ESP32 as BLE client NOT proxy?

[winged cove]

I'm finding just about zero discussion about it so my first reaction is that it's not possible but I'd like some confirmation. I don't need a proxy, what I want is to configure an ESP32 as a BLE client and have that send data but I can't find anything that isn't just using the proxy function. The plan is a battery-powered smart button that avoids using wifi to communicate. I've already found out ESPHome doesn't support the onboard zigbee yet, so that's out. I could just stick with wifi and learn to tolerate the delay but with bluetooth onboard I thought that might be preferable.

[golden valley]

the ESPHome ble_client component might me what your looking for? https://esphome.io/components/ble_client.html

Although for specifics you might be better off asking on the ESPHome Discord:
https://discord.gg/SmaXuBUe

[winged cove]

At a glance it looks like this is part of the BLE proxy setup people use. It's to define the BLE clients the ESP32 proxy would connect with, as opposed to setting up the ESP32 to be the client that communicates to HA as if it were any other BLE device. I'll see what they have to say over there.

[golden valley]

bluetooth_proxy is a different component. but maybe it shares some stuff.
either way try on the ESPHome discord as they will know more.

[winged cove]

They say it's unsupported, though made mention of BTHome which ostensibly can do exactly what I'm looking for though I haven't dug into it yet.

[flat lake]

Hi, I am looking for exactly the same, building esp32 BLE thermometres, advertising the temp readings in the device's name. So far to no avail, have you found a way how to do it? I am slowly accepting the proxy😤

[winged cove]

TBH I sort of dropped it at that point and stuck with WIFI for now. I need to get around to familiarizing myself with esp idf before I jump straight to trying to work that out. For now I've resorted to WiFi