Espcontrol

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ESPHome Manual Setup ​

If you already use ESPHome and prefer to compile firmware yourself, you can install Espcontrol as a remote package instead of using the browser-based installer. This gives you full control over the build and lets you extend the configuration with your own customisations.

What you need ​

  • ESPHome — either the Home Assistant add-on or the CLI
  • Guition ESP32-P4 JC1060P470 (7-inch display)
  • USB-C data cable for the first flash (OTA updates work after that)

Create the config file ​

Create a new YAML file in your ESPHome config directory (e.g. office-screen.yaml) with the following contents:

yaml
substitutions:
  name: "office-screen"
  friendly_name: "Office Screen"

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

packages:
  setup:
    url: https://github.com/jtenniswood/espcontrol/
    file: devices/guition-esp32-p4-jc1060p470/packages.yaml
    refresh: 1sec

Change name and friendly_name to whatever you like. The name must be lowercase with hyphens (no spaces) — it becomes the device hostname on your network.

Refresh interval

refresh: 1sec tells ESPHome to check for package updates on every compile. You can increase this (e.g. 1d for daily) once you're happy with the setup.

Build and flash ​

ESPHome Dashboard (Home Assistant add-on) ​

  1. Open the ESPHome Dashboard in Home Assistant.
  2. Click + New Device, choose Skip on the wizard, and paste the YAML above.
  3. Save the file and click Install → Plug into this computer.
  4. Select the serial port for your display and wait for the build to finish.

ESPHome CLI ​

bash
esphome run office-screen.yaml

ESPHome compiles the firmware, pulls in all remote packages from GitHub, and flashes the device over USB. After the first flash, you can use --device OTA or let the dashboard push updates wirelessly.

After flashing ​

The display behaves exactly as if you'd used the browser installer:

  1. It creates a WiFi hotspot if it can't connect to your network — follow the WiFi setup steps.
  2. Home Assistant discovers it automatically — follow Add to Home Assistant.
  3. Configure buttons, display, and settings from the built-in Web UI.

Adding your own customisations ​

Because the remote package is just a standard ESPHome packages include, you can add extra YAML below it. Anything you define in your local file merges with (or overrides) the remote config.

yaml
substitutions:
  name: "office-screen"
  friendly_name: "Office Screen"

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

packages:
  setup:
    url: https://github.com/jtenniswood/espcontrol/
    file: devices/guition-esp32-p4-jc1060p470/packages.yaml
    refresh: 1sec

# Your own additions below
sensor:
  - platform: uptime
    name: "${friendly_name} Uptime"

See the Package Layout page for details on how the remote packages are structured.