This kit makes your Google Home Mini into an offline smart speaker

The first-generation Google Home Mini is nearly a decade old at this point, and with so many in circulation, there’s a decent chance you might have one sitting around unused. If you’re looking for something to do with a spare, an upcoming crowdfunded kit will let you swap the Home Mini’s guts to make it a fully local smart speaker that can control your gadgets without any data leaving your home.

The MiciMike Home Mini Drop-In PCB is made to install inside your existing first-generation Google Home Mini without much technical knowhow: there’s no soldering involved, and the kit comes with step-by-step instructions that include photos. The project has crushed its funding goal on Crowd Supply, having raised nearly $20,000 (to its initial goal of $8,000), with units expected to ship this year.

With the MiciMike board installed, your Google Home Mini will work with Home Assistant to let you do basic smart home stuff with “no cloud, no vendor account, no subscription.” For extra privacy, the kit preserves the Home Mini’s mic control switch that physically disconnects the speakers’ microphones from power. You can check out detailed info about the project on GitHub.

If you’re not so concerned with keeping things local and private, MiciMike’s Crowd Supply page also clarifies that you have the option to “use a cloud-based conversation agent such as ChatGPT or another LLM.”

Fundraising for the project ends in June. You can back the project on Crowd Supply now; $85 gets you the drop-in PCB replacement kit, which is expected to ship in October. If you’ve got a newer Nest Mini, MiciMike’s website says a similar board swap kit for that speaker is “coming soon.”