- very stupid question and someone please eli 5

- what exactly do i need node red for?

I like node and have used it previously with home.assistant. However I pulled back from using it as hA's own automations got better. Node's big weakness is a lack of visibility into what happened. There is no easy debugging flow to see what happened or how, whereas ha shows you everything. The friction of poor debugging makes ha system superior even if it is a little "weaker" .

The latest version of Node-RED, Node-RED 5, has released! This release has some pretty big changes - a brand new UI, additional functionality inside of nodes, and new accessibility features. Also a zoom to fit function - meaning a way zoomed-in or zoomed-out workspace can now be centered with proper sizing, which is a godsend for people working across different monitor sizes.

Let me know what you think! I'm using it as my daily driver and I have to say - huge improvements all around!