# Assist satellite

> A device that listens for voice commands and sends them to Home Assistant, like Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition.

Source: https://contributors.home-assistant.io/glossary/assist-satellite/

- In code: `assist_satellite`, `AssistSatelliteEntity`
- Also: voice satellite, satellite, satellites

A satellite does not understand commands itself. It listens, often for a [wake word](https://contributors.home-assistant.io/glossary/wake-word/), streams the audio to Home Assistant, and plays the answer. Each satellite uses one [Assist pipeline](https://contributors.home-assistant.io/glossary/assist-pipeline/), and knows the area it is in, so "turn on the lights" works in the room you are in.

In Core, a satellite is an entity of the `assist_satellite` type. See [Assist satellite entity](https://contributors.home-assistant.io/core/entities/assist-satellite/).

## Related terms

- [Assist](https://contributors.home-assistant.io/glossary/assist/): Home Assistant's voice assistant. It turns what you say or type into actions.
- [Assist pipeline](https://contributors.home-assistant.io/glossary/assist-pipeline/): The steps a voice command goes through: wake word, speech-to-text, the conversation agent, and text-to-speech.
- [Wake word](https://contributors.home-assistant.io/glossary/wake-word/): The word or phrase that makes a voice assistant start listening, like "Okay Nabu".