PyPoolPi

Automatic Pool Cover Controller for Raspberry Pi

PyPoolPi is an extensible, event-driven pool cover controller built for the Raspberry Pi (or other Linux single-board computers). Designed around a modular finite state machine, it provides automated opening and closing operations, sensor-based end detection, safety timeouts, custom dive sequences, real-time cover state persistence, an interactive web dashboard + API and MQTT integration for smart home automation.

🌟 Key Features

• Extensible State Machine Controller: Thread-safe finite state machine managing pool cover states (OPENING, CLOSING, STOPPED, OPENED, CLOSED, etc.) with pluggable extension modules.
• Custom Dive Sequence: Configurable multi-stage closing sequence (hanging, diving, surfacing) to prevent cover folding issues during closing operations.
• Sensor-Based End Detection: Automatic stop trigger using sensors with overrun delay for precise full-open and full-close positioning.
• Safety Timeout Protection: Automatically halts motor movement if configurable max opening or closing durations are exceeded to protect hardware.
• Hardware Abstraction Layer: Clean abstraction for different motor and sensor models and hardware/GPIO libraries.
• Dynamic Hot-Reloading Configuration: Configuration system with zero-downtime runtime updates and a TOML config file with hot-reload support on changes.
• Interactive Web UI & REST API: Built-in web server serving a control dashboard, API endpoints (/command, /status, /config, /log), and Server-Sent Events.
• MQTT Smart Home Integration: Full MQTT broker integration for remote command execution, status streaming, and live log broadcasting.
• State Persistence: Remembers and restores cover state across service restarts using configurable storage targets.
• Production-Ready Deployment: Systemd unit configuration with automated installation and version upgrade scripts for Raspberry Pi OS.

🚀 Quick Start & Installation

Development Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Rhynaz/PyPoolPi.git
   cd PyPoolPi

2. Create and activate a Python 3.13 virtual environment:

   python3.13 -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install dependencies:

   python3.13 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Run PyPoolPi:

   python3.13 main.py

Production Installation on Raspberry Pi

First Time Installation

1. Clone the repository into a versioned folder (e.g., ~/pypoolpi-v1):

   git clone https://github.com/Rhynaz/PyPoolPi.git --branch v1 ~/pypoolpi-v1

2. Run the installation script with sudo:

   sudo ~/pypoolpi-v1/pypoolpi_install.sh

The script installs system APT packages (python3-gpiozero, python3-flask, python3-paho-mqtt, etc.), sets network binding capabilities (CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE), creates a symlink at ~/pypoolpi, and enables the pypoolpi.service systemd unit.

Upgrading to a New Version

To deploy a new release without breaking service state:

1. Clone the new version:

   git clone https://github.com/Rhynaz/PyPoolPi.git --branch v2 ~/pypoolpi-v2

2. Execute the version switch script:

   sudo ~/pypoolpi-v2/pypoolpi_switch.sh

This gracefully stops the running service, updates the symlink to the new directory, and restarts pypoolpi.service.

🌐 Web UI & API

PyPoolPi hosts an HTTP web server (default port 5000) serving a control dashboard and API endpoints:

Endpoint	Method	Description
/	GET	Interactive web dashboard
/command/open	POST	Trigger cover to open
/command/close	POST	Trigger cover to close
/command/stop	POST	Trigger cover to stop
/status	GET	Returns current cover state (JSON)
/config	GET / PUT	Read or update configuration schema dynamically
/log	GET	View recent in-memory system log output
/events	GET	Server-Sent Events (SSE) stream for real-time updates

📡 MQTT Integration

When enabled, PyPoolPi connects to an MQTT broker to integrate seamlessly with smart home platforms:

• Command Topic (default: pypoolpi/command): Listens for open, close, or stop messages and executes the corresponding command.
• State Topic (default: pypoolpi/state): Publishes updated state names (OPENED, CLOSED, OPENING, CLOSING, STOPPED, etc.).
• Log Topic (default: pypoolpi/log): Publishes log records in real time.

📦 Dependencies

• Python: 3.13+
• Operating System: Linux (Raspberry Pi OS, Debian or equivalent)
• Hardware: Raspberry Pi (or similar SBC with GPIO pins) or any PC (when using mock hardware).

Package	Purpose
gpiozero	GPIO pin abstraction for motor control & sensor inputs
Flask	Lightweight web application framework for dashboard & API
waitress	Production WSGI HTTP server
paho-mqtt	Client library for MQTT communication
mashumaro	Serialization & deserialization for configuration
tomli_w	TOML encoder for Python
watchdog	Filesystem event monitoring for hot-reloading configuration

🏗 Repository Structure & Overview

Path	Description
config	Dynamic and thread-safe runtime configuration management system
config/parts	Config schema implemented as dataclasses
controller	Main cover controller logic connecting hardware, state machine and persistence
controller/extensions	Modular state machine plugins for advanced behaviors (dive sequence, end detection, safety timeout)
controller/state_machine	Extensible state machine engine, state and extension interface contracts
core	Interfaces defining controller, hardware and persistence contracts
hardware	Hardware access implementation and factory for instatiating hardware drivers
hardware/motor	Motor driver implementations supporting different motors and hardware libraries
hardware/sensor	Driver implementations interacting with different end detection proximity switches
persistence	Persistence implementations handling all load / store operations.
persistence/targets	Storage backends, supporting file-based persistence and mock targets
persistence/config.py	Hot-reloading TOML configuration loader and filesystem event monitor
presentation/http	Web interface including an interactive dashboard and HTTP API for controlling the pool cover
presentation/mqtt	MQTT interface for triggering commands, getting the cover state and logs
utils	Shared utility modules including thread-safe value holders, caller introspection, and background timers
utils/log	Custom configuration based logging setup with exclusion filters and in-memory log buffers
main.py	Main application entry point, handles command-line arguments, dependency wiring, and graceful shutdown
pypoolpi.service	Systemd service unit for running PyPoolPi automatically as a background daemon
pypoolpi_install.sh	System installer script for installing dependencies, network capabilities, symlinks, and service
pypoolpi_run.sh	Wrapper script executed by systemd to run PyPoolPi unprivileged in the correct working directory
pypoolpi_switch.sh	Version switcher script that updates symlinks and restarts pypoolpi.service

🔌 Custom Board Pinout

The system supports configurable GPIO pin assignments. Below is the pin mapping for our custom controller board:

Pin Number	Function
17	Sensor Data
27	Motor Relay
22	Motor Relay
5	Sensor Power
6	Backup Relay

📜 License

PyPoolPi - Automatic pool cover controller running on a Raspberry Pi
Copyright (C) 2026 Elias*

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.