Room clean ignores HA selection, reverts to Narwal-app shortcut (newer firmware)

[sjmotew]

Summary

When vacuum.clean_area is fired from Home Assistant, the robot ignores the HA-selected rooms and instead runs the first shortcut configured in the Narwal app (typically a 3-room set the user defined there).

Reported on PR #35 by @saeft2003:

"After restarting Home Assistant, regardless of which room I select in Home Assistant, a cleaning cycle for three rooms is always started. These three rooms are my first shortcut in the Narwal app."
— #35 (comment)

Also reproduced locally on Narwal Flow (AX12).

Root cause (hypothesis)

Same firmware schema change behind #36. _build_room_clean_payload() uses the legacy flat-room schema:

{1: <room_id>, 2: <cleanMode>, 3: <passes>, 6: <suction>, 7: <mop>}

On Flow firmware ≥ v01.07.22, the robot accepts the clean/plan/start topic but appears to silently discard this payload structure and fall back to the onboard default plan — which for most users is the first app shortcut.

The fix for #36 added _build_clean_payload_v2() for the nested-room schema observed in newer firmware and wired it into start() (whole-house). start_rooms() was not updated and still uses the legacy schema, so it hits the same problem.

Reproduction

1. Flow on firmware v01.07.22+ (suspected — needs explicit version confirmation)
2. Define a multi-room shortcut in the Narwal app (e.g. "Quick Clean: Kitchen + Living + Hall")
3. In HA, call vacuum.clean_area for a different single room
4. Observe: robot starts cleaning the shortcut rooms, not the HA-selected room

Fix path

Mirror what #36 did for start() into start_rooms():

• Try legacy _build_room_clean_payload(room_ids) first
• On NOT_APPLICABLE, retry with _build_clean_payload_v2(room_ids)
• Add force_v2 kwarg as escape hatch for firmwares that ack legacy with SUCCESS but still ignore the room list

Diagnostic info needed (if you're hitting this)

1. Exact Flow firmware version (Narwal app → Device → Info)
2. HA logs at info level for custom_components.narwal.vacuum when triggering the room clean — look for the Room clean response: ... line
3. Whether the robot returns NOT_APPLICABLE or SUCCESS while ignoring the room list

Related

• vacuum.start no-op from dock on Flow firmware v01.07.22.00 unless using app-captured Deep Clean payload #36 — root cause schema change, partial fix shipped
• Allow configurable clean parameters in _build_room_clean_payload / start_rooms() #23 — configurable clean parameters (orthogonal — affects which settings apply, not which rooms)
• start_rooms() crashes Flow 2 — command payload likely incompatible #25 — Flow 2 start_rooms() crash (different symptom: undock-then-error vs wrong-rooms)
• PR feat: Flow 2 diagnostics, discovery, and live-state improvements #35 — community work; this bug exists on both master and the PR branch

[saeft2003]

I have this problem with firmware 01.08.00.07

[sjmotew]

Fix landed on master in 516ed1c.

start_rooms() now tries the legacy flat-room schema first (no change for older firmware) and on NOT_APPLICABLE retries with the v2 nested-room schema populated from the caller-selected room IDs — same fallback pattern shipped for whole-house start() in #36.

For the case where the legacy payload returns SUCCESS but the rooms are still ignored (ack-and-ignore), start_rooms() accepts a new force_v2=True kwarg that skips the legacy attempt. Not exposed via the HA service schema yet — for now it's accessible via client.start_rooms([...], force_v2=True) directly. If we confirm a firmware-version threshold where v2 is required, we'll auto-select.

@saeft2003 — when you update to master / next release, please re-test:

1. Trigger vacuum.clean_area for a single room that's not in your Narwal-app first shortcut
2. Check HA logs (info level) for custom_components.narwal.vacuum — should see either Room clean response: SUCCESS after a single attempt (legacy worked) or one INFO line about legacy payload rejected, retrying with v2 schema followed by SUCCESS (fallback worked)
3. Report the firmware version your Flow is on (Narwal app → Device → Info)

If the right rooms clean: confirms the fix. If still wrong rooms + SUCCESS response: we'll add the force_v2 config option as the follow-up.

[sjmotew]

Thanks @saeft2003 — that's the second confirmed-affected firmware (ralong777 was on v01.07.22.00 in #36; you're on v01.08.00.07). The schema change persisted into the 01.08.x line.

To know whether the fix from 516ed1c is enough or whether you also need force_v2, please update to master and capture one log line:

1. HA → Settings → Devices → Logs → set custom_components.narwal to info
2. Trigger vacuum.clean_area for a single room not in your Narwal-app first shortcut
3. Paste the line(s) that look like Room clean response: ...

Three possible outcomes:

• Room clean response: SUCCESS (after one attempt) and correct rooms clean → legacy schema worked, your firmware accepts both
• legacy payload rejected, retrying with v2 schema followed by Room clean response: SUCCESS and correct rooms clean → NOT_APPLICABLE fallback worked, fix complete
• Room clean response: SUCCESS but the wrong rooms (shortcut) still clean → ack-and-ignore behavior, I'll ship a config option for force_v2 + add firmware-version-based auto-select

Once we know which, we can close this issue or queue the follow-up.

[saeft2003]

@sjmotew

I installed the master and started a room cleaning of the room "Essbereich" in the log level info. This area is not included in the first shortcut; unfortunately, the first shortcut was triggered again. Here is the log.

2026-05-17 19:16:44.120 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.narwal_client.client] No broadcast for 15s — robot may have gone to sleep 2026-05-17 19:16:44.677 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.narwal_client.client] Robot is awake (received broadcast) 2026-05-17 19:18:03.704 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.vacuum] Starting room-specific clean: rooms=[7] 2026-05-17 19:18:07.659 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.vacuum] Room clean response: SUCCESS (code=1), rooms=[7] 2026-05-17 19:18:09.684 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.camera] New cleaning session — clearing trail and vision obstacles 2026-05-17 19:18:35.181 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.coordinator] Return-to-dock detected, refreshing dock status

[saeft2003]

@sjmotew

Can you spot an error in the log?

[Duqino]

Maybe useless but i got the same problem, running the latest version.

[Duqino]

Home Assistant Core
No issues found for search term 'narwal'

Still goes to the last room he did.

Firmware: v01.07.23.00

How does it know that home assitant want the vacuum cleaner to go to a room?
Is there a way we have to manually tell home assistant where what room is and where the vacuum cleaner need to go to?

https://gyazo.com/8d04d17ab316d1cc24928d4f704e1c92
https://gyazo.com/2f466d84cc684aae507a0087dba99586

[sjmotew]

Update for everyone hitting this:

The fix is already on master (commit 3f7c17b). start_rooms() now sends the v2 nested-room schema first — this is the schema newer firmware actually respects. The old code (516ed1c that @saeft2003 tested) sent legacy first, got SUCCESS, and the robot silently ignored the room list.

@saeft2003 — your log from May 17 confirms the ack-and-ignore behavior on the old code. The current master flips the order: v2 first, legacy fallback only on NOT_APPLICABLE. Please update to current master and re-test. You should see the correct single room clean this time.

@Duqino — same applies, please update to current master. To answer your question about how room selection works:

1. The integration reads the robot's map and exposes each room as a "segment" in HA
2. In HA, go to Settings → Devices → Narwal vacuum → Controls — you should see a room/segment selector
3. You can also call vacuum.clean_area from automations/scripts with specific segment IDs
4. The integration sends those room IDs to the robot via the v2 protocol — the robot handles navigation

If you don't see room segments in HA, the map may not have loaded yet. Check that the camera entity (camera.narwal_*) shows a map image with room labels.

Both of you: after updating, please share the log line from a room clean attempt — looking for Room clean response: SUCCESS and confirmation that the correct room actually cleaned.

[saeft2003]

@sjmotew sorry i need your help...

Unfortunately, the room cleaning feature still isn't working for me. What am I doing wrong? Unfortunately, I'm not very experienced with Home Assistant.

I go to HACS, select the Narwal integration, and click "Redownload"—at which point version 3f7c17b appears. After that, I restart Home Assistant, but the same room gets cleaned every time, regardless of which one I select.

026-05-29 20:47:48.130 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.narwal_client.client] Robot is awake (received broadcast) 2026-05-29 20:52:52.111 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.vacuum] Starting room-specific clean: rooms=[1] 2026-05-29 20:52:55.785 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.vacuum] Room clean response: SUCCESS (code=1), rooms=[1] 2026-05-29 20:52:58.136 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.camera] New cleaning session — clearing trail and vision obstacles 2026-05-29 20:53:24.633 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.coordinator] Return-to-dock detected, refreshing dock status 2026-05-29 20:57:18.130 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.vacuum] Starting room-specific clean: rooms=[3] 2026-05-29 20:57:18.164 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.vacuum] Room clean response: SUCCESS (code=1), rooms=[3] 2026-05-29 20:57:19.138 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.camera] New cleaning session — clearing trail and vision obstacles 2026-05-29 20:57:31.633 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.coordinator] Return-to-dock detected, refreshing dock status 2026-05-29 20:58:01.711 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.vacuum] Starting room-specific clean: rooms=[6, 7] 2026-05-29 20:58:01.747 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.vacuum] Room clean response: SUCCESS (code=1), rooms=[6, 7] 2026-05-29 20:58:02.137 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.narwal.camera] New cleaning session — clearing trail and vision obstacles