# Valetudo: local replacement for robot-vacuum vendor clouds > Replaces the vendor cloud of supported robot vacuums with a local service that runs on the rooted robot beside the vendor firmware and emulates the cloud endpoints that firmware expects, including a miio dummycloud and a counterpart for Midea's MSmart protocol. Its FAQ says each new vendor backend meant reverse engineering data formats, authentication and communication without vendor documentation; Valetudo converts the proprietary map formats into one ValetudoMap format and keeps Kaitai Struct descriptions of Dreame, Roborock and Viomi map files and a Midea protobuf schema as references. It adds a web interface, a REST API with Swagger UI and MQTT/Home Assistant integration, while feature parity with the vendor apps is an explicit non-goal. - Type: Case study - Targets: Firmware · Protocol - Category: Independent reconstruction cases - Relationship: Independent reconstruction project - Sources reviewed: 2026-10-19 - Added to the catalog: 2026-10-30 - Original resource: - Primary source: - Catalog page: - Record JSON: - Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/valetudo-robot-cloud-replacement-case/index.md) ## Requirements & limits - Reviewed at the 2026.10.0 release commit of 2026-10-18. The README says Valetudo is not a custom firmware but a 'brain parasite' for the vendor firmware, whose own functions it relies on. The backend has Dreame, Roborock, Viomi, 3irobotix and Midea implementations, and the supported-robots page lists 50 model entries under 10 brand headings and calls the list exhaustive. - Requires a supported robot that its owner has already rooted. The docs describe rooting as model-specific and permanent ('Reverting to stock is impossible'), and say the vendor app stops working because cloud connectivity is cut. The repository and its releases ship no vendor firmware: release assets are Valetudo's own armv7, armv7-lowmem and aarch64 binaries with UPX-compressed variants, an OpenAPI schema and a release manifest, while the repository also commits pkg Node.js base binaries for packaging and small captured map files as test fixtures. - Valetudo runs on the robot's Linux system as a static Node.js 22 binary built with pkg; development needs Node.js >=20 according to the root package.json. The docs require Linux and computer skills, and sometimes hardware work, for installation, and offer peer support only. - CI on Node.js 22 runs type checks, lint, the frontend and backend builds and the backend node:test suite, including Dreame, Roborock and 3irobotix map-parser tests on captured maps and miio and MSmart packet tests. The supported-robots page says each listed robot was tested by the author personally unless noted. These are project-reported checks. - Apache-2.0, although the README describes its governance as 'Freeware with source available'. The Kaitai structs declare CC-BY-SA-4.0, and a bundled robot model and tracker song are credited under CC-BY-NC-SA. Vendor firmware, apps and clouds keep their own terms. ## Primary sources 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. ## More in Firmware and hardware - [EchoMuse: replacement software that turns the Echo Dot 2nd gen into a Home Assistant voice satellite](https://awesomerea.org/resources/echomuse-echo-dot-voice-satellite-case/index.md) · Case study - [OSIRIS: replacing Onkyo receiver firmware through MCU protocol research](https://awesomerea.org/resources/osiris-onkyo-receiver-case/index.md) · Case study - [Virtual MPC Sample: rehosting Akai MPC Sample firmware in QEMU](https://awesomerea.org/resources/virtual-mpc-sample-case/index.md) · Case study - [OpenJooki: replacing the Jooki 2 software and recovery path](https://awesomerea.org/resources/openjooki-jooki2-case/index.md) · Case study - [Stickwalker: porting Pokéwalker firmware to the Stick S3](https://awesomerea.org/resources/stickwalker-case/index.md) · Case study - [sony-bravia-linux: pre-Android BRAVIA platform and media behavior](https://awesomerea.org/resources/sony-bravia-linux-case/index.md) · Case study ## About this entry The description was reviewed against primary sources. Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.