Top all-time · #7803
Franck Nijhof
Personal blog · frenck.devhardwareprogramming
Franck Nijhof's personal blog at frenck.dev covers hardware and programming. Since 2019, 10 different Hacker News readers have linked it 10 times, most often “Convert an existing wired doorbell into a smart doorbell using ESPHome”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-26, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (5) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Commenters link the author's posts on a smart doorbell built with an ESP-01S relay board, on GitHub Actions YAML anchors, and his About page. The links are cited as examples or sources.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 5 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Personal writing from Franck Nijhof, Home Assistant Lead, GitHub Star, and open sourcerer, about smart homes, open source, GitHub, practical AI, and building things that survive real life.
Most-linked posts?
- /github-actions-yaml-anchors-aliases-merge-keys/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-12-16
- Convert an existing wired doorbell into a smart doorbell using ESPHome2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-09-03
What Hacker News says?
I have fond memories of using GitLab CI in 2018–2019 and I'm still pissed GitHub didn't just life and shift that kind of a model. Not sure about the particular issues you're running into but I remember GitLab supporting a lot of the YAML features missing in GitHub like anchors in order to build/compose stuff. Oh and turns out GitHub also has that now: https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-18-actions-yaml-anchor... U…
Comment linking /github-actions-yaml-anchors-aliases-merge-keys/
on “Pricing Changes for GitHub Actions”Submitted Convert an existing wired doorbell into a smart doorbell using ESPHome as a story · 143 points
HN discussionYes, no soldering. Here's an example of the sort of thing that is sat on my desk: https://lastminuteengineers.com/esp8266-dht11-dht22-web-serv... If a NodeMCU board is too big for you then an ESP 01S is smaller and even cheaper. Less I/O options though but very useful. Needs a writer and wires to program. You can get one with a relay that is capable of switching 16A. https://frenck.dev/diy-smart-doorbell-for-just-2-…
Comment linking /diy-smart-doorbell-for-just-2-dollar/
on “ESP32/ESP8266 Wi-Fi Attacks”Submitted Confessions about my smart home as a story · 80 points
HN discussionHis About page https://frenck.dev/about/ looks a bit weird after I read that GitHub thread > I like to give back my knowledge and time to the open source community.
Comment linking /about/
on ““Please don't add any of my stuff to this project””Submitted Automation modes in Home Assistant: Why the default isn't your friend as a story · 2 points
HN discussioni'll echo this sentiment. historically there's been a lot more flexibility with GL CI yaml syntax, including real yaml anchors https://frenck.dev/github-actions-yaml-anchors-aliases-merge... sys-admin-ing gitlab can be a bit of a maze of web menus tho.
Comment linking /github-actions-yaml-anchors-aliases-merge-keys/
on “Disruption with Some GitHub Services – Resolved”Submitted WireGuard VPN for Hass.io » Frenck.dev as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI’m almost ignorant on this device, but FTA ( https://frenck.dev/diy-smart-doorbell-for-just-2-dollar/#2-t... ) “This relay module board for the ESP-01(S), It comes pre-soldered, and the ESP will just slide on top of it.” So, bending that pin breaks a connection between the CPU board and the relais board, so that pressing the doorbell wouldn’t be able to send a reset signal to the CPU, or, as the article says: FTA:…
Comment linking /diy-smart-doorbell-for-just-2-dollar/
on “Convert an existing wired doorbell into a smart doorbell using ESPHome”Submitted Home Assistant can run DOOM as a story · 1 points
HN discussion