Frequently asked questions
Short answers. Each question has its own link.
What is Home-Mandate?
An open standard that lets a household decide what an AI agent may do at home. Each agent gets a mandate: a readable file with rules per device and action. For every request the answer is allow, ask or deny. The decision is made by a guard outside the agent, by fixed rules, never by a language model, and every decision is logged. How it works
#whatCan an AI agent in Home Assistant open my front door?
Only if its mandate allows it. Unlocking is a critical action: a plain allow is not enough. A rule must name it explicitly – otherwise a person has to confirm on their phone, and no answer means no. With Home-Mandate for Home Assistant, the agent never gets a Home Assistant token, so it cannot go around the mandate. Home-Mandate for Home Assistant
#doorWhich AI assistants does it work with?
The specification is not tied to one assistant: it describes how a guard decides, whoever asks. Home-Mandate for Home Assistant accepts every agent that speaks MCP over HTTPS and signs in with OAuth 2.1 – for example Claude Desktop, Claude Code, claude.ai and ChatGPT. Every agent gets a mandate of its own.
#agentsHow is this different from exposing devices to Assist?
Exposing a device is a yes or no per device, and it applies to every assistant at once. A mandate is per agent: single actions instead of whole devices, limits such as 22 °C at most, times of day, a confirmation on your phone, a limit on actions per hour and a log of every decision. Assist keeps working as before. Examples from everyday life
#assistWhat do I need to use it today?
For Home Assistant: Home Assistant OS 2026.9 or later (or Home Assistant Container), Home-Mandate for Home Assistant, the Companion app on the phones that should answer confirmations, and an AI assistant that speaks MCP. Agents outside your home network must reach Home-Mandate over HTTPS. It is the first version. Without installing anything, you can try a mandate in the playground.
#todayDoes my data leave the house?
Not because of the mandate. It is checked by a guard outside the agent – in the intended setup a device in your home – and only a confirmation question goes to your phone. What the agent itself is allowed to read does leave with the agent, so a mandate is also a decision about what it may see.
#dataWhat if the agent is tricked?
It can still only do what the mandate allows. The mandate is checked outside the agent, so no text the agent reads can change it. Critical actions such as unlocking a door or disarming the alarm always need an explicit rule or a person, and every attempt is logged. Why mandates
#trickedDo I need to buy something?
No. The Home-Mandate Specification is free and open. “Home-Mandate for Home Assistant” is one implementation of it; any other product or open-source project can implement it just as well.
#productWho owns the specification?
No company. The text is CC BY 4.0, the code Apache 2.0, and changes are discussed in public.
#ownerWhat happens if I don’t answer a question on my phone?
After the timeout – for example two minutes – the request counts as denied and nothing happens. The timeout is part of the mandate, so you decide how long your home waits. The question and the missing answer are both recorded in the log.
#no-answerHow does this relate to Matter or Home Assistant?
The specification sits above them: it decides whether a command may be sent at all. Matter, Home Assistant or another platform then deliver it. For Home Assistant there is already an implementation: Home-Mandate for Home Assistant.
#matterIsn’t my smart home app enough?
It is built for people you trust. A mandate gives every agent limits of its own: single actions, maximum values, times of day, a confirmation on your phone and a log. Examples from everyday life
#appCan I try a mandate before it blocks anything?
Yes, in audit mode. Whatever the mandate’s rules would deny is carried out anyway and logged as “not enforced”, so you see what still needs changing. Confirmations still apply: if you decline, nothing happens. Critical actions such as unlocking a door stay blocked. Audit mode takes effect only once someone in the household confirms exactly that version.
#trial