Google has opened early access to its MCP server for Google Home. AI agents can now talk to devices in the house in plain language, without Google having to build a separate hook for every assistant.
What’s actually new
The agent list Google names itself is the interesting bit: Claude, ChatGPT, Hermes, OpenClaw and Google’s own Antigravity. Anything that speaks MCP can plug in. A vendor that used to open its smart home stack to assistants of its choosing is now opening it to the protocol — and therefore to the competition.
You get the usual things and a bit more: switch devices, query household activity, read camera summaries, have dashboards built for you. It works with anything in the Google Home ecosystem, so Nest doorbells and thermostats, plus Matter devices like bulbs.
Getting in is not a five-minute job
Before the first command lands, you create a Google Cloud project, configure it for Home MCP, hand the config to your agent and grant permissions at sign-in. If you’ve never opened the Google Cloud Console, that’s an evening gone.
Then the limits: US only, and only for Google Home Premium Advanced subscribers at $20 a month. Rollout starts today and runs over the coming weeks. Google wouldn’t say whether or when other countries or cheaper tiers follow.
A protocol from Anthropic is becoming household wiring
To me this reads less as smart home news than as MCP news. The protocol comes from Anthropic, and it now sits in places where Anthropic has no say at all. Google builds the server, Google collects the subscription, and Claude is one guest among five. That’s exactly what the protocol was for — you just rarely see the consequence this plainly.
The second half of that thought I like less. An agent that summarizes doorbell footage and switches devices has access to what happens in your home. Permissions live in an OAuth dialog at sign-in, and how granular they are isn’t something Google’s announcement says. That MCP itself had a design flaw exposed across 200,000 servers back in spring doesn’t make the question smaller.
If you’re trying it anyway: Google is collecting feedback through its Smart Home for Developers community. That’s what early access is for.
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