Setup Guide¶

How to stand up this configuration on a fresh HAOS install.

Prerequisites¶

Home Assistant OS running (HAOS recommended for full add-on support)
SSH access enabled (Settings → Add-ons → Terminal & SSH)
All hardware connected (Zigbee dongle, Z-Wave dongle, etc.)

Step 1 — Clone the Repo¶

On your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/louisalexander/homeassistant.git
cd homeassistant

Step 2 — Create secrets.yaml¶

cp secrets.yaml.template secrets.yaml

Edit secrets.yaml and fill in all values. Required keys:

Key	Description
`nabu_casa_security_url`	Your Nabu Casa URL + `/lovelace/security`
`nabu_casa_climate_url`	Your Nabu Casa URL + `/lovelace/climate`
`influxdb_password`	InfluxDB password you set up
`home_street`	Your street address
`home_city`	City
`home_state`	State
`home_zip`	ZIP code

Step 3 — Push Config Files to HAOS¶

# Replace 192.168.x.x with your HA instance's local IP
HA=root@192.168.x.x

scp configuration.yaml $HA:/config/configuration.yaml
scp configuration_tou_addition.yaml $HA:/config/configuration_tou_addition.yaml
scp automations.yaml $HA:/config/automations.yaml
scp scripts.yaml $HA:/config/scripts.yaml
scp homekit.yaml $HA:/config/homekit.yaml
scp influxdb_ha.yaml $HA:/config/influxdb_ha.yaml
scp secrets.yaml $HA:/config/secrets.yaml

ssh $HA "ha core restart"

Step 4 — Install Required Integrations¶

Install these via HA Settings → Integrations:

Ring — cameras, chimes, doorbell
Ecobee — thermostats
Sonos — speakers
Mobile App — on each iPhone
ESPHome — garage door openers
InfluxDB — time-series storage

Step 5 — Install Required Add-ons¶

Settings → Add-ons:

Mosquitto broker — MQTT for Thingino camera
InfluxDB — time-series database
Grafana — analytics dashboards
Studio Code Server — browser-based file editor
Terminal & SSH — SSH access
File editor — simple file editing

Step 6 — Install Custom Dashboard Components (HACS)¶

Install HACS, then install these integrations:

button-card — used extensively on Climate tab
mushroom — thermostat controls, chips
apexcharts-card — temperature chart

Step 7 — Restore the Dashboard¶

The live dashboard is stored in HA's .storage/ directory, not as a YAML file:

# The reference copy in the repo is a starting point
# Push it to the live location
scp dashboard.yaml root@192.168.x.x:/config/.storage/lovelace.home_command_dashboard
ssh root@192.168.x.x "ha core restart"

Step 8 — Configure Zigbee (ZHA)¶

Plug in ZBT-2 USB dongle (via USB hub + extension cable — keep away from WiFi radio)
Settings → Integrations → Add → Zigbee Home Automation
Select the ZBT-2 device
Channel: 25
Pair devices in order: mains-powered first (switches, plugs), then battery sensors

Day-to-Day Workflow¶

Update automations¶

scp automations.yaml root@192.168.x.x:/config/automations.yaml
# Then: Developer Tools → YAML → Reload Automations (no restart needed)

Update dashboard¶

# Always pull fresh first
ssh root@192.168.x.x "cat /config/.storage/lovelace.home_command_dashboard" > /tmp/lovelace_dashboard.json
# Edit /tmp/lovelace_dashboard.json
scp /tmp/lovelace_dashboard.json root@192.168.x.x:/config/.storage/lovelace.home_command_dashboard
ssh root@192.168.x.x "ha core restart"

Update other config files¶

scp configuration.yaml root@192.168.x.x:/config/configuration.yaml
ssh root@192.168.x.x "ha core restart"

Secrets Backup¶

secrets.yaml is gitignored and lives only on the HAOS box and your local machine. Back it up separately — it cannot be reconstructed from the repo (only the template can).

# Pull from HAOS to local backup
scp root@192.168.x.x:/config/secrets.yaml ~/secrets_backup.yaml