Roadmap
This roadmap is directional. It is organised around demonstrable vertical slices rather than a fixed release date. The Phase 2 slice — Grow Core running end-to-end against a simulator and Home Assistant — is proven, and development has moved on to the grow-management experience: multi-user auth, grows and plants, a care journal, inventory, external integrations, and an AI assistant now run on top of the control engine, drawing several Phase 5 items forward.
Phase 0 — Project foundation ✅
Section titled “Phase 0 — Project foundation ✅”Publish concept and architecture, define terminology, create growrig and
growrig-firmware, choose licenses, and establish the contribution process.
Phase 1 — Breadboard fan controller
Section titled “Phase 1 — Breadboard fan controller”An ESP32/XIAO breadboard controller with 2–4 PWM fan channels, RPM feedback, a temp/humidity sensor, local fallback behavior, an ESPHome package, and Home Assistant entities. Exit: safe fan control continues through a Hub restart.
Phase 2 — Grow Core vertical slice ✅
Section titled “Phase 2 — Grow Core vertical slice ✅”A Go service with SQLite storage, a Home Assistant adapter, an environment and device-role model, fan controller logic, a live API, a minimal SvelteKit dashboard, and a simulator. Exit: users assign grow roles instead of editing HA automations.
Phase 3 — Dual controller connectivity
Section titled “Phase 3 — Dual controller connectivity”The ESPHome native-API path through Home Assistant and a direct MQTT path, with one authoritative adapter per controller, controller health and presence, command timeout, and a versioned-policy prototype. Exit: the same controller works through either path.
Phase 4 — Installation and flashing
Section titled “Phase 4 — Installation and flashing”HAOS add-on packaging, a one-click GrowRig add-on repository (install Grow Core on any Home Assistant without building or copying files), a prebuilt DIY Hub image (Home Assistant OS + Grow Core in a single flashable disk image for HA Green, a Raspberry Pi 4+, or a spare PC), ESP Web Tools integration, supported board profiles, prebuilt firmware manifests, USB/BLE Wi-Fi provisioning, and a controller registration flow. Exit: a new user can stand up a Hub and enroll a controller without editing YAML. See the three Hub paths in Setting it up.
Phase 5 — Grow App ◐
Section titled “Phase 5 — Grow App ◐”Polished web onboarding, a live dashboard, manual overrides, alerts, recipe basics, cycle history, and a Flutter mobile prototype with QR pairing. Exit: daily operation no longer requires the Home Assistant UI.
Much of this has landed early on Grow App Web: multi-user auth (password & passkey), a live dashboard, the grow/plant records and care journal, inventory, feeding recipes, external integrations, and an AI assistant. The Flutter Grow App Mobile and full alerting remain ahead.
Phase 6 — Gateway profile
Section titled “Phase 6 — Gateway profile”Documented router setup, a recommended OpenWrt configuration, a default firewall model, camera isolation, and Hub discovery across the gateway. Exit: a reproducible isolated Grow Network on commodity hardware.
Phase 7 — Hardware maturity
Section titled “Phase 7 — Hardware maturity”Stable Controller requirements, custom PCB feasibility, integrated power and protection, display expansion, and a hardware-in-the-loop test fixture. Exit: enough evidence to design Grow Controller X4 hardware.
Phase 8 — Ecosystem expansion
Section titled “Phase 8 — Ecosystem expansion”The GrowRig Hub — a ready-made, purpose-built Hub sold with Home Assistant OS and Grow Core preinstalled, so the turnkey path in Setting it up becomes real — plus a Sensor Pod, Irrigation Controller, Grow Panel, a hardware compatibility catalog, a recipe repository, verified third-party equipment, and an optional official Grow Gateway.
Continuous directions
Section titled “Continuous directions”These influence early interfaces even when implemented later: a semantic installation digital twin, signed versioned policies, secure per-device identity, rollback-safe OTA, simulator and recorded-data replay, explainable adaptive control, structured observability, trusted release provenance and SBOMs, and an open extension SDK.