The Complete 22-Chapter Node-RED Tutorial

All 22 chapters include detailed guidance, practical examples, and technical verification against pinned source versions, covering secure foundations, hands-on Home Assistant projects, external integrations, and operations.

Part 1: Safe foundations

Version boundaries and Node-RED’s role in Home Assistant

Pinned versions, component responsibilities, compatibility, and the learning path for this guide.

Installing Add-on 22.0.1 and configuring security

Install the Add-on, understand its startup sequence, and secure every access path.

Editor, workspace, Palette, sidebar, and Deploy concepts

Tour the workspace, Palette, sidebars, config nodes, and three Deploy scopes.

Your first side-effect-free flow: Inject, Change, and Debug

Build, import, test, and clean up an Inject → Change → Debug flow with no external effects.

msg, payload, topic, Objects, and Data Types

Understand msg, payload, topic, objects, copying, parsers, and data-type boundaries.

Flow Logic with Change, Switch, Range, Join, and Split

Build bounded routing and sequence logic with Change, Switch, Range, Split, Join, Sort, and Batch.

Delay, Trigger, context, and state persistence

Design bounded timers and state with Delay, Trigger, context scopes, and persistent storage.

Home Assistant WebSocket connection and node overview

Understand the preconfigured connection, 32 node types, compatibility limits, and safe inputs.

Part 2: Home Assistant in practice

Events: state and State Changes

Configure Events: state v6 selectors, output mapping, filters, durations, and reconnect behavior safely.

Current State, Get Entities, and Conditional Logic

Query cached state safely, protect inputs, map results, and handle missing or excessive data.

Action node, targets, data, and return values

Understand Action v7 targets, data merging, queues, responses, errors, and side-effect boundaries.

Home Assistant events, devices, time, and scheduled triggers

Compare event, device, tag, webhook, zone, time, and calendar triggers and their safety boundaries.

Motion sensing, lighting, and retrigger protection

Design a safe motion-lighting state machine with debounce, cooldown, cancellation, overrides, and restart handling.

Notifications, openings, climate, and exception handling

Plan door and window alerts, climate controls, rate limits, overrides, dependency checks, and error paths.

JSONata, Mustache, and data transformation

Choose among JSONata, Mustache, Function JavaScript, and HA Jinja using clear type and execution boundaries.

Function node: safe JavaScript and error handling

Write safe synchronous, asynchronous, and multi-output functions with clear lifecycle and error handling.

Links, Subflows, environment variables, the Library, and import/export

Structure reusable flows with Links, Subflows, environment variables, the Library, Projects, and safe exports.

Debug, Catch, Status, Complete, and Testing Strategies

Observe messages, errors, status, and completion events, then build a repeatable regression strategy.

Part 3: Engineering and operations

HTTP In, HTTP Response, HTTP Request, and API security

Pair HTTP endpoints correctly and secure authentication, validation, responses, outbound requests, and HA API access.

MQTT, the preinstalled node matrix, Palette management, and the FlowFuse Dashboard 2 extension (optional and not bundled)

Review MQTT contracts, the Add-on’s 25 direct dependencies, Palette management, and optional Dashboard 2.

Credentials, Backup and Restore, Projects, and Security Hardening

Protect credentials and backups, practise isolated restores, and harden every exposed surface with least privilege.

Performance, memory, Safe Mode, upgrades, and troubleshooting

Diagnose bounded queues, memory, startup, upgrades, and failures with Safe Mode and symptom-led troubleshooting.