Can we pass PUID/PGID to the HA Docker container so I can edit files with vscode as normal user?

Configuration
1

Here my Docker compose for HA.

    homeassistant:
        image: "ghcr.io/home-assistant/home-assistant:stable"
        hostname: homeassistant
        container_name: homeassistant
        network_mode: host
        restart: unless-stopped
        privileged: true
        volumes:
            - /data/docker/homeassistant:/config
            - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
            - /run/dbus:/run/dbus:ro
        depends_on:
            - zwave
            - mosquitto

Everything works as expected. But I can’t open /data/docker/homeassistant in vscode and edit files cause everything in /data/docker/homeassistant is root:root.

The quick/easy fix seems to be to set the PUID/PGID environment variables to 1000 which is my primary user.

But I’m not sure if that will break things?

2

As a possible alternative, you could change the permissions of the files, either by making them writable for everyone, or by adding yourself to group “root” and make the files group-writable (a bit more safe).

Setting PUID/PGID could also work, but is more likely to break things.

3

Indeed, and specially: When you restart the container, most files will be reset to root:root, leaving you with a weird mix. Best to just leave it. I’ve tried.

This is the best option. I personally don’t edit files directly, but have an rsync script, so I don’t have exact knowledge of the VSCode app (add-on).

4

I created user and group in Linux 1002

services:
  homeassistant:
  user: 1002:1002
5

What is the basis of your reply? AFAIK, PUIDs and GUIDs aren’t globally unique in Linux (generally speaking, with the exception of e.g. root).

6

not sure why but HA docker container didnt respect puid/pgid or pid/gid. it did recognize and utilize “user”. the user will be unknown to docker container but services will run as user.

I have not checked puid/guid in past 1 to 2 yrs so maybe this has changed. I am running recent HA version so I have confirmed “user” is functioning and may resolve your file permission issue.

EDIT
and yes, if i remember setting PUID/PGID or variants did break things or maybe it just had no effect. tested long ago and did not document problems

7

I was able to solve this using setfacls on my Docker host to add my regular user. It works great.

8

I was wrong. HA is doing something that overwrites the ACLs. Doh.

9

Which is why I said:

10

Unless you run container with user: xxxx:xxxx defined