Radio-frequency (RF) can receive commands

[mkerstner]

Problem statement

Based on the functionality delivered in #102 this opportunity is about adding RF receiving capabilities in Home Assistant, e.g. to receive RF updates.

Previous related architectural discussions happened here:

• Radio Frequency Entity Platform home-assistant/architecture#1365

Community signals

• see Radio-frequency (RF) is becoming a first-class citizen of Home Assistant and can send commands #102

Additionally

• RFLink integration (https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/rflink/) — an existing, older HA integration doing exactly this via a separate Arduino gateway. Good proof there's long-standing appetite for a native equivalent, and a useful reference for real-world protocol handling (rolling codes, device ignore-lists, noise filtering).

• DIY RF433 → HA mapper with a learning UI: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/rf433-remote-home-assistant-mapper-mqtt-learning-ui/975223 — community member built exactly the "learn RF codes live" workflow that native RF receive would replace.

• "Reading 433mhz RF signals?" forum thread: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/reading-433mhz-rf-signals/716901 — someone with a CC1101 asking how to capture/decode signals, hitting noise and rolling-code problems head-on.

• "Decoding 433 MHz remote": https://community.home-assistant.io/t/decoding-433-mhz-remote/423688 — same pattern, older thread, shows this is a recurring pain point, not a one-off.

• ESPHome + rtl_433 crossover thread: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/esphome-rf-transceiver-and-rtl-433/753355 — people currently bridging via external SDR tooling (rtl_433) to learn codes because HA/ESPHome can't natively decode.

• Cross-reference to the architecture side (useful to link here too since Infrared (IR) is becoming a first-class citizen of Home Assistant and can send and receive IR commands #101 did the same for IR): Radio Frequency Entity Platform home-assistant/architecture#1365 (explicit "Future: Receiver Support" section) and Add sweep_frequency service to RemoteEntity home-assistant/architecture#1076 (old sweep_frequency/learning proposal).

Scope & Boundaries

In scope

• Receiving of RF signals
• Having at least 1 reference integration for RF available for receiving commands
• Have updated developer documentation

Foreseen solution

As mentioned in home-assistant/architecture#1365

• RadioFrequencyEntity will gain receive capabilities (likely via a supported feature flag or separate entity class).
• Received signals will be exposed as events containing raw timings, carrier frequency, and optionally hardware metadata such as RSSI and LQI (for hardware that supports it).
• Consumer integrations will be able to subscribe to received RF data for protocol decoding, state tracking, and device discovery.

Potential additional information to keep in mind:

• Radio Frequency Entity Platform home-assistant/architecture#1365 — the accepted RF Entity Platform proposal explicitly scopes receivers out of the initial (send-only) version but reserves the extension points for it (RadioFrequencyEntity gaining receive capabilities via a feature flag or separate entity class, received signals exposed as events with raw timings, carrier frequency, and optional RSSI/LQI).

• Add Infrared Receiver Entity home-assistant/architecture#1372 — Infrared Receiver Entity proposal; since RF receive is expected to mirror the IR receive model architecturally, this is the closest existing precedent to follow.

• Protocol decoding is expected to build on the external rf-protocols library, same as the transmit side (see Decoding home-assistant-libs/rf-protocols#9 for the open decoding discussion).

Risks & open questions

Open questions

• Handling of protocol decoding on receiving side

Appetite

Small - 2 weeks

Execution issues

No response

Decision log

Date	Decision	Outcome

[mkerstner]

@abb848 Needs further Epics to proceed. UX should follow #101 so that should be covered already.

CC: @frenck