ZWave integration for Home Assistant
Home Assistant is the workhorse of the smart home. It is where all of the integrations into third party services / sensors live. This is where I configure any integrations such as Philips Hue, SONOS, or the current wind speed.
Node Red is the automation work horse it has a great UI and an intuitive flow that makes it super simple to get started drawing and laying out automations. I also like the fact that I can test an automation super simply by adding the timestamp start point and click and test out that things work. I recommend this if the Home Assistant automations seem cumbersome or not intuitive.
ESP Home is a system to control micro computers (ESP8266/ESP32 and RP2040) by simple yet powerful configuration files. This will then allow you to control these micro computers remotely through Home Automation systems. In my case Home-Assistant.