The safe design is a local model and orchestration service that calls Google through narrowly scoped OAuth permissions and Home Assistant through a deliberately small, authenticated tool surface. Keep OAuth refresh tokens and Home Assistant bearer tokens outside prompts and tool responses, start with read-only jobs, and add write or device-control abilities only when you can test and supervise them.
Running inference on your own computer changes where the model processes text; it does not make Gmail or Calendar local, and it does not guarantee that every client, integration, log, or credential remains on your network. The steps below separate those trust boundaries so you can see what leaves the machine, which account can do what, and how to recover when an authorization or tool call fails.
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What local means in this setup
A local LLM is a model whose inference process runs on hardware you control, commonly through an Ollama server. That describes the model runtime, not the location of the data sources. A request that summarizes mail still travels to Google’s Gmail API; a calendar lookup still reads Google-hosted data; and a cloud-hosted agent using Home Assistant’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) may need an internet route back to your Home Assistant instance.
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Think in separate trust boundaries:
- Inference boundary: the machine running the model and orchestration code.
- Google boundary: Gmail and Calendar APIs, OAuth consent, access tokens, refresh tokens, and Google account data.
- Home Assistant boundary: the Home Assistant API, exposed entities, services, and bearer-token authority.
- Network boundary: local sockets and LAN traffic versus a remote client that reaches services through the internet.
- Tool boundary: the actions your agent is allowed to invoke and the arguments it can generate.
A design is safe when each boundary has an explicit purpose, the smallest practical permission, and an observable failure mode. “Local model” by itself is not a security control for the other boundaries.
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A reference architecture that keeps authority separate
- Run the model and orchestration on a host you control. The orchestrator sends prompts to Ollama and, when needed, makes authenticated API calls to Google or Home Assistant. Home Assistant’s official Ollama integration is a supported way to use an external Ollama server as a conversation agent and describes the integration as local polling. See the Home Assistant Ollama integration documentation.
- Create one Google OAuth client for the jobs you actually need. Ask for Gmail and Calendar scopes separately, prefer read-only scopes for summaries, and use incremental authorization when a later feature genuinely needs more access.
- Keep secrets in a protected credential store. The orchestrator retrieves a token when making an API request; the model receives a redacted result or a structured, least-privilege tool response rather than the token itself.
- Expose a small Home Assistant allowlist. The Ollama integration can control only entities exposed to its agent. Begin with a small set of non-critical entities and leave control disabled for a conversation-only agent.
- Choose REST or MCP only for a defined reason. Both can expose more authority than a simple conversation agent. Authenticate the client, document the exact tools, and verify where that client runs.
Define the jobs before granting permissions
Write down the action in plain language, then select the narrowest permission that can perform it. Do not request write access merely because a future feature might need it.
| Job | Minimum practical Gmail or Calendar access | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Summarize recent Gmail messages | gmail.readonly |
Mailbox-wide write or delete authority |
| Read message headers or labels for triage | gmail.metadata, where its metadata-only behavior fits the workflow |
Reading full message bodies unnecessarily |
| Draft, label, or send mail through an approved workflow | gmail.modify for reading, composing, and sending; add a human confirmation step |
mail.google.com unless permanent deletion is an intentional requirement |
| Send mail without broader mailbox changes | gmail.send |
Combining send access with unrelated mailbox management |
| Summarize appointments | Calendar read-only or event read-only access | Full calendar access when no write is needed |
| Find open times without event details | Free/busy access | Reading complete event content by default |
| Create or update an event | An appropriate event read/write scope, with confirmation before the write | Full calendar authority for a single-calendar task |
Google lists Gmail scope classifications and capabilities in Choose Gmail API scopes. It identifies commonly used gmail.readonly, gmail.modify, gmail.send, and gmail.metadata scopes as restricted. The broad mail.google.com scope also permits permanent deletion, whereas gmail.modify permits reading, composing, and sending but not immediate permanent deletion. Restricted-scope applications can face OAuth verification, and Google says that applications storing or transmitting restricted data on servers require a security assessment when the applicable rules and exceptions call for it. A personal script and a multi-user service may not follow the same review path, so check the current Google requirements for your application.
Prepare the local model and orchestrator
Install Ollama and the model you intend to use on a machine you administer, then place the orchestration code on that same host or on a trusted device on the same network. The model size, context window, concurrent users, and tool workload determine the required CPU, memory, storage, and GPU. The official pages used here do not establish a universal hardware specification, so do not assume that a particular mini PC will run a particular model smoothly.
- Separate the runtime from credentials. Run the model service under a dedicated operating-system account where practical. Store OAuth client configuration, refresh tokens, and Home Assistant tokens in a permissions-restricted secret store or protected environment managed by the orchestrator.
- Define structured tools. Give the model functions such as “list messages matching a query” or “find calendar availability,” not a generic command shell. Validate arguments, cap result counts, and remove access tokens from every returned object.
- Redact before prompting. Pass only the message fields or event fields required for the current task. Strip authorization headers, refresh-token values, cookies, and internal API errors before the model sees the tool result.
- Log decisions, not secrets. Record the tool name, timestamp, account or entity identifier, success or failure, and a redacted summary. Never log the
Authorizationheader or an entire OAuth response. - Keep write tools distinct. A read-only agent should not have a send-mail or create-event function registered at all. If you later add one, require an explicit confirmation that shows the destination, content, or event changes before execution.
Connect Home Assistant with the built-in Ollama integration
The built-in integration is the straightforward starting point when the model should converse with Home Assistant and the Ollama server is reachable from the Home Assistant host. It creates a conversation agent backed by an external Ollama server. The integration’s control feature is experimental, so treat chat and device control as two different risk levels.
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- Make Ollama reachable only where needed. Bind or firewall the Ollama service so that Home Assistant and your orchestrator can reach it, while unsolicited internet clients cannot. Use the network controls available on your operating system and router.
- Add the integration in Home Assistant. In Home Assistant, open Settings → Devices & services, choose Add integration, and select Ollama. Enter the Ollama server details requested by the integration and select the model you have prepared.
- Start with conversation only. Create an agent that can answer questions without controlling entities. Verify that a simple status question returns an answer and that Home Assistant’s normal Assist or manual controls still work if the model is unavailable.
- Expose a small entity set before enabling control. Home Assistant’s documentation says: “If you want to experiment with local LLMs using Home Assistant, we recommend exposing fewer than 25 entities.” That is a product recommendation, not a benchmark or a guarantee of reliability. Begin with a handful of lights, sensors, or other low-impact entities; do not expose locks, alarms, garage doors, or safety-critical equipment while evaluating behavior.
- Use a tool-capable model for control. Only models with tool support can control Home Assistant through this integration. The documentation warns that smaller models may make more mistakes when control is enabled, so test every supported action and keep a human in the loop for consequential changes.
- Keep two configurations when possible. Maintain one conversation-only agent and a separate control-enabled agent. This makes the safer default easy to select and limits accidental control when you only want information.
When an entity does not appear, check that it is exposed to the selected agent rather than assuming the model is at fault. When a tool call is malformed or an action is misidentified, remove the entity from the allowlist, try a model with better tool support, and retest with a narrower prompt.
Authorize Gmail through Google OAuth
Use Google’s OAuth flow rather than placing a Gmail password in an integration. Google’s OAuth 2.0 documentation describes user consent, exchanging a one-time authorization code for an access token, and obtaining a refresh token when offline access is requested. The access token is short-lived; the refresh token allows the application to obtain another access token after expiry and therefore deserves stronger protection.
Choose the Gmail scope
Map the intended action to one scope, document the choice, and revisit it when the feature changes. A mailbox summarizer normally needs gmail.readonly. A workflow that labels or drafts messages may need gmail.modify. A sender that does not otherwise manage mail may fit gmail.send. A metadata-only triage process can consider gmail.metadata if it never needs message bodies. Avoid mail.google.com unless the application truly must perform permanent deletion as well as other mailbox operations.
Complete the consent flow
- Register an OAuth client in the Google project used by your application and configure the redirect URI that your local orchestrator actually serves.
- Generate an authorization request containing only the selected Gmail scope and request offline access only when background operation is required.
- Open the consent URL in the user’s browser, verify the account and permission text, and approve it deliberately.
- Receive the one-time authorization code at the registered redirect URI and exchange it on the server side for an access token and, when requested, a refresh token. Google documents the server-side pattern in Implement server-side authorization.
- Store the refresh token in a protected location. Keep the access token in memory or a short-lived protected cache, refresh it when needed, and revoke or delete the stored token when the user disconnects the account.
- Call Gmail only through a server-side tool that enforces the selected scope and strips credentials from the model-visible response.
Incremental authorization is useful when a feature is optional: ask for read access first, then request a write scope at the moment the user enables sending or editing. Google’s scope guidance recommends the narrowest permission that meets the current task.
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Connect Google Calendar with a separate consent decision
Calendar permissions are independent of Gmail permissions. The Google Calendar API scope guide lists full calendar access, calendar read-only, free/busy, event read-only, and event read/write choices among others. Select by operation and by data sensitivity.
For schedule summaries
Use calendar read-only or event read-only access when the agent must summarize appointments. If the agent only answers whether a time is occupied, free/busy access can avoid exposing titles, descriptions, guests, and locations. Limit the calendars and date range in your tool implementation even when the OAuth scope covers more than one calendar.
For creating or changing events
Use an event read/write scope only when the feature needs it. Before calling the write endpoint, display the calendar, date, time zone, title, attendees, and recurrence that will be submitted. Require confirmation and make the tool reject incomplete or ambiguous time-zone information. Keep event creation unavailable to a read-only agent.
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Use the same authorization-code and refresh-token pattern as Gmail, but request Calendar scopes in a consent transaction that the user can understand. Google access tokens are limited to the operations and resources represented by the granted scope; a token cannot legitimately perform an operation outside that grant. A revoked grant, expired refresh token, changed consent, or incorrect redirect configuration should produce a reconnect path rather than a prompt containing the error details or token.
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Keep credentials outside prompts and tool output
OAuth tokens and Home Assistant bearer tokens are authority, not ordinary configuration text. The fact that inference is local does not prove that a token is safe once it enters a prompt, a model transcript, a debug log, a crash report, or an untrusted plugin.
- Store Google refresh tokens and Home Assistant tokens with file permissions and operating-system access controls that exclude the model process when the architecture allows it.
- Pass credentials only in the HTTP client that calls the target API. Do not interpolate them into natural-language instructions, tool arguments, or generated code.
- Scrub headers and token-shaped strings from logs, traces, error reports, backups, and exported chat histories.
- Use separate credentials for development, testing, and production. Revoke a test token instead of reusing it after sharing a log or repository.
- Rotate or revoke a token after suspected exposure, then remove cached copies and restart services that may still hold it in memory.
- Give the orchestrator only the Google accounts and Home Assistant instance it needs; do not use a personal administrator credential for an experiment.
Use the Home Assistant REST API only with a bounded purpose
Home Assistant’s REST API documentation requires JSON requests authenticated with Authorization: Bearer TOKEN. A long-lived access token can authorize powerful API calls, so treat it like a password with operational authority.
REST is reasonable when you already have a controlled service that must read a specific Home Assistant resource or invoke a narrowly defined endpoint. Build fixed functions around the endpoints you need, validate entity IDs and service data, and deny arbitrary URL or method selection from model output. The documentation does not establish a fine-grained per-entity scope system for REST tokens. If your main goal is to constrain which entities a model can control, the Ollama integration’s exposure allowlist is a more direct boundary.
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Understand Home Assistant MCP choices
Home Assistant offers an MCP client integration that adds MCP tools to compatible conversation agents, and an MCP Server integration that exposes Home Assistant APIs to compatible clients. MCP is a tool-transport choice, not a permission model by itself: the exposed tools and the credential still determine what the client can do.
MCP client inside Home Assistant
Use the Home Assistant MCP integration when Home Assistant’s conversation agent needs tools supplied by an MCP server. Review every imported tool, disable tools unrelated to the conversation, and check whether the remote server handles sensitive data before allowing it into an agent prompt.
MCP Server for an external client
The Home Assistant MCP Server documentation describes exposing Home Assistant APIs to compatible clients and documents OAuth 2.0 with PKCE. Follow the documented client-registration and redirect process instead of copying a token into a configuration file. API-specific MCP endpoints generally require an administrator token, except for the built-in Assist API. Confirm the exact API ID and the client’s behavior before granting administrator authority; use the built-in Assist path or another narrower supported interface when it meets the job.
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Remote reachability
Home Assistant states that a cloud-hosted MCP client needs the Home Assistant instance to be reachable from the internet. That is a different trust model from a local Ollama client on your LAN. If remote access is necessary, use an authenticated, encrypted access path, restrict who can connect, monitor failed logins, and remove the exposure when the experiment ends. Do not describe a cloud MCP workflow as local-only merely because the model itself runs on a computer at home.
Choose where the client runs
| Arrangement | What remains local | What must be protected | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local Ollama and local orchestrator | Inference, tool selection, and orchestration logic can stay on your network | Google API traffic, Home Assistant API traffic, local logs, and stored tokens | Private experiments and household automations with no remote client |
| Local Ollama with a cloud orchestration client | Model inference may be local | Internet path to Ollama, cloud-held prompts and tool results, and any remote credentials | Only when the cloud service’s data handling and network controls are acceptable |
| Cloud MCP client controlling local Home Assistant | Home Assistant may remain on your premises | Internet reachability, MCP OAuth/PKCE, exposed tools, and administrator-token risk | Remote access with an intentionally designed perimeter |
A dedicated mini PC is optional. An existing computer can host the services if it has adequate memory, storage, model context capacity, performance, and uptime for your workload. Because those requirements vary by model and context size, choose hardware only after checking the current model’s own requirements and measuring the workload you intend to run.
Roll out in stages and test each boundary
- Inventory data. List which Gmail fields, Calendar fields, and Home Assistant entities the agent needs. Remove everything not required for the first use case.
- Run a no-write pilot. Enable Gmail and Calendar read-only tools and a Home Assistant conversation-only agent. Test ordinary questions, empty results, malformed dates, and API outages.
- Inspect the transcript. Confirm that prompts and tool results contain no access token, refresh token, bearer token, cookie, or internal credential path.
- Verify network paths. Record whether each request goes from the local orchestrator to Google, from Home Assistant to Ollama, or through a remote MCP client. Test behavior when the remote route is blocked.
- Add a tiny Home Assistant allowlist. Expose fewer than 25 entities while experimenting, and start with reversible, low-impact devices.
- Add one write operation at a time. Introduce sending mail, creating an event, or controlling a device as separate tools with explicit confirmation and a rollback plan.
- Test revocation. Revoke the Google grant and Home Assistant token, then verify that the agent fails closed and offers reconnect instructions without revealing the old secret.
- Review logs and permissions. Remove diagnostic data that is no longer needed and confirm that only the intended service account can read the credential store.
Troubleshoot by boundary
| Symptom | Likely cause | Safe corrective action |
|---|---|---|
| Google reports insufficient permission | The selected scope does not cover the requested operation, or consent was granted before the scope changed | Map the operation to the narrowest required scope, repeat consent, and replace the stored refresh token if Google issued a new grant |
| Authorization works once, then stops | Refresh token was revoked, lost, or stored where the service cannot read it | Reconnect through OAuth, protect the new refresh token, and check account or project changes |
| Mail tool can read but cannot send | Read-only scope is being used | Keep the read-only agent for summaries; create a separately confirmed send workflow with the appropriate Gmail scope |
| Calendar summary exposes too much detail | Full event data is being returned when free/busy or a narrower read result would work | Reduce the Calendar scope and redact fields in the tool response |
| Home Assistant says an entity is unavailable to the agent | The entity is not exposed to that Ollama agent | Add only the required entity to the allowlist and retest |
| Control calls are unreliable | The model lacks tool support, is too small for the task, or the prompt permits ambiguous actions | Use a tool-capable model, simplify the tool schema, reduce the entity set, and require confirmation |
| A remote MCP client cannot connect | Home Assistant is not reachable from the client, OAuth/PKCE registration is wrong, or the endpoint needs a different token class | Check the documented redirect and reachability requirements, verify the API ID, and avoid administrator access unless that endpoint explicitly requires it |
| A token appears in a transcript or log | Credential data was included in a prompt, exception, or debug dump | Revoke and replace the exposed token, purge copies, disable verbose logging, and add redaction before reconnecting |
Security checklist before enabling automation
- Every Gmail and Calendar feature has a named scope and a reason for that scope.
- Read-only and write-capable agents are separate where practical.
- Refresh tokens and Home Assistant bearer tokens are stored outside model-visible text.
- Tool results contain only the fields needed for the current answer.
- Home Assistant control is marked experimental, uses a small exposure list, and does not include safety-critical entities during testing.
- Write operations show a confirmation containing the exact proposed change.
- MCP clients are identified, authenticated, and reviewed for the tools they import or expose.
- Any cloud client’s route to Home Assistant is documented and intentionally protected.
- Revocation, rotation, logging, and reconnect procedures have been tested.
- Hardware and model choices are based on the specific model, context size, and workload rather than a universal mini-PC claim.
The safe default
For most first deployments, use a local Ollama server with Home Assistant’s conversation-only integration, fewer than 25 exposed entities, and a separate orchestrator that holds narrowly scoped Gmail and Calendar OAuth credentials. Start with read-only summaries, keep all tokens out of prompts and logs, and add each write or control capability only after its exact network path, permission, confirmation step, and recovery procedure are documented.
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