User Guide¶
Welcome to the Sowel user guide. This documentation covers everything you need to set up, configure, and use Sowel on a daily basis.
What is Sowel?¶
Sowel is a home automation engine that brings structure to your smart home. Instead of managing hundreds of individual devices, Sowel organizes your home into three clear layers:
- Devices -- the physical hardware on your network (sensors, switches, dimmers, thermostats). Discovered automatically from your integrations.
- Equipments -- the functional units you actually interact with ("Living Room Spots", "Bedroom Shutters"). Each equipment binds to one or more devices.
- Zones -- the spatial structure of your home (Home > Floor > Room). Zones automatically aggregate data from their equipments.
This separation means you think about rooms and functions, not about Zigbee addresses and MQTT topics.
What can Sowel do?¶
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Auto-discovery | Devices appear automatically from configured integrations (Zigbee2MQTT, Panasonic CC, MCZ Maestro, Netatmo, and more) |
| Zone aggregation | Real-time room status: temperature, motion, lights count, shutter positions -- all computed automatically |
| Dashboard | Customizable widget-based dashboard for daily use |
| Recipes | Pre-built automation templates -- pick a zone, pick a light, set a timeout, done |
| Modes | Named operating profiles (Comfort, Away, Night) with per-zone impacts and calendar scheduling |
| Energy monitoring | Track consumption with HP/HC tariff breakdown and autoconsumption |
| Remote access | Secure access from anywhere via Cloudflare Tunnel |
Guide sections¶
Installation, first login, and initial configuration.
Creating and managing equipments, binding to devices, equipment types.
Widgets, customization, edit mode.
Creating zones, assigning equipments, automatic aggregation.
Operating profiles, impacts, calendar scheduling.
Consumption tracking, HP/HC tariffs, autoconsumption.
Secure access from outside your home network.