Smart Home

ESPHome Device— RTI XP Driver

Control any ESPHome device from RTI — no Home Assistant required.

Version
v2.3.0
Updated
Aug 29, 2026
Licensing
Per-processor

About this driver

Two-way RTI control for any device running ESPHome — connected directly, with no Home Assistant, cloud, or MQTT broker in between. ESPHome is the open-source firmware behind thousands of ESP32/ESP8266 devices, from DIY sensors and LED controllers to commercial relays, shades, and HVAC. The driver speaks ESPHome's native API over your LAN — including the encryption modern devices use by default — and auto-discovers every control the device exposes. One-click AutoConfig then imports them already labeled with their real names, so laying out a page takes seconds instead of decoding slot numbers. And because an ESP32 running ESPHome can act as a Bluetooth bridge, the driver even reaches BLE-only gear — adjustable beds, smart locks, sensors — that RTI can't touch on its own. One type-aware surface covers lights, switches, covers, fans, climate, locks, buttons, numbers, selects, and every kind of sensor, with live push feedback, automatic reconnect, and a light footprint on the processor.

New in 2.3.0

  • Your programming now survives a driver update. Updating the driver used to rebuild its function list, which left every macro pointing at a function name that no longer existed. The button did nothing, and nothing anywhere reported an error. 2.3 keeps the original functions in place, so existing buttons keep working across the update with no re-mapping.
  • Recovers on its own when the link goes one way. The driver now confirms the device can still hear it, rather than only that the device is still talking, and rebuilds the connection when it cannot. On our bench a stalled link recovered by itself with no action from the dealer.
  • Reports itself in the processor System Log. Earlier versions wrote nothing at all. 2.3 prints a state, health and cache snapshot starting a minute after boot and every five minutes after that, plus an entry for every fault, so you can tell a healthy install from a struggling one without guessing.
  • New status variables to put on a page or read in the log: last command sent, mute recoveries, connect stalls, watchdog trips, last handshake time, entity refreshes and entity-map changes.
  • Re-checks the device entity list every hour and reports it if anything moved, so a device reflashed with new entities does not quietly leave your buttons pointing at the wrong thing.
  • Full climate control after AutoConfig: mode, fan mode, swing mode, preset and target temperature range, not just the target temperature.
  • Says why it is not connected yet during its startup delay, instead of just reporting disconnected while it waits for the rest of the rack to boot.

What's included

  • AutoConfig: one click imports every control already named — no guessing which slot is which button
  • Reaches Bluetooth-only gear, too: an ESP32 running ESPHome bridges BLE devices — adjustable beds, locks, sensors — into RTI, a category it can't reach natively
  • Works with encrypted ESPHome devices (encryption is the modern default) and legacy plaintext alike
  • Speaks ESPHome's native API directly over your LAN — no Home Assistant, no cloud, no MQTT broker
  • Full entity coverage: lights (brightness/RGB/CCT/effects), switches, covers, fans, climate/thermostat, locks, buttons, numbers, selects, and numeric/binary/text sensors
  • Live push state + keepalive heartbeat: instant feedback, and a self-healing connection that stays responsive on a busy processor and rebuilds itself after a drop (hardened again in 2.3), light on the processor
  • 120-minute MAC-locked free trial — try before you buy

How licensing works

  1. Download the driver (free — button on the right), install it in Integration Designer, and load to your processor. It runs unlocked for a total of 120 minutes of run time for compatibility testing. The clock is cumulative, so it does not reset when the processor reboots.
  2. Buy a license here, then sign in and enter your processor's MAC address on your account page. We issue a signed license key bound to that MAC.
  3. Paste the key into the driver's configuration. The trial wall goes away and the driver runs unlocked indefinitely.

Not enough time to finish testing? Email support@customcontroldrivers.com and we will give you more time.

Need a custom driver? Suggest one or email support@customcontroldrivers.com.