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First setup

After installing, HADA is running but not yet connected to anything. This page connects it to Home Assistant through MQTT, the recommended way. Without a broker, use the WebSocket engine instead.

Before you start

In Home Assistant you need the MQTT integration and a broker; the Mosquitto add-on is the usual choice. Have ready:

  • the broker's address, which is usually the address of Home Assistant itself
  • a user name and password the broker accepts. With the Mosquitto add-on, any Home Assistant user works; a user made just for HADA is a good idea

Connect

  1. Open the HADA window: double-click the HADA icon in the notification area, or choose HADA in the Start menu.
  2. Go to Connections and choose Unlock editing. Windows asks for administrator rights; the window reopens with (Administrator) in its title.
  3. Under MQTT, fill in the broker host, the user name and the password. An address pasted as mqtt://broker:1883 is split into host and port for you.
  4. Choose Test connection. It says whether the broker accepted the connection, and why not if it did not.
  5. Save. The connection starts at once.

The Overview page should now show MQTT as Connected.

To report to more than one Home Assistant, choose Add a server and do the same for each; see Several Home Assistants at once. If the broker is found by its IP address but not by its name, see The broker's address.

In Home Assistant

Open Settings → Devices & services → MQTT. The computer is there as a device named after it, with all its entities.

The Entities page

Make it yours

  • Device ID and name. By default both are the computer's name. Change them on the Connections page if you want other entity IDs. Every computer needs its own Device ID.
  • What is shared. On the Entities page each entity has a switch. active_window, for one, sends window titles; turn it off if you would rather not. See Privacy.
  • Power buttons. Sleep, hibernate, shut down and restart are off until you turn them on, on the same page. See Controls.
  • Your own sensors and buttons. See Custom sensors and buttons.

If something does not show up, the Logs page says what the service is doing; see Troubleshooting.