Introduction

What Domoriks is, how it fits together, and what you need to get started.

What is Domoriks?

Domoriks is an open source, decentralised home automation platform built around custom DIN-rail hardware modules. It is designed to be installed inside a standard electrical cabinet alongside your circuit breakers, using ordinary electrician wiring practices.

The name comes from “domo” (home, as in domotics) + “rix” (Latin for ruler/controller) — a home that is under your control.

Three-layer architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│               Home Assistant UI                  │
│  (dashboards, automations, voice control, …)    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│            Domoriks HA Integration               │
│  (Modbus RTU master, entity management, diag)   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│              RS-485 / USB Bus                    │
├──────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┤
│  Relay Module    │       Switch Module           │
│  (8× relay out) │   (8× switch/button input)   │
└──────────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘

Hardware layer — DIN-rail PCB modules, each an independent Modbus RTU slave. No embedded Linux, no Wi-Fi, no MQTT. Just a microcontroller, some relays, and a two-wire RS-485 connection.

Communication layer — RS-485 Modbus RTU. A standard two-wire differential bus that runs reliably over long distances inside a building. Up to 32 modules on a single bus without a repeater.

Software layer — A Home Assistant custom integration that acts as the Modbus RTU master. It polls modules, exposes entities, and handles configuration entirely through the HA UI.

Design principles

Decentralised. Modules hold their own state. If your Home Assistant instance reboots, your lights stay as they were. There is no central controller node that becomes a single point of failure.

Cabinet-native. The hardware format is standard DIN rail. Everything fits inside an existing electrical cabinet. No extra junction boxes, no surface-mounted devices, no signal-wire chasing.

Existing switches work. The switch input module connects directly to your existing wall switches. You keep your physical switches exactly where they are — they continue to function as local controls and also feed events into Home Assistant.

No cloud. Communication is entirely local. The RS-485 bus is a physical wire. Nothing leaves your LAN, nothing requires an internet connection, and there is no vendor cloud to shut down.

Open everything. KiCad schematics, Gerber files, BOM, firmware source code, and integration source are all published under the MIT licence.

💡 Ready to build?

Jump to the Quick Start guide for the fastest path from unboxing to a working HA entity.

What you need

  • One or more Domoriks DIN modules (relay and/or switch)
  • A 24V DC power supply (DIN-rail mount recommended)
  • A USB-to-RS485 adapter or direct RS-485 interface on your HA host
  • Home Assistant OS, Core, or Supervised — version 2024.1 or later
  • Basic electrical wiring skills (or a willing electrician)

What you do not need

  • Any cloud account
  • Any internet connection (after downloading the integration)
  • YAML configuration files
  • A dedicated always-on controller other than your existing HA instance
Architecture Overview →