About HomeScript Labs

HomeScript Labs is a working notebook of smart-home setups for short-term rental hosts. Everything here started as a fix for a real problem in a real rental — a guest who couldn’t find the lights, a thermostat running cold for three vacant days, a cleaner who needed to know if the place was empty before driving over.

Who this is for

• Hosts who self-manage one or two listings and want fewer guest support messages.
• Vacation-home owners who rent the place out when they aren’t using it themselves.
• Remote owners who can’t be on site to flip a switch or reset a code.
• Anyone who’s tired of paying for smart-home subscriptions they don’t actually need.

What you won’t find here

• Indoor cameras, listening devices, or anything that surveils guests inside the home.
• Affiliate-stuffed gear lists with no point of view about what to buy first.
• “Set up Home Assistant in 47 steps” without explaining why a host would want to.

How the guides are written

Each guide names the problem first, lists the gear actually used, walks through setup, and ends with what to tell guests and how to handle the common breaks. If a setup didn’t survive contact with real guests, it doesn’t get a guide.

New guides go up as they’re tested. The homepage lists the topics in progress.