Spooky Porch Lights for Home Assistant: Zach's Halloween Motion Sensor, Light, and Sound Effect Blueprints
Happy Halloween from all of us at Apollo Automation!
This year's Halloween project comes from Zach, the newest member of our team. He built a set of free Home Assistant blueprints that light up your porch in stages and play spooky sound effects as trick-or-treaters walk up to your door. It works with any motion sensor, any smart lights, and any speaker you already have.
Get the Halloween blueprints on GitHub
Meet Zach
You may already know Zach's work. He wrote Zone Mapper, the Home Assistant tool for drawing detection zones on a grid for LD2450 radar sensors. Before that, we partnered with him on his architecture graduation thesis. He put our AIR-1 air quality sensors throughout his university building to track how it performed, then turned that data into an installation of lanterns that moved and changed color in real time.
For his first project on the team, we gave him free rein for his favorite holiday. The idea and the work are all his.
How the Halloween blueprint works
You assign each stage of your walkway a trigger and a set of lights. As a visitor walks up, each stage fires in order.
- Stage 1. The visitor reaches the first trigger. The first lights switch to a spooky effect and an optional sound plays.
- Next stages. Each trigger after that lights the next set, with its own sound.
- Finale. Once every stage has fired, a finale light and sound effect plays across all the lights at the door.
- Reset. The automation goes back to resting and waits for the next visitor.
The stages only trigger in order, 1 then 2 then 3. If someone walks them backwards, nothing happens. That way you can leave your own house without setting off the show.
Three versions, for whatever sensors you have
- Zone-based. For LD2450 radar sensors like the R PRO-1 or MTR-1, using zones you draw in Zone Mapper.
- Distance-based. For sensors that report how far away a person is.
- Motion-based. For any regular motion sensors that report on and off, placed along your path.
Sound effects are optional and play as announcements on any Home Assistant media player. New to blueprints? Home Assistant's blueprint guide covers importing one.
Adding LED strips and sound with CAST-1
Zach built his own "porch" around CAST-1, our local audio player for Music Assistant and Home Assistant. He also added new CAST-1 firmware on GitHub for this project.
- LED strip control. Drive an LED strip from the same CAST-1 that plays the sounds, with Effect A and Effect B patterns: Rainbow, Color Wipe, Scan, Twinkle, Pulse, and Fireworks.
- Effect speed control right in Home Assistant. If you are into ESPHome, his changes are worth reading to see how he exposed effect speed as a Home Assistant light setting.
- One strip, three stages. The example Halloween configuration splits a single strip into three lights, one per stage.
- Adjustable ducking. New Announcement Ducking and Announcement LED Brightness sliders, so a sound effect doesn't have to cut your Halloween music.
Want the backstory on CAST-1? Read SmartHomeScene's take in our CAST-1 review post.
Built on open source
This project stands on the work of the Open Home Foundation and its communities.
- ESPHome runs every Apollo device in this build, and the improvements to ESPHome Device Builder made the firmware work a lot easier.
- Music Assistant coming into Home Assistant is what sparked the idea. Spooky music and sound effects were the first thing Zach wanted to try.
- Home Assistant ties it all together with blueprints anyone can import and change.
We could not have built this without those teams. Thank you.
Get started
- Halloween 2026 blueprints and setup guide, in the Apollo Projects repo
- CAST-1 firmware on GitHub
- Zone Mapper setup guide, with the integration and dashboard card
- Apollo community forum, to share your setup
If you build it, send us a video of your porch. Zach would like to see it, and it helps him make the case for more fun projects like this one.
Halloween automation FAQ
How do I make a Halloween automation in Home Assistant?
The easiest way is a blueprint. Zach's free Halloween blueprints let you pick your motion sensors, smart lights, and an optional speaker. As a visitor walks toward your door, the lights turn on in stages with a sound for each stage, then a finale plays across every light at the door.
Do I need Apollo sensors to use the Halloween blueprints?
No. There are three versions: zone-based, distance-based, and motion-based. Any motion sensor that reports on and off motion works with the motion-based blueprint, and any smart lights and media player work for the light and sound effects.
Which blueprint should I use?
Use the zone-based blueprint with an LD2450 radar sensor like the R PRO-1 or MTR-1 and Zone Mapper zones. Use the distance-based blueprint with a sensor that reports how far away a person is. Use the motion-based blueprint with regular motion sensors placed along your path.
What happens if someone walks the sequence in the wrong order?
Nothing. Each stage only triggers in order, 1 then 2 then 3. Walking out of your house triggers the stages backwards, so you can leave without setting off the show.
Can the Halloween blueprint play sound effects?
Yes. Sound effects are optional and play as announcements on any Home Assistant media player. Music Assistant makes it easy to add spooky music and effects to speakers you already own.
How do I add LED strip effects with CAST-1?
New CAST-1 firmware on GitHub adds external LED strip control with effect patterns like Rainbow, Color Wipe, Scan, Twinkle, Pulse, and Fireworks, plus effect speed. The example Halloween configuration splits one strip into three lights, one per stage.
Can I change how much the music ducks during announcements on CAST-1?
Yes. The new CAST-1 firmware replaces the fixed announcement ducking with Announcement Ducking and Announcement LED Brightness sliders in Home Assistant, so sound effects can play without cutting the music.
What is Zone Mapper?
Zone Mapper is a free Home Assistant integration and dashboard card, written by Zach, for drawing detection zones on a visual grid for LD2450 radar sensors. It tracks targets in real time and creates an occupancy sensor for each zone.
Are the Halloween blueprints free and open source?
Yes. The blueprints, the example CAST-1 configuration, and the setup guide are free on GitHub under the MIT license.
Does this need the cloud?
No. The blueprints run inside Home Assistant on your own network. Apollo sensors and CAST-1 run ESPHome and work 100% locally.
Apollo Automation designs, engineers, and manufactures privacy-first, locally-controlled smart home sensors in Versailles, Kentucky. Every product features 100% local control with no cloud dependencies or subscriptions required. Apollo is a Works With Home Assistant partner, Made For ESPHome certified, Works With Homey certified, a BBB Accredited Business, and the second official commercial partner of the Open Home Foundation. Learn more at apolloautomation.com.
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