ESP home in hass docker setup

i’ve tried installing esphome, but all the guides refer to the hass add-on.
I’m using the pi4 docker image, so no add-ons for me. only integrations.
I can add the integration, but no clue on how to make a connection.
entered the ip and exposed port from the running esphome/esphome docker instance but
get this error:

Can’t connect to ESP. Please make sure your YAML file contains an ‘api:’ line

but can’t find anything on this.

Can this work or do i need to set up hass native on the pi4?

You need to install esphome, the integration is how a esphome flashed device connects to HA.

As you run docker anyway I would go for that Getting Started with ESPHome — ESPHome

I finally got it.
I misunderstood the architecture. i taught a sever component was needed, but this isn’t the case. used my generic linux server and installed through pip and flashed it directly.
it directly came up in hass integrations.