WTH ESPHome can't handle firmware updates automatically for deep sleep devices

Archive Month of "What the heck?!" 2022
1

It would be great if ESPHome automatically handled updates for devices that go to sleep.
It could work something like this:

  1. In ESPHome - mark device to auto-update next time it is online
  2. on the device itself have a config section that would say, next time you are online (or once a day or at specific time, or once a week, etc) check with the server if there are updates and if they are install them then go to sleep.
    I know that there are workarounds involving MQTT or scripts but this should not be this complicated.
2

Or an alternative, would be nice if you could call a service to do it. Then you could do it on demand from an automation.

3

It is a bit of workaround but I built a service to automate firmware update of devices.

First you will need the the SSH & Web Terminal addon. This Guide was also very helpful in setting up the ability to use the shell command.

Next you need a shell command to run the update:

shell_command:
 esphome_update_device: ssh -i /config/.ssh/id_rsa [email protected] “sudo docker exec -t -w /config/esphome addon_5c53de3b_esphome sh -c ‘esphome run {{device}}.yaml --device OTA --no-logs’”

Now you can run the service:

service: shell_command.esphome_update_device
data:
 device: smartplug1

Additionally, I added a service call to the device’s configuration so that is shows under the device integration.

button:
  - platform: template
    name: “${friendly_name} Update”
    entity_category: config
    device_class: update
    on_press:
      - homeassistant.service:
        service: shell_command.esphome_update_ device
        data:
          device: ${device_name}

image
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4

This is now possible since ESPHome 2024.6 through: ota.http_request.flash
I also opened a discussion how to best use this new feature: