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Meta releases open-source Muse Gadgets SDK and free home link device
Meta is shipping 5,000 free Muse Home Link USB-C dongles to U.S. subscribers, giving its Muse AI agent direct control over smart home devices via local Wi-Fi.
Meta released an open-source hardware platform called Muse Gadgets on Thursday, giving developers the firmware and software needed to connect its Muse AI agent to physical devices. The company is also shipping 5,000 free Muse Home Link USB-C dongles to U.S. Muse subscribers, putting cloud-controlled smart home automation directly into users' hands while supplies last.
The Muse Gadgets SDK ships under the Apache 2.0 license and includes ESP32 firmware alongside Linux SDKs. Developers can use these tools to build hardware that lets Muse interact with displays, sensors, and connected appliances. The move mirrors Meta's broader push to embed its AI agent beyond screens and into the physical environment.
What the Muse Home Link does
The free USB-C device plugs into a home router and grants Muse's cloud-based AI access to the local Wi-Fi network. Once connected, users can issue voice or text commands through the Muse app to control smart home gear. Meta's GitHub page hosts community-built skills that extend the dongle's capabilities - automating lighting schedules, queuing TV content, or triggering print jobs.
The hardware itself runs on an ESP32-C5 chip with 8MB of memory and storage, supporting Wi-Fi 6 on dual bands. The device measures 35 by 42 by 10 millimeters, small enough to disappear behind a router or entertainment center.
How to get started
U.S. subscribers can claim the device at gadgets.muse.ai/home-link by logging in with their Muse account. Setup requires plugging the Home Link near a router and pairing it through the Muse app. From there, users install community skills from Meta's GitHub repository and begin issuing commands. Meta warns that skills may break and the system is not intended for safety-critical tasks.
The Home Link communicates with devices through a local HTTP API, keeping commands within the home network rather than routing everything through external servers. This architecture reduces latency for simple device triggers while still relying on Muse's cloud models for natural language understanding.
Product leadership and parallel launches
Nat Friedman, head of product at Meta's Superintelligence Labs, is overseeing the Muse Gadgets initiative. The hardware release coincides with two other Meta launches: Muse for Small Business and the Meta Enterprise Platform, signaling a coordinated push across consumer, developer, and enterprise segments.
The open-source nature of the SDK means developers can modify and redistribute the firmware freely. Meta's choice of Apache 2.0 licensing avoids the restrictions that come with copyleft licenses, making the code usable in commercial products without requiring manufacturers to open their own modifications.
Why this matters for product development
For product teams building AI-integrated hardware, the Muse Gadgets SDK provides a reference implementation for connecting cloud agents to physical devices over standard Wi-Fi protocols. The ESP32 target keeps component costs low - the same chip family powers countless IoT devices - while the Linux SDK opens the door to more powerful edge computing scenarios. Developers evaluating agent-to-device architectures can study Meta's approach to local HTTP APIs and community skill distribution as a model, whether or not they adopt the Muse ecosystem directly. Teams working on AI agent automation or AI-driven development tools will find the SDK's hardware abstraction patterns immediately applicable to their own device integration challenges.