Almost three busy weeks have past since the last release. We used this time to finally make the overhaul to use UTC as the internal date time format. We added a bunch of test coverage in the process to make sure the transition went smoothly. Pleas see the blog post about the UTC refactor for backwards incompatible changes.

This release includes a significant startup boost for the frontend and a fix for Wemo discovery after their latest firmware upgrade.

I would like to give a big shout out to our newest contributor fabaff for taking the time to improve the documentation.

To update to the latest version, run scripts/update. Please report any issues on GitHub.

Overwriting Entity Attributes
Before diving into the newly supported devices and services, I want to highlight an awesome configuration enhancement by rmkraus: overwriting entity attributes.

These new configuration settings allow you to overwrite entity state attributes. The main usage for this is being able to overwrite attributes that influence how an entity is shown in the interface.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

# Example configuration.yaml entry
homeassistant:
  customize:
    light.bowl:
      # hides this entity from the interface
      hidden: true
    light.ceiling:
      # Replaces the state badge with given picture
      entity_picture: http://graph.facebook.com/schoutsen/picture

MySensors
Andythigpen and Theolind have added support for the MySensors platform to Home Assistant.

1
2
3
4

# Example configuration.yaml entry
sensor:
  platform: mysensors
  port: /dev/ttyACM0

OpenWeatherMap
Fabaff has contributed support for OpenWeatherMap. This will allow you to integrate local meteorological data into Home Assistant.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

# Example configuration.yaml entry
sensor:
  platform: openweathermap
  api_key: YOUR_API_KEY
  monitored_variables:
    - type: 'weather'
    - type: 'temperature'
    - type: 'wind_speed'
    - type: 'humidity'
    - type: 'pressure'
    - type: 'clouds'
    - type: 'rain'
    - type: 'snow'

InstaPush
Fabaff has contributed support for InstaPush. This will allow you send messages from Home Assistant to your iOS and Android devices.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

# Example configuration.yaml entry
notify:
    platform: instapush
    # Get those by creating a new application, event, and tracker on https://instapush.im
    api_key: ABCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ
    app_secret: ABCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ
    event: ABCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ
    tracker: ABCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ

XMPP
Fabaff has contributed support for Jabber/XMPP. This will allow you send messages from Home Assistant to anyone on Jabber/XMPP.

1
2
3
4
5
6

# Example configuration.yaml entry
notify:
    platform: xmpp
    sender: YOUR_JID
    password: YOUR_JABBER_ACCOUNT_PASSWORD
    recipient: YOUR_RECIPIENT

Notify My Android
Fabaff has contributed support for Notify My Android. This will allow you to send messages from Home Assistant to your Android device.

1
2
3
4
5

# Example configuration.yaml entry
notify:
    platform: nma
    # Get this by registering a new application on http://www.notifymyandroid.com/
    api_key: ABCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ

Time & Date sensor
Fabaff has contributed a time & date sensor. This will allow you to show the current time/date on the dashboard.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

# Example configuration.yaml entry
sensor:
  platform: time_date
  monitored_variables:
    - type: 'time'
    - type: 'date'
    - type: 'date_time'
    - type: 'time_date'

I have recently merged code to refactor Home Assistant to use only UTC times internally. A much needed refactor. I’ve added some extra test coverage to time sensitive parts to ensure stability. The code has been live in the dev branch for the last 9 days and will be soon released to the master branch.

From now on all internal communication will be done in UTC: time changed events, datetime attributes of states, etc. To get the current time in UTC you can call homeassistant.util.dt.utcnow(). This is a timezone aware UTC datetime object. homeassistant.util.dt is a new util package with date helpers.

There is also such a thing as local time. Local time is based on the time zone that you have setup in your configuration.yaml. Local times should only be used for user facing information: logs, frontend and automation settings in configuration.yaml.

Setting up your time zone

Setting up a time zone happens in configuration.yaml. If you have no time zone setup, it will be auto detected using the existing detection code using freegeoip.net. You can find a list of compatible time zones on Wikipedia.

1
2

homeassistant:
  time_zone: America/Los_Angeles

Compatibility

The changes to the code are mostly backwards compatible. The old hass.track_time_change and hass.track_point_in_time use now internally two new methods: hass.track_utc_time_change and hass.track_point_in_utc_time. The usage of the old methods have not changed and should be backwards compatible.

This refactor adds a new migration for the database adding a utc_offset column to events and states. This information is currently not used but can prove useful in the future when we start analyzing the historical data.

Backwards incompatible stuff

All built-in components have been upgraded. The following list is only for people that run custom components:

• hass.track_time_change and hass.track_point_in_time will now return a time zone aware datetime object. Python does not allow comparing a naive with an aware datetime object.
• the sun attributes for rising and setting are now in UTC. The methods sun.next_rising(hass) and sun.next_setting(hass) are backwards compatible, just be careful if you used to read the raw attributes.
• the API sends all times in UTC. If you use anything else besides the frontend to talk to HA, make sure it handles it differently.

It’s been a month since the latest update and a lot has happened again. Here a quick overview of the new things.

Line Charts
James has upgraded the history in the frontend to support line graphs. Line graphs will be shown for any entity that has a unit of measurement. The line graphs will also be shown in the more info card of an entity. See the demo for a live example.

ISY994 hub support
Ryan has contributed support to integrate the ISY994 hub by Universal Devices. This allows you to integrate your X10/Insteon sensors, switches and lights.

He has created an extensive getting started guide which can be found on the ISY994 component page.

1
2

# Example configuration.yaml entry
isy994:

Logbook
I (Paulus) have added a logbook component. The logbook component provides a different perspective on the history of your house by showing all the changes that happened to your house in chronological order. See the demo for a live example.

1
2

# Example configuration.yaml entry
logbook:

Transmission support
James has also contributed support for integrating Transmission into Home Assistant.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

# Example configuration.yaml entry
sensor:
  platform: transmission
  name: Transmission
  host: 192.168.1.26
  port: 9091
  username: YOUR_USERNAME
  password: YOUR_PASSWORD
  monitored_variables:
    - type: 'current_status'
    - type: 'download_speed'
    - type: 'upload_speed'

Modbus support
Kixam has contributed support for modbus, a serial communication protocol to control PLCs. It currently supports sensors and switches which can be controlled over serial, TCP and UDP connections.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34

# Example configuration.yaml entry
modbus:
  type: serial
  method: rtu
  port: /dev/ttyUSB0
  baudrate: 9600
  stopbits: 1
  bytesize: 8
  parity: N

sensor:
  platform: modbus
  slave: 1
  registers:
    16:
      name: My integer sensor
        unit: C
    24:
      bits:
        0:
          name: My boolean sensor
        2:
          name: My other boolean sensor

switch:
  platform: modbus
  slave: 1
  registers:
    24:
      bits:
        0:
          name: My switch
        2:
          name: My other switch

A new version of Home Assistant has just been pushed out. It contains bugfixes contributed by jamespcole, andythigpen, trainman419 and me. It also adds a bunch of great new features:

Script
Andythigpen has contributed a script component. This allows users to create a sequence of service calls and delays. Scripts can be started using the service script/turn_on and interrupted using the service script/turn_off. A separate page has been added to the frontend to see the status of your scripts.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

# Example configuration.yaml entry
script:
  # Turns on the bedroom lights and then the living room lights 1 minute later
  wakeup:
    alias: Wake Up
    sequence:
      - alias: Bedroom lights on
        execute_service: light.turn_on
        service_data:
          entity_id: group.bedroom
      - delay:
          # supports seconds, milliseconds, minutes, hours, etc.
          minutes: 1
      - alias: Living room lights on
        execute_service: light.turn_on
        service_data:
          entity_id: group.living_room

Scene
I (Paulus) have contributed a scene component. A user can create scenes that capture the states you want certain entities to be. For example a scene can contain that light A should be turned on and light B should be bright red. Deactivating a scene will restore the previous state from before the scene was activated. Just like scripts, scenes have their own separate page to see which scenes are on.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

# Example configuration.yaml entry
scene:
  - name: Romantic
    entities:
      light.tv_back_light: on
      light.ceiling:
        state: on
        color: [0.33, 0.66]
        brightness: 200

SABnzbd
James Cole has contributed support to integrate SABnzbd. This will allow you to monitor your downloads from within Home Assistant and setup automation based on the information.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

# Example configuration.yaml entry
sensor:
  - platform: sabnzbd
    name: SAB
    api_key: YOUR_API_KEY
    # Example: http://192.168.1.32:8124/
    base_url: YOUR_SABNZBD_BASE_URL
    monitored_variables:
        - type: 'current_status'
        - type: 'speed'
        - type: 'queue_size'
        - type: 'queue_remaining'
        - type: 'disk_size'
        - type: 'disk_free'

PushOver
James Cole has also contributed support for the PushOver service as a platform for the notify component. This allows components to send messages to the user using PushOver.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

# Example configuration.yaml entry
notify:
    platform: pushover
    # Get this by registering a new application on https://pushover.net
    api_key: ABCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ
    # Get this by logging into your account on https://pushover.net
    user_key: ABCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ

It has only been a little over a week since Theodor introduced YAML support for Home Assistant but so much has already happened that it is time for a summary of recent changes. Before mentioning the highlights I want to thank andythigpen, jamespcole and theolind for numerous bug fixes, enhancements and new contributions. Thanks!

Monitor local resources.
Theodor has contributed a new sensor platform to allow you to monitor disk usage, memory usage, CPU usage and running processes. This platform has superseded the process component which is now considered deprecated.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

# Example configuration.yaml entry
sensor:
  - platform: systemmonitor
    resources:
      - type: disk_use_percent
        arg: /home
      - type: memory_free
      - type: process
        arg: kodi

Experimental Z-Wave support
There is now experimental support for connecting Z-Wave networks using a Z-Wave USB stick. Right now it only integrates Z-Wave sensors into Home Assistant. Our goal is to get this tested by more people before adding support for other Z-Wave devices.

The new component is built on top of python-openzwave. This package is currently not distributed on PyPi so we’ve added a script scripts/build_python_openzwave to install it on your machine. Alternatively you can use the Docker image which is ready to go.

The development was done using an AEON Z-Wave USB stick and an AEON Z-Wave MultiSensor.

1
2
3

# Example configuration.yaml entry
zwave:
  usb_path: /dev/ttyUSB0

Voice control
An initial version of voice control for Home Assistant has landed. The current implementation consists of two parts.

The first part is a component called conversation that exposes the service conversation/process. This service is capable of processing text and translating them into commands for devices. For now it will only support commands in the format of Turn <Friendly Name> <on/off>.

The second part is an upgrade to the frontend to use the speech-to-text in Chrome to allow users to speak commands. If you’re using Chrome, you can test this out in the demo.

1
2

# Example configuration.yaml entry
conversation:

It is well known that you are either a good programmer or a good designer. It’s rare you’ll meet someone that is both. That’s why it wasn’t surprising to anyone that the logo that I made was mediocre — at best. Luckily, Jeremy Geltman has come to the rescue and contributed a brand new logo for Home Assistant.

The new logo follows Googles material design spec. It uses the blue color that Home Assistant uses in the interface and it comes in two versions: a high detailed version (for homescreen icon etc) and a simple version (for favicon etc).

The old logo, the new detailed logo and the new simple logo.

Home Assistant is now using YAML for it’s configuration file. YAML allows the use of lists, which should make the configuration file a bit more flexible and useful. The new configuration file format is backwards compatible with existing components. Because of this, there is no need for component developers to update their components.

The new file is named configuration.yaml and if it can’t be found in your config directory, Home Assistant will instead try to find the old configuration file, home-assistant.conf.

The home-assistant.conf.example has been replaced with an updated configuration.yaml.example.

Users of Home Assistant should migrate as the old configuration format is deprecated.

I have just merged the latest version of the development branch into master. Here are some of the highlights of this release:

Configuration via the frontend
Phliips Hue will now be auto discovered and uses the new configurator component to interact with the user to finish the setup process.

Wink Hub support
Thanks to the work done by John McLaughlin and Geoff Norton we now support the lights, switches and sensors that are connected to the Wink hub.

The getting started guide and component page have been reorganized
The getting started instructions have been split into separate pages per component and a general overview page. The goal is to have a page per component that describes:

• What it does
• How to set it up
• Which states it maintains
• Which services it provides
• Additional development tips

More reasonable errors
Home Assistant should now throw better errors and offer solutions if you do not have the right version of Python 3, forgot to clone the git submodules or install the dependencies.

Streamlined first launch
Home Assistant now supports --open-ui and --demo-mode command line properties to open the browser automatically and have something to show. Home Assistant now supports to be run without a password, allowing the interface to login automatically on launch.