If you’ve ever dreamt of controlling your Linux applications or running commands directly from your iPhone, I’ve got some exciting news for you. I’ve been tinkering around and have come up with a solution that bridges the gap between Apple HomeKit and SystemD services. Let me introduce you to my latest side-project: hk-svcs-bridge!
The Inspiration Behind the Project
The idea was born out of sheer convenience. Imagine this: you’re settling down for a movie night. With a simple command to Siri or a press of a button, the lights dim, your Apple TV springs to life, and the Jellyfin Docker/Podman service starts running in the background on the Home Lab Raspberry Pi. 😎 Sounds like magic, right? That’s precisely what I aimed to achieve: a Linux daemon, crafted in Go, mapping SystemD services and commands to Apple Home (HomeKit) buttons.
Setting Up the hk-svcs-bridge
For those eager to integrate their Linux systems with Apple HomeKit, setting up
the hk-svcs-bridge is straightforward. You can directly download the
pre-compiled binaries from the releases page on
GitLab. The project
supports multiple CPU architectures, ensuring compatibility with a range of
different Home Lab hardware. For Ubuntu/Debian users, especially those using a
Raspberry Pi, here’s a quick way to get started:
# Please check the GitHub Page for newer versions if those are available!
wget https://gitlab.com/koalalorenzo/hk-svcs-bridge/-/jobs/4061805600/artifacts/file/build/hk-svcs-bridge_0.1.4-beta-0_armhf.deb
sudo apt install ./hk-svcs-bridge_0.1.4-beta-0_armhf.deb ````
If your device architecture isn’t directly supported by the provided binaries, don’t worry! You can always compile the project from the source code, ensuring maximum flexibility.
Once installed, you’ll need to set up your configuration. Create a config.yaml
file and populate it with your desired settings. Here’s a sample configuration:
# Your Bridge name:
name: Home Server Pi
# The Pairing Code that you'll need to add on your iPhone
pairing_code: "42042042"
services:
- name: nginx
- name: "Media Server"
on_cmd: "docker start jellyfin"
off_cmd: "docker stop jellyfin"
check_cmd: "docker inspect --format='{{.State.Running}}' jellyfin"
Save this configuration to /etc/hk-svcs-bridge.yaml. After saving the
configuration, you’ll need to restart the systemd service for the changes to
take effect:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable hk-svcs-bridge
sudo systemctl restart hk-svcs-bridge
Once you’ve successfully set up the hk-svcs-bridge on your Linux system, integrating it with your iPhone is a straightforward process. Begin by opening the Home app on your iPhone. Tap on the ‘+’ icon located in the top right corner and select “Add Accessory.”.
Since the bridge does not have a code to scan, tap “More options” and then
select it. In my case it is called “Raspberry Py”. 🤦 Then you must insert the PIN
code as the value in the config file as pairing_code to add it. The rest of
the steps are easy to follow. Here is a short video:
After finishing the setup, this configuration will introduce two buttons in the Home app: one for NGINX and another for the Media Server.
There is a Go package for that!
Building this bridge was quite the adventure! A big shoutout to Matthias the author of the HAP library, for making things so much smoother. Honestly, without it, I might’ve been scratching my head a lot more. It’s pretty cool how in the world of Go, there appears to be a library for just about everything. If you’re curious about how all this works under the hood, why not take a peek at the source code? Dive in and have fun exploring!