Photo by Sean on Unsplash.
Six open-source projects can now take Alexa off an old Echo, and the oldest started on May 1, 2026. [EchoMuse](https://github.com/wilbowes/EchoMuse) came first, then [Kiosk Satellite](https://github.com/jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite), [EchoLocal](https://github.com/ygelfand/echolocal), [LibreEcho](https://github.com/aslater3/LibreEcho), [TECHO5](https://github.com/HuskerMinion/techo5) and [echo-dot-assist](https://github.com/Gamer92000/echo-dot-assist). Five of the six shipped a build in the first week of November. Chris Person at Aftermath [bought a used 2019 Echo Show 8 for about $50](https://aftermath.site/amazon-echo-show-jailbreak-lineageos/). So a screen that talks to Claude can cost less than a nice dinner, if you buy the right Echo. I haven't flashed one yet. This is the map I made before buying a cable, from each project's repo and docs as of November 6, 2026. | Way | Jailbreak? | What you say | Whose agent | |---|---|---|---| | Alexa+ | No | "Alexa" | Amazon's | | Alexa skill bridge | No | "Alexa, ask..." | Yours, behind a skill | | Replace Alexa with a Home Assistant voice client | Yes | Your wake word | Claude, OpenClaw or your own | | Android on the Echo, plus a voice app | Yes | Your wake word | Any Home Assistant agent | | Direct client on the Echo | Yes | "Hey Jarvis" | Your own | ## Which Echos can you open? This table decides everything else. [TECHO5's README](https://github.com/HuskerMinion/techo5) says no Echo made after 2021 has a public way in, and the guides for the Shows depend on your Fire OS version, so read the XDA thread for your model before you let it update. | Echo | TECHO5 | EchoLocal | echo-dot-assist | EchoMuse | Others | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Show 5, 1st gen, 2019 | Yes | Yes | Beta | In progress | View Assist | | Show 5, 2nd gen, 2021 | Yes | Yes | Beta | In progress | Kiosk Satellite, View Assist | | Show 8, 1st gen, 2019 | Yes | Yes | Beta | In progress | Kiosk Satellite, View Assist | | Show 8, 2nd gen, 2021 | Yes | Yes | Beta | Not yet | None | | Dot, 2nd gen, 2016 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | LibreEcho, Kiosk Satellite | | Dot, 3rd gen, 2018 | Soldering | No | Wires on test pads | In progress | None | | Echo, 2nd gen, 2017 | Soldering | No | Soldering | Early access | LibreEcho | The round Dots, 4th gen and later, aren't on any of these projects' lists. Neither is the Show 10, 15 or 21. There is one exception worth knowing about. An XDA user [rooted the Echo Show 8 3rd gen](https://hackaday.com/2026/07/08/hacking-amazon-echo-show-8-3rd-gen-via-uart-and-emmc/) by opening the case, cutting into the metal can over the eMMC and soldering fine wires to its pads. Hackaday's verdict: "not a hack for the faint of heart." I wouldn't start there. The easy cases need a PC and a micro-USB data cable. A charge-only cable won't work, and that's the mistake I'd expect to make first.  ## Can you add an agent without a jailbreak? Yes, with Alexa still in the middle. [Alexa+](https://www.tomsguide.com/home/smart-home/alexa-plus-supported-devices) is the zero-effort version, and Tom's Guide lists it for the Dot 2nd gen and later. You get Amazon's agent and Amazon's partner list. You don't get to pick the model or hand it your own tools. [HomeAssistantAssistAWS](https://github.com/fabianosan/HomeAssistantAssistAWS) is an Alexa skill that passes what you say to Home Assistant Assist or a generative AI integration, and it can open a Home Assistant dashboard on a Show. You say "Alexa, open home smart" first. Its README calls it "a very early alpha phase" and says the AWS-hosted version avoids the 8-second limit. [alexa-claude-bridge](https://github.com/pouriamrt/alexa-claude-bridge) is the odd one. Alexa calls a Lambda, the Lambda writes to SQS, and a daemon on your Windows PC pastes the command into a Claude Code terminal. "Alexa, ask my code assistant to run the tests" really does run your tests. The author calls the keyboard injection "the most fragile part of this project," and I believe them. This one is for driving a coding session from the couch. It isn't a home assistant. ## What replaces Alexa on the device? Three projects put a Home Assistant voice client on a Show. All of them need Home Assistant running somewhere that stays on, because that's where speech turns into text and text goes to the agent. [EchoLocal](https://www.echolocal.link) keeps Fire OS underneath with Amazon's services off, and runs a Go daemon. It has the most on the screen: 21 clock faces, 33 audio visuals, video intercom, and [dashboards](https://www.echolocal.link/use/dashboards/) that can be native, Tessera or Home Assistant. It also runs two assistants, each with its own wake word.   [TECHO5](https://github.com/HuskerMinion/techo5) removes Android altogether and runs Alpine Linux with one Go daemon. On the 2021 Show 8 it brings its own 64-bit mainline kernel. It also has a sunrise alarm that slowly turns the screen into a dawn before you wake up. The author maintains a [side-by-side comparison](https://huskerminion.github.io/techo5/comparison/) of all these projects, and it's the best single page I found, with the author's own stake stated at the top.   echo-dot-assist keeps Amazon's audio front end and wake word engine, and swaps the Alexa client for a daemon called hassmic. Show support landed on October 27 and is still beta. On the Dot you have more choice. EchoMuse has the most stars of the group at 1,414, puts its own Linux userspace on the Echo, and needs a controller running as a Home Assistant add-on or Docker container. [LibreEcho](https://github.com/aslater3/LibreEcho) runs a Linux 6.1 image with speech-to-text on the device itself, though the Dot is marked experimental and the installer wants a Linux PC.  ## What about Android on the Echo? Once the bootloader is open you can install [LineageOS 18.1](https://www.derekseaman.com/2025/11/home-assistant-hacking-your-echo-show-5-and-8.html) and treat the Show as a small Android device with about 1 GB of usable memory. Kiosk Satellite ships its own LineageOS images for the Show 5 2nd gen and Show 8 1st gen, with the app installed on first boot. [View Assist](https://dinki.github.io/View-Assist/docs/supported-devices/android-devices/amazon-echo-show8) is a Home Assistant integration plus an Android app called VACA. Check the licenses if you plan to sell anything: the Kiosk Satellite app is CC BY-NC-ND and View Assist is CC BY-NC. The rest of the field is mostly MIT. ## Can you skip Home Assistant? Barely. [echo-show-claude](https://github.com/lee-soft/echo-show-claude), which [Lee Soft wrote up in August](https://lee-soft.com/replacing-alexa-with-claude/), runs the wake word on a rooted 2019 Show 5, sends your speech to ElevenLabs, and sends the text to your own agent over REST. It's the closest thing here to a Show that talks directly to Claude. It only runs on that one model and has no installer. The wake word is "hey Jarvis," because the custom "hey Claude" model overfit and got retired. I'd read it for the notes on Amazon's mic routing more than I'd install it. ## Which agents can you run on an Echo? Every Home Assistant route has the same shape. The Echo handles the mic, the wake word and the speaker. Everything smart happens somewhere else, so you can change agents later without flashing again.