Make replacing a device a nice experience

[mkerstner]

Problem statement

Replacing a device in Home Assistant should keep your existing configuration (automations, settings, etc.) in-tact. Right now, it means removing the device and manually adding your configuration again to establish a previous state.

Community signals

Effectively, everyone who needed to replace a device.

• https://github.com/orgs/home-assistant/discussions/3615

Scope & Boundaries

In scope

• Replacing a device by exactly the same device (for now)
• Need to check if we need to also limit to specific software / hardware version

Not in scope

• Replacing with a different device model / brand / etc.

Foreseen solution

Could be a wizard that guides users along the way of migrating from one device to another.
Doing so, ideally migrating existing configuration to the new device.

Risks & open questions

• Many potentially, needs further evaluation

Appetite

Medium - 2 cycles to test with selected devices / protocols what is feasible

Execution issues

No response

Decision log

Date	Decision	Outcome

[Hedda]

Cummunity signal:

• https://github.com/orgs/home-assistant/discussions/3615

[brjhaverkamp]

I would expect this to be higher on the prio list. Everyone will eventually have sensors, switches, that fail and need to be replaced. It is currently a hassle replacing a device, even if it is the same brand/type. Especially for sensors you want to copy over the history. A utility within HA to do this would make a big difference.