Understanding HACS in Home Assistant

Understanding HACS in Home Assistant

What is HACS?

While you can download integrations from Home Assistant using Settings -> Integrations, these are just the “official” integrations that are part of Home Assistant. However, there are many more integrations available that are community-made. Home Assistant is open source, so anyone can create an integration. To find and use these community-made integrations, you use HACS (Home Assistant Community Store). HACS brings a wide array of custom components, plugins, and themes to Home Assistant, allowing users to easily discover, install, and manage community-created content, significantly enhancing Home Assistant’s capabilities.

To install HACS, follow these steps:

  1. Install HACS:
    • Go to the HACS website and follow the installation instructions.
    • Restart Home Assistant after the installation.
  2. Configuration: After restarting, navigate to Settings > Integrations in Home Assistant, click on “+ ADD INTEGRATION,” and search for HACS to complete the setup.

My Favorite HACS Integrations

1. Browser Mod

Browser Mod enhances the Home Assistant frontend by allowing browser-based automations and notifications. It provides features like custom pop-ups, controlling device parameters, and more, making the user interface highly interactive and dynamic. I’m mainly using it to create cool popups with added controls for certain parts of my dashboards.

2. Powercalc

Powercalc estimates power consumption for devices that don’t have power measurement capabilities. It leverages predefined power profiles or user-defined values to provide insights into energy usage, helping users optimize their home energy consumption.

3. Alexa Media Player

Alexa Media Player integrates Amazon Alexa devices into Home Assistant. It allows users to send TTS (text-to-speech) messages, control smart home devices, and access media playback features, making Alexa devices more versatile within the smart home ecosystem. I’m mainly using it to make Alexa devices announce the start of automations, and to automate Alexa timers in my kitchen.

4. Battery Notes

Battery Notes tracks the battery levels of various devices and sends notifications when batteries are low. It helps maintain device functionality by ensuring timely battery replacements, which is crucial for battery-operated sensors and devices. It can also tell you what type of battery exactly goes in which device so you can be prepared if you see it’s running low.

5. Illuminance

The Illuminance integration provides real-time light level data from various sensors. It helps in automating lighting based on ambient light conditions, enhancing energy efficiency and creating optimal lighting environments. I’m mainly using it to turn on certain lights automatically when it senses that it gets dark.

6. Anylist

Anylist integrates the popular Anylist app with Home Assistant. It allows for seamless management of shopping lists and to-do lists, syncing items across devices and enabling voice-controlled list management via smart assistants.

7. Sonoff LAN

Sonoff LAN integrates Sonoff devices with Home Assistant without the need for flashing custom firmware. It provides control and monitoring of Sonoff devices locally, ensuring quick response times and reliability.

8. AsusRouter

The AsusRouter integration provides detailed insights into network activity and device connectivity for Asus routers. It helps me monitor network health, manage connected devices, and optimize Wi-Fi performance directly from Home Assistant.

9. Eufy Security

Eufy Security integrates Eufy cameras and security devices with Home Assistant. It offers features like live streaming, motion detection, and event recording, enhancing home security with a user-friendly interface.

10. WebRTC Camera

WebRTC Camera provides low-latency, real-time video streaming from compatible cameras. It ensures smooth and fast video feeds for surveillance and monitoring purposes, making it ideal for security and baby monitoring applications. I’m mainly using it to show live security camera feeds in my dashboards.

Summary

HACS (Home Assistant Community Store) is an essential tool for extending the capabilities of Home Assistant by accessing a wide range of community-created integrations, plugins, and themes. While Home Assistant provides official integrations, HACS opens the door to a vast array of additional features created by the community. This post explored some of my favorite HACS integrations, including Browser Mod, Powercalc, Alexa Media Player, Battery Notes, Illuminance, Anylist, Sonoff LAN, AsusRouter, Eufy Security, and WebRTC Camera. Each of these integrations offers unique functionalities that can significantly enhance your smart home experience, from improved device management and energy monitoring to advanced security and real-time video streaming. I’m heavily using HACS integrations and I consider it a must-have for any Home Assistant user.


Comments

No comments yet. Why don’t you start the discussion?

Leave a Reply