Configuring Home Assistant

This guide applies only if you’ve installed Home Assistant via Hass.io. If you’ve used any other install method then see here instead.

Home Assistant stores its configuration in a file called configuration.yaml. A default one is created when Home Assistant is started for the first time. Some of the things in the configuration file can be edited via the user interface, other parts require you to edit the configuration file directly.

There are two common approaches to edit your configuration – both are official add-ons for Hass.io. The 3rd is my favorite – WINSCP

1. Samba/Windows Networking
2. HASS Configurator
3. WINSCP

Installing Hass.io add-ons

Hass.io add-ons are installed from the add-on store embedded in the Hass.io panel:

• Open Home Assistant by navigating to http://hassio.local:8123.
• Click on the menu icon in the top left and select Hass.io in the sidebar.
• The Hass.io panel opens, now open the add-on store by clicking the shopping bag.

From the Hass.io main panel open the add-on store.

EDITING CONFIG VIA HASS CONFIGURATOR

The first add-on we should install is the HASS Configurator. With the HASS Configurator, you’ll be able to edit your Home Assistant configuration from the web interface.

Go to the add-on store (see the previous step), click on Configurator and click on “INSTALL”. When installation is complete, the UI will go to the add-on details page for the configurator. Here you will be able to change settings, start and stop the add-on. Follow the steps below to setup the add-on.

• Set a password on the Config box, don’t forget to use quotes on your password
• My GitHub repository for cross-reference – https://github.com/mikereams/Reams-Home-Assistant-Configuration

{
  "username": !secret myusername,
  "password": !secret mypassword,
  "certfile": "fullchain.pem",
  "keyfile": "privkey.pem",
  "ssl": false,
  "allowed_networks": [
    "192.168.0.0/16"
  ],
  "banned_ips": [
    "8.8.8.8"
  ],
  "banlimit": 0,
  "ignore_pattern": [
    "__pycache__"
  ],
  "dirsfirst": false
}

• Click on “SAVE” to save your new password
• “START” the add-on
• You will be able to click the “OPEN WEB UI” link to open the Web UI on a new window
• Type your username and password that you recently saved

Time for the first practice with the configurator. Add the following to configuration.yamlfile to add a link to the Configurator in the sidebar:

panel_iframe:
  configurator:
    title: Configurator
    icon: mdi:wrench
    url: http://hassio.local:3218

Now restart Home Assistant for the changes to the configuration to take effect. You can do this by going to the config panel (Configuration in the sidebar) -> General -> Restart Home Assistant.

EDITING CONFIG VIA SAMBA/WINDOWS NETWORKING

Maybe you are not a big fan of our web editor and want to use a text editor on your computer instead. This is possible by sharing the configuration over the network using the Samba add-on, which can be installed from the Hass.io add-on store.

After you have installed it, click on START. Hass.io should now be available in the networking tab on your computer. Use a text editor like the free Visual Studio Code to edit configuration.yaml.

Configuring integrations

Now that you are able to edit the configuration, it’s time to set up some of your devices and services. Each service and device will have its own instructions on how to be integrated. Find your devices and services on the components overview page.

NEXT STEP: AUTOMATE HOME ASSISTANT »