Configuring Home Assistant

Home Assistant will create a configuration folder when it is run for the first time. Location depends on operating system: on OS X/Linux it is ~/.homeassistant and on Windows it is %APPDATA%/.homeassistant. If you want to use a different folder for configuration, run hass --config path/to/config.

Inside your configuration folder is the file configuration.yaml. This is the main file that contains which components will be loaded and what their configuration is. An example configuration file is located here.

When launched for the first time, Home Assistant will write a default configuration enabling the web interface and device discovery. It can take up to a minute for your devices to be discovered and show up in the interface.

If you are running into troubles while configuring Home Assistant, have a look at the configuration troubleshoot page.

You will have to restart Home Assistant for changes in configuration.yaml to take effect.

Setting up the basic info

By default Home Assistant will try to detect your location and will automatically select a temperature unit and time zone based on your location. You can overwrite this by adding the following information to your configuration.yaml:

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homeassistant:
  # Omitted values in this section will be auto detected using freegeoip.net

  # Location required to calculate the time the sun rises and sets
  latitude: 32.87336
  longitude: 117.22743

  # C for Celsius, F for Fahrenheit
  temperature_unit: C

  # Pick yours from here:
  # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones
  time_zone: America/Los_Angeles

  # Name of the location where Home Assistant is running
  name: Home

Password protecting the web interface

The first thing you want to add is a password for the web interface. Use your favourite text editor to open the file /config/configuration.yaml and add the following to the bottom:

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http:
  api_password: YOUR_PASSWORD

Setting up your phone or tablet

Home Assistant runs as a self hosted web application. Home Assistant contains support to be added to your homescreen. If you’re on Android you can follow the visual guide. For other devices, open Home Assistant on your mobile browser and click on the add to homescreen option.

Remote access

To make Home Assistant accessible while away from home, you will have to setup port forwarding from your router to port 8123 on the computer that is hosting Home Assistant. Instructions how to do this can be found by searching <Router model> port forwarding instructions.

Some internet service providers will only offer dynamic IPs. This can cause you to be unable to access Home Assistant while being remote. You can solve this by using a free Dynamic DNS service like DuckDNS.

Next step: Setting up devices »