Installation Methods by Environment

The Home Assistant Community Store (HACS) allows users to extend their smart home setup with community-developed integrations, themes, and dashboard cards. The installation process is determined by your Home Assistant deployment type:

• HAOS / Supervised: Navigate to Settings → Add-ons → Add-on Store. Add the repository https://github.com/hacs/addons, install the "Get HACS" add-on, and follow the instructions provided in the add-on logs.
• Container / Core: You must have terminal access to your configuration directory to run the official installation script directly.

Configuration and Authorization

After the initial download, a full system restart (Settings → System → Restart) is mandatory for Home Assistant to recognize the new integration. Once restarted, navigate to Settings → Devices & Services → Add Integration and search for "HACS."

Pro-tip: If HACS does not appear in the list, perform a hard refresh or clear your browser cache; this is the most frequent point of failure for new users. After adding the integration, you must complete the GitHub device OAuth flow by entering the provided code at github.com/login/device to grant HACS access to your account.

Maintenance and Troubleshooting

• Updates: HACS simplifies maintenance by displaying available updates for your custom integrations directly within its panel. Applying an update typically requires only a single click followed by a system restart.
• Empty HACS Panel: If the HACS sidebar remains empty after installation, it usually indicates that the GitHub authorization step was skipped or failed.
• Rate Limiting: If you encounter GitHub rate limit errors, wait a few minutes before attempting the authorization process again.