Joanna Idea Scout - 2026-05-29

[CCOSTAN]

Joanna Idea Scout

• Date: 2026-05-29
• Generated: 2026-05-29T07:34:25.223Z
• Digest items: 5
• Sources: GitHub

This daily issue keeps all Idea Scout findings in one place for review, regardless of source adapter. These are inspiration items, not bugfixes or support threads.

Source Runs

• GitHub: 5 digest items, 45 watched notifications reviewed, reason: scheduler_idea_scout:github

Ideas

1. [GitHub] home-assistant/iOS - Add custom notification icons for automations

• Source: Add custom notification icons for automations home-assistant/iOS#4672
• Strength: recap
• Area: script
• Summary: Home Assistant iOS is adding support for custom notification icons via notification_icon and icon_url in push payloads, which would let automations show task-specific icons instead of the default app icon.
• Suggested direction: After the iOS app and push relay support are fully shipped, update the shared Home Assistant notification script/package to accept optional icon fields and start assigning meaningful mdi: icons to high-value alerts such as backups, appliance completion, cameras, and health coaching reminders.

2. [GitHub] home-assistant/iOS - Create a sensor with a list of currently attached Bluetooth devices in order to make location updates more timely

• Source: Create a sensor with a list of currently attached Bluetooth devices in order to make location updates more timely home-assistant/iOS#956
• Strength: recap
• Area: automation
• Summary: Feature idea: expose currently connected Bluetooth devices from the Home Assistant iOS app so automations can trigger a faster location update when the phone connects to something like a car stereo.
• Suggested direction: Track this as an upstream-dependent presence enhancement and, if a usable mobile_app Bluetooth sensor becomes available, add a local departure/arrival automation that triggers an immediate location refresh and optional Telegram notice when the phone connects to the car.

3. [GitHub] mrk-its/homeassistant-blitzortung - Removed Lightning Strike (BLITZORTUNG) integration — severe Home Assistant Recorder impact

• Source: Removed Lightning Strike (BLITZORTUNG) integration — severe Home Assistant Recorder impact mrk-its/homeassistant-blitzortung#266
• Strength: recap
• Area: packages
• Summary: Useful reminder to avoid high-churn per-event entities in Home Assistant because they can degrade Recorder/history performance; prefer aggregate sensors, event/map views, and explicit recorder excludes for noisy event sources.
• Suggested direction: Add or refine a local package pattern that keeps noisy transient/event-style entities out of Recorder by default, favors aggregate/helper sensors over per-event entities, and documents dashboard-safe alternatives such as map/event views instead of history-heavy entity creation.

4. [GitHub] rtclauss/hass-config - Replace practical threshold-style template binary sensors with native helpers

• Source: Replace practical threshold-style template binary sensors with native helpers rtclauss/hass-config#736
• Strength: recap
• Area: helper
• Summary: Use native Home Assistant threshold helpers instead of simple threshold-style template binary sensors where the logic is just numeric cutoff behavior, keeping templates only for derived or multi-factor cases.
• Suggested direction: Audit local template binary sensors that only compare one numeric source to a threshold, convert the straightforward ones to native threshold helpers, keep derived-delta cases behind small guarded template sensors, and document any intentionally complex templates left in place.

5. [GitHub] rtclauss/hass-config - Simplify holiday lighting logic and verify 24-month calendar coverage

• Source: Simplify holiday lighting logic and verify 24-month calendar coverage rtclauss/hass-config#737
• Strength: recap
• Area: packages
• Summary: Refactor seasonal/holiday lighting so one calendar-driven source of truth selects the active holiday, removes automation enable/disable orchestration, and adds coverage checks for the next 24 months.
• Suggested direction: Review local holiday/seasonal lighting automations and templates, consolidate active-holiday selection behind a calendar/helper-backed package, replace hidden automation-state toggles with explicit conditions, and add a simple validation or test note for upcoming holiday coverage.

[CCOSTAN]

Split the selected Idea Scout items into dedicated follow-up issues:

• Track iOS custom notification icon support for local alerts #1773 tracks item 1: iOS custom notification icon support for local alerts.
• Consolidate holiday lighting around a calendar-backed source of truth #1774 tracks item 5: holiday lighting consolidation and 24-month calendar coverage.