bleak VS raspberry-pi-home-automation

I've used Bleak in Python https://github.com/hbldh/bleak to connect to BLE devices from my laptop using the built-in card. I can iterate over services/characteristics, transmit stuff, use indicates, etc.

On the Raspberry Pi I recommend the Python library Bleak. It has some examples, such as the sensortag.py example that shows how to read characteristics, and the enable_notifications.py example that shows how to subscribe to notifications to read data from a characteristic.

We’ve automated testing on our BLE device. Our rig is based on a Raspberry pi configured with a Gitlab-runner that runs a test suite written in Python. We use a library called Bleak: https://github.com/hbldh/bleak

There are quite a few good BLE helper libraries out there that can make my job easier. But not all are created equal, some may be perfect for building peripheral BLE applications but may not be the best for central BLE applications. As I am going to make the Raspberry Pi the client, Bleak is a great one to use. Bleak is a GATT client software, capable of connecting to BLE devices acting as GATT servers. It is designed to provide a asynchronous, cross-platform Python API to connect and communicate with other BLE devices e.g. sensors.

There is a workaround in here although they claim this is fixed in most recent update: https://github.com/hbldh/bleak/issues/720

If your Python script on your computer should work as the GATT client and your code on the ESP32 as the GATT server, Bleak is an easy-to-use Python library. Have a look at the code examples.

I have done this, and wrote a book about it: https://koen.vervloesem.eu/books/control-your-home-with-raspberry-pi/.

I'm managing all these services with Docker Compose. This means I only have to backup one directory with the configuration and data of all services, and one file, the docker-compose.yml file that defines all services. You can find all source code of the book in its repository (https://github.com/koenvervloesem/raspberry-pi-home-automation), to give you an idea about how you would manage this.