C][wifi:402]:   Signal strength: -83 dB ▂▄▆█
[20:58:53][C][wifi:406]:   Channel: 13
[20:58:53][C][wifi:407]:   Subnet: 255.255.255.0
[20:58:53][C][wifi:408]:   Gateway: 192.168.20.1
[20:58:53][C][wifi:409]:   DNS1: 0.0.0.0
[20:58:53][C][wifi:410]:   DNS2: 0.0.0.0
[20:58:53][C][logger:416]: Logger:
[20:58:53][C][logger:417]:   Level: DEBUG
[20:58:53][C][logger:418]:   Log Baud Rate: 115200
[20:58:53][C][logger:420]:   Hardware UART: UART0
[20:58:53][C][mdns:115]: mDNS:
[20:58:53][C][mdns:116]:   Hostname: pondswitch
[20:58:53][C][ota:097]: Over-The-Air Updates:
[20:58:53][C][ota:098]:   Address: 192.168.20.88:3232
[20:58:53][C][ota:101]:   Using Password.
[20:58:53][C][api:139]: API Server:
[20:58:53][C][api:140]:   Address: 192.168.20.88:6053
[20:58:53][C][api:142]:   Using noise encryption: YES
[21:03:20][I][ota:117]: Boot seems successful, resetting boot loop counter.
[21:03:20][D][esp32.preferences:114]: Saving 1 preferences to flash...
[21:03:20][D][esp32.preferences:143]: Saving 1 preferences to flash: 0 cached, 1 written, 0 failed
esphome:
  name: pondswitch
  friendly_name: PondSwitch

esp32:
  board: esp32dev
  framework:
    type: arduino

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
  encryption:
    key: "Nd73uoGqel23teoP9dZ8LDGOyUnT7CzyrwFI4rGgtqg="

ota:
  password: "e08da02f6560338f57fc0e4d19d21cb8"

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

  manual_ip:
    static_ip: 192.168.20.88
    gateway: 192.168.20.1
    subnet: 255.255.255.0

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "Pondswitch Fallback Hotspot"
    password: "guNgvPbvlMc1"

captive_portal:
  

Note I can successfully ping 192.168.20.88 and pondswitch.local