Bill Church billchurch

Recovering a lost ESPHome config (and reflashing when you can't)

I had an IKEA Vindriktning with an ESP-01 module in it that went missing during our hurricane recovery two years ago. This week it turned up in a crate under the sink. It still appeared in Home Assistant, but I had deleted it from the ESPHome, so I assumed the YAML was gone.

When I plugged it in, it gave no visible sign of life, but it was on the network. What follows is how I got the original config back without touching the device, and what I would have done if the config really had been gone.

TL;DR: As of ESPHome 2026.6.0 the ESPHome dashboard doesn't actually delete your YAML. It moves it to /config/esphome/archive/. Look there first. Everything else in this post is for when that folder is empty.

First rule: don't delete the Home Assistant integration

Switching from zsh to bash on macOS Sequoia (or newer)

This is what I did in macOS to switch the shell shell from zsh to bash, restoring Homebrew paths, and enabling Colima command-line completion.

1. Change the Default Shell to Bash

First, check your current shell:

rtl_433 proxmox lxc and docker

These are my notes setting up rtl_433 docker container on a Proxmox host inside an LXC guest...all the inceptions...

	#!/usr/bin/env bash
	#
	# chunked_curl.sh
	#
	# Download a file using multiple parallel HTTP range requests, then
	# reassemble the file in the correct order, showing overall progress.
	#
	# Bill Church - November 2025

	set -euo pipefail

	/**
	* Simple SSH client using agent-based auth with ssh2.
	*
	* Env:
	* SSH_HOST: hostname or IP, required
	* SSH_PORT: port number, defaults to 22
	* SSH_USER: username, defaults to OS user
	* SSH_AUTH_SOCK: path to agent socket, required for agent auth
	* COMMAND: command to run, defaults to "uptime"
	*

	blueprint:
	name: Humidity-Controlled Fan with Manual Override
	description: >
	Automate a bathroom fan to turn on/off based on humidity levels with manual override and configurable timer. Includes automatic helper creation and a dashboard card.
	domain: automation
	input:
	fan_switch:
	name: Fan Switch
	description: The fan switch entity.
	selector:

	blueprint:
	name: Pico Fan – Simple 5-Button
	description: >
	Map a Lutron Fan Pico (PJ2-3BRL-GXX-F01) to one ceiling fan
	and an optional light.
	Single presses only – no long-press or double-click logic.
	domain: automation
	author: billchurch
	source_url: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/pico-fan-simple-5-button-remote-for-lutron-caseta-haiku-or-any-fan/901507
	input:

	substitutions:
	device_name: living-fan
	device_description: Living Room Ceiling Fan
	friendly_name: Living Room Fan

	esphome:
	name: ${device_name}
	comment: ${device_description}
	platform: ESP8266
	board: esp01_1m

Bill Church billchurch

Recovering a lost ESPHome config (and reflashing when you can't)

First rule: don't delete the Home Assistant integration

Switching from zsh to bash on macOS Sequoia (or newer)

1. Change the Default Shell to Bash

rtl_433 proxmox lxc and docker

proxmox host setup

background on rtl_433 on lxc:

Docker LXC install script

	substitutions:
	device_name: garage-light
	friendly_name: Garage Light
	default_delay: '900' # default delay of 15 minutes (900 seconds)
	pre_off_warning: '30' # pre-off warning period in seconds
	location: Garage
	ha_timer_number: input_number.garage_light_timer
	switch_name: Garage Interior Light Switch
	motion_sensor_name: binary_sensor.motion_garage_motion_2

	import socket
	import requests
	import paramiko
	import time
	import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

	def discover_sonos_devices():
	MCAST_GRP = '239.255.255.250'
	MCAST_PORT = 1900
	msg = (