It’s time to get your Halloween decorations out and automate them because the gear you buy for October is the same gear you’ll use in December. Set it up once now, and all you’ll do in November is swap what’s plugged into your gear. My first real Apple Home project years ago was automating Christmas lights, and it’s still the easiest win in your entire smart home, and it’s really one of the most useful things you can do.

HomeKit Weekly is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and everything to do with Apple’s smart home framework.

Start with a home hub

Before buying anything else, make sure you have a device that can serve as a home hub . That means having an Apple TV, a HomePod, or a HomePod mini signed into your iCloud. Without one, you can’t run automations or control anything while you’re away from your local, which defeats most of the purpose here.…