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HA Reolink Doorbell → Alexa Chime

URL: https://mkdocs.justinsforge.com/memory/handoffs/ha-reolink-doorbell-alexa-2026-05-14/

Goal: Justin installed a Reolink wifi doorbell. When the button is pressed, an Alexa Echo should chime.

DONE 2026-06-12

Native Reolink integration added (config-flow API, host 192.168.86.197, admin creds from Frigate env). Button-press entity is binary_sensor.front_door_visitor. Automation automation.reolink_doorbell_kitchen_echo_chime created: trigger on visitor off->on, set media_player.kitchen_echo to volume 0.7, then notify.alexa_media_kitchen_echo with data.type: tts SSML <audio src="soundbank://soundlibrary/doorbells/amzn_sfx_doorbell_chime_01"/>. Chime tested OK via direct service call; pending one physical button-press confirmation. Note: front_door now has BOTH Frigate entities (object detection) and native Reolink entities. Original plan below.

Preflight

  • HA: http://192.168.86.70:8123, long-lived token in memory/general/reference_ha_api.md.
  • As of 2026-05-12 the HA VM (id 100 on Finn) showed running in Proxmox but the guest OS was unresponsive — no ping, no API, qemu-guest-agent dead.
  • First action: curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" -m 5 -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" http://192.168.86.70:8123/api/. If non-200, soft-reboot: ssh finn "qm reboot 100", then re-test in ~60s.

Plan (once HA is reachable)

  1. Add Reolink integration — Settings → Devices & Services → Add Integration → Reolink. Point at the doorbell IP. Confirm entities appear (binary_sensor.<doorbell>_visitor is the button-press one; there's also _motion, _person, etc.).
  2. Identify the chime Alexa — pick an Echo media_player.* entity. Confirm it's exposed to Alexa via Nabu Casa per memory/general/feedback_nabu_casa_alexa_auto_sync.md (per-entity expose flag is required; default-expose alone is not enough when expose_new: false).
  3. Write the automation — trigger on binary_sensor.<doorbell>_visitor going on. Action options:
  4. notify.alexa_media with data.type: announce (says a phrase)
  5. data.type: tts (custom phrase, normal Alexa voice)
  6. data.type: sound with a built-in sound name like amzn_sfx_doorbell_chime_01 (cleanest doorbell chime feel)
  7. Test by physically pressing the doorbell. Verify the right entity fired in HA logbook and the right Echo chimed.

Style

Reply concisely. Justin replies from mobile (Telegram coordinator + Remote Control). No em dashes. No trailing summaries.