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Valetudo: Cloud replacement for vacuum robots enabling local-only operation

by freetonik on 10/20/25, 11:08 AM with 213 comments

• by gempir on 10/25/25, 9:37 AM

  I think this thread went a bit off-topic with heavy discussions about the community or developer.

  As a user of Valetudo for 4+ years now, I can say that it's a wonderful Software once you get it running once. Depending on your vacuum model it's easier or more complicated.

  I bought a used Z10 Pro 4 years ago and with a UART-to-USB I could order from ali-express I rooted it effortlessly. Valetudo got many cool updates over the years and was always reliable for me. Not once did I have to re-root or something because the Software bricked itself or whatever.

  The updates were beautifully done and simply done in the UI. And I'm very happy that the Home Assistant integration worked great as well.

  Personally I couldn't buy a Vacuum robot anymore without Valetudo. Having a remote controllable camera and probably even microphone in some models in my home seems insane.

  The Defcon talks from Dennis Giese confirmed that some manufacturers literally send every log line to their cloud server and there was already some bigger mainstream drama of vacuum pictures ending up on facebook somehow a few years ago.

• by dugite-code on 10/24/25, 8:57 PM

  Been running this for years. Absolutely fantastic, my vacuum has never touched the "cloud" and yet I can still run it remotely (or with "smart" run automations) via Homeassistant.

  It's the way IOT should be

• by schoen on 10/25/25, 3:55 AM

  One thing that amuses me is that this could mean "health" (in Latin) or "anything goes" (in Portuguese; normally two words). They're actually from the same root (valeo, 'to be well, to be OK, to be valid'; I think the oldest meaning is 'to be strong'), then with the Latin suffix -tudo (like our -tude, meaning the state or condition of being a certain way), or the separate Portuguese word tudo 'everything' (originally from Latin totum, meaning 'all, entire').

  So, the Latin one is like "OK-ness", and the Portuguese one is like "everything is OK" (here in the more modern sense of being allowed, rather than the older sense of being in good condition).

  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/valetudo

  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vale-tudo

• by dang on 10/24/25, 8:44 PM

  Related. Others?

  Valetudo – Cloud replacement for vacuum robots enabling local-only operation - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38788326 - Dec 2023 (154 comments)

  Valetudo – Free your vacuum cleaner from the cloud - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34287116 - Jan 2023 (45 comments)

  Valetudo: Open-source cloud replacement for vacuum robots - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31665872 - June 2022 (89 comments)

  Open Source privacy-friendly firmware replacement for Robot Vacuums (ie Roombas) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29308273 - Nov 2021 (1 comment)

  Valetudo is a cloud-free web interface for robot vacuum cleaners - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25856788 - Jan 2021 (20 comments)

• by 05 on 10/24/25, 9:08 PM

  Double check your vacuum model. I transformed my vacuum into a neat (well, not really) pile of parts in about an hour only to find mine isn't supported. Apparently S7 MaxV Ultra is a completely different PCB and SoC than the supported S7 variants (S7/S7 Pro Ultra). At least I cleaned it while disassembling, so it wasn't a total loss :)

  I briefly considered connecting an ESPHome module to the 'start' button so that I could at least start cleaning from Home Assistant, but since it still won't give me errors if there are any, that seems like a half assed thing to do..

• by dreamcompiler on 10/24/25, 9:24 PM

  It's really shameful that the tech gods (i.e. us) have made it almost impossible to have useful technology that does our bidding without first signing over our privacy and sometimes our very personhood.

• by stavros on 10/25/25, 1:21 AM

  Valetudo is really nice software, but I have a bad taste in my mouth from the community.

  I went to the Telegram channel to ask something about why my vacuum running Valetudo would have a specific behaviour (IIRC it moved on its own), they kind of talked to each other for a second to discuss if this question was relevant to the channel, and then, presumably deciding it wasn't, banned me for a year.

• by haunter on 10/25/25, 6:05 PM

  <script> // Every _single_ time it devolves and turns into shitflinging with nice words. Please just go away if (document.referrer.includes("news.ycombinator")) {window.location.replace(document.referrer)} </script>

• by turova on 10/25/25, 1:50 PM

  Can't recommend this project enough. I've set this up for myself and multiple people that saw mine and wanted a de-clouded vacuum robot and they all love it. Several L10s Ultras and an X40 Ultra. Takes a bit of effort (and a dongle if you want to keep things as simple as possible) but I wouldn't have one of these things running around the house any other way. Haven't tried reaching out to the community, so can't speak to that, but I'm really grateful that people put this type of effort into projects like this. Same goes for e.g. NetGuard (Android firewall) - not sure I'd every comfortably have an Android phone without a tool like that.

  I believe that Roborock is no longer actively supported so if you want one of these, get one of the Dreame models listed on the site. Dreame sells refurbished units on Ebay for a pretty steep discount (L10S for as low as ~$200 with a warranty that I believe this doesn't void if you don't brick it) and that's what all of my purchases have been. Just make sure the one you're getting is listed on the site (Pro vs non-Pro, 1 vs 2, etc.) since only very specific models are supported.

• by raphinou on 10/25/25, 5:28 PM

  Clicking on the link to valetudo.cloud redirects me to hn, but typing the address not. Seems to confirm messages complaining about the projects community/leaders....

• by syntaxing on 10/24/25, 9:15 PM

  I recently got an “older” generation robot vacuum for this reason. I wish the dreame debug board was more accessible. The designer and creator purposely made it this way so people would learn how to solder. I could solder but I no longer have the time or patience to source my own PCB and parts. Thankfully, someone sells one premade on Tindie.

• by aetherspawn on 10/24/25, 11:16 PM

  > Valetudo is a garden

  > This project is the hobby of some random guy on the internet. There is no intent to commercialize it, grow it or expand the target audience of it. In fact, there is intent to explicitly not do that.

  > Think of Valetudo as a privately-owned public garden. You can visit it any time for free and enjoy it. You can spend time there, and you can bring an infinite amount of friends with you to enjoy it. You can walk the pathways built there. You can sit on some patch of grass and maybe watch a Duck or something. You can leave a tip in the tip jar at the entrance if you really enjoy it and want to support it flourish.

  > You can take inspiration from it and bring that home to your own garden, giving it a personal twist and adapting it as needed. You can even make friendly suggestions if you have a really good idea that ties into the vision that is already there.

  > But, at the end of the day, you must understand that it is still privately-owned. You’re on someone else’s property over which you have no power at all. You will have to show the necessary respect. And - most importantly - you need to understand that letting you into this garden is a gift and should be treated as such.

  > If you don’t like this garden because you don’t like how it’s structured, or you feel like it’s missing something, or maybe I choose the wrong flowers to plant over there that’s fine. It’s just not for you then. You can leave at any time.

  >There is simply no ground to stand on to demand change to the garden. It doesn’t matter if it would attract more people or if all the other gardens in town are doing something in a specific way. It doesn’t matter if your idea of what gardens even are differs. This at the end of the day is simply private property with free public access as a gift to everyone.

  > When it comes to software development, everyone has access to infinite plots of undeveloped land that they can claim at any time. Therefore, a garden being build with a specific vision does not take away the ability for anyone else to build their own garden with a different vision.

  Bravo.

• by hecturchi on 10/25/25, 8:08 PM

  I have Valetudo on a Dreame X40 Ultra and very happy.

  My recommendation is to flash and GTFO forever. Never upgrade, never ask anything, never read anything other than the install docs. Disregard pointers to join Telegram. Do not read release notes. And donate some money for the trouble if things work. That's your path to maximum happiness with Valetudo, blissful ignorance.

  One day perhaps there will be a fork and things can be normal.

• by ellisd on 10/24/25, 9:56 PM

  This software and the hacking scene around it are amazing!

  I’ve got a Dreame L10s Ultra based on the compatibly guide. Joined my local Telegram group, grabbed a USB board, and the same day was interfacing with the vacuum’s Android OS. Once I started SSHing in to upload custom sounds, I couldn’t stop. Way easier than I expected.

• by jumski on 10/25/25, 4:47 AM

  LOVE IT! Valetudo is a fake cloud that lives as a parasite in a robot's brain (running on Ubuntu!) and hijacks the original comms.

  It provides ssh access, very nice control app, MQTT support and other things.

  I installed it on my very old Roborock many years ago and it just works. Never had a single issue.

• by warpspin on 10/25/25, 12:53 PM

  Seems to redirect back to HN now when you visit it from HN? Still glad it was mentioned here. Have been pondering buying a vacuum robot for a while and the missing privacy was off putting, so I haven't bought one yet, and I only today learnt of the project.

  Can somebody who runs this on one of the recommended Dreame mopping robots say from experience whether you actually lose some kind of essential features the built-in firmwares have? The "why not" page says feature parity is a non-goal but only specifically mentions multifloor where I can understand the reasoning.

• by ItsABytecode on 10/24/25, 8:49 PM

  I had a hard time parsing the title at first. I was like “I’m pretty sure vacuum robots have to be locally deployed”

• by tom_alexander on 10/25/25, 1:51 AM

  I wish I could use this but last I checked, every supported robot used consumables for cleaning (like vacuum bags). My current vacuum robot uses no bags and has washable filters so nothing gets consumed. Turns out that was more important to me than local-only operation.

• by fletchowns on 10/24/25, 11:42 PM

  Never heard of this before, what a great project! I wish my Roborock QV 35A was supported. Still considering sponsoring the project though, because what a great initiative it is!

• by dzhiurgis on 10/25/25, 9:02 AM

  If you buy your vacuum in china it’s about half price, but it’s geolocked to the mainland. There’s some dodgy looking Cyrillic project that unlocks it via VPN or something like it.

  IMO not worth it now that Dreame started to repackaging their bots into cheaper brand Mova for roughly half price too.

• by sandworm101 on 10/24/25, 9:03 PM

  My cleaner robot isnt even connected to wifi. Why would it need to be? When i go to work, i hit the clean button. When i come back, my floors are clean. I honestly wonder what more one could ask from such a machine.

• by buckle8017 on 10/24/25, 11:05 PM

  The author attitude towards annoying consumers is also hilarious.