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Baby Buddy smart home integration, free and open source

Baby Buddy integration for Gladys Assistant

Baby Buddy baby care log: feedings, diapers and sleep in Gladys, logged from a button.

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Bring the baby care log of your Baby Buddy into Gladys: how long since the last feeding and the last diaper, whether the baby sleeps, how much sleep today. A button by the cot notes a diaper or starts and stops the sleep or feeding timer, a scene reminds you when a feeding is late.

Feedback welcome. This integration was tested against a real Baby Buddy server (Docker image lscr.io/linuxserver/babybuddy, October 2026), not yet with a real Gladys in everyday use. If something does not work as described, please say so on the Gladys forum or in the issues.

What you need​

  • Gladys Assistant 5.1.0 or later.
  • A self-hosted Baby Buddy, reachable from Gladys (the Docker image listens on port 8000).
  • The API key of a Baby Buddy user: in Baby Buddy, open the user menu (top right) → API key, and copy the 40 characters. Entries written from Gladys are written as this user.

Set up​

  1. In Gladys, Integrations → install Baby Buddy.
  2. In the Configuration screen, fill in:
    • Address: the address of Baby Buddy, for example http://192.168.1.20:8000, or https://baby.example.org behind a reverse proxy (a path prefix such as /babybuddy is kept);
    • API key: the key of your Baby Buddy user.
  3. Options:
    • Type and Method of a feeding stopped from Gladys: Baby Buddy needs both to record a feeding; they are used when a feeding timer is stopped from Gladys (breast milk, both breasts by default). Fix an entry in Baby Buddy afterwards if needed;
    • Weight unit and Temperature unit: Baby Buddy stores numbers without unit, say which ones you use (kilograms and Celsius by default);
    • Accept self-signed certificates: for an https:// address with a self-signed certificate, on your own server only;
    • Refresh interval: 1, 2 or 5 minutes (1 by default). The minute counters move every minute whatever the interval;
    • Language of the feature names: the names given to the features when a device is added (French by default), the names of the timers started from Gladys, and the texts sent to scenes.
  4. Save, then Test the connection: it reads Baby Buddy and gives the number of children and running timers.
  5. In the Discovery tab, add the devices: one per child.

Devices​

Baby Buddy first name, one per child, with these features:

FeatureWhat it says
Since last feedingminutes since the end of the last feeding
Feedings todayfeedings started today
Feeding in progress1 while a feeding timer runs
Since last diaper changeminutes since the last diaper change
Diaper changes todaydiaper changes today
Sleeping1 while a sleep timer runs
Sleep todayminutes of sleep recorded today (since midnight)
Temperaturethe last temperature taken
Weightthe last weight, as text (4.85 kg): Gladys has no weight feature

A timer counts as sleep or feeding by its name: the timers started from Gladys are named Sleep and Feeding (in the language of the names), and a timer named, for example, Nap, Sieste, Bottle or Biberon in Baby Buddy counts too. An unnamed timer counts as neither. "Today" is the day in the time zone of Gladys. The temperature is a "device temperature", so that a child's 37.5 °C does not become the temperature of the nursery in Gladys.

Dashboard​

The Baby Buddy widget shows, for one child (the first one, or the one chosen in the widget settings):

  • three tiles: time since the last feeding (… while a feeding timer runs), since the last diaper, and sleep today;
  • the state: asleep since when, feeding in progress or last feeding time, last diaper and its kind;
  • four buttons: Wet diaper, Dirty diaper, Start sleep / Woke up, Start feeding / End feeding. A button does what it says: a stale widget never starts a timer it shows as running.

Scenes​

Triggers​

  • No feeding for a while: fires once per feeding when the chosen number of hours (1 to 8) has passed since its end. Filters: the child (empty: any) and the number of hours. Nothing fires while a feeding timer runs. Information passed on to the actions: the child's first name, the hours, the minutes since the last feeding, the end of the last feeding.

When the integration starts, what is already late is known, not news: it fires for the next hour crossed. The same goes when the last feeding changes (an entry added late, or deleted) and for the hours crossed while a feeding timer runs, even if the timer is then deleted. After an outage, the hours crossed meanwhile fire when Baby Buddy answers again.

Actions​

  • Log a diaper change: writes a wet, dirty, or wet and dirty diaper change for a child, now. Results: the child's first name, the kind.
  • Sleep or feeding timer: starts, stops, or toggles (starts if stopped, stops if running) the sleep or feeding timer of a child. Stopped, the timer becomes a sleep or feeding entry in Baby Buddy, from its start to now. Starting a running timer, or stopping none, changes nothing. Results: the child's first name, whether the timer runs, the duration recorded (minutes).

Scene ideas​

  • A Zigbee button by the cot: one press runs Sleep or feeding timer with Sleep and Start or stop; a double press runs Log a diaper change with Wet.
  • No feeding for a while with 3 hours, at night: a soft light in the bedroom and a message on the phone.
  • When Sleeping turns to 1: dim the nursery light and switch the white noise speaker on; when it turns to 0, open the blinds a little.

Troubleshooting​

  • "Baby Buddy does not answer": check the address and the port from the Gladys machine (http://<address>:8000 opens Baby Buddy in a browser).
  • "API key refused": copy the key again from the user menu of Baby Buddy (it changes if regenerated).
  • "No Baby Buddy API at this address": something answers, but not Baby Buddy: check the port, or the path prefix behind a reverse proxy.
  • "The address redirects": enter the https:// address.
  • "Another entry already covers this time": Baby Buddy refuses two feedings (or two sleeps) at the same time. The timer is kept: fix the entries in Baby Buddy, then stop the timer again.
  • A timer is not seen as sleep or feeding: give it a name with the word (Sleep, Nap, Feeding, Bottle, or their French, German or Spanish equivalents).
  • Logs: LOG_LEVEL=debug on the container shows every reading.

Limits​

  • Baby Buddy is read every 1 to 5 minutes: an entry written in Baby Buddy shows up in Gladys within that delay. Each reading makes 2 requests, plus 5 per child.
  • The integration reads the last 50 entries of each kind per child: enough for a day. Pumping, tummy time, medication, notes and measures other than weight and temperature are not read.
  • It writes only diaper changes and sleep and feeding timers; it never edits or deletes an entry.
  • The "No feeding for a while" trigger is kept in memory: an hour crossed while the integration is stopped is not announced afterwards.
  • Gladys keeps no Baby Buddy data in the container (/data stays empty).
  • Not affiliated with Baby Buddy.

Configuration settings​

These are the settings Baby Buddy asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.

SettingTypeRequiredDescription
Your Baby BuddysectionNoA self-hosted Baby Buddy. Its API key is in Baby Buddy: user menu (top right), API key. Entries are written as that user.
AddressstringYesAddress of Baby Buddy, with https:// for HTTPS and :port if not the default (8000 for the Docker image).
API keysecretYes40 characters, shown in Baby Buddy: user menu, API key.
OptionssectionNo
Type of a feeding stopped from GladysselectNoBaby Buddy needs a type and a method to record a feeding: these are used when a feeding timer is stopped from Gladys.
Method of a feeding stopped from GladysselectNo
Weight unitselectNoBaby Buddy stores numbers without unit: the one you type weights in.
Temperature unitselectNo
Accept self-signed certificatesbooleanNoFor an https:// address whose certificate is self-signed. Tick only for your own server.
Refresh intervalselectNoHow often Baby Buddy is read. The minute counters move every minute anyway.
Language of the feature namesselectNoNames given to the features when a device is added, names of the timers started from Gladys, texts sent to scenes.

How to install Baby Buddy in Gladys​

  1. In Gladys, open Integrations: Baby Buddy appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
  2. Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (ghcr.io/guim31/gladys-babybuddy:1.0.0), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration).
  3. Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
  4. You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/guim31/gladys-babybuddy.

Baby Buddy requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.

Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.

About external integrations​

Baby Buddy is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by guim31, not by the Gladys core team.

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