I’m just getting started with home assistant. I opted for the containerized installation inside docker on my linux pc because I don’t have dedicated hardware yet. Also total beginner with docker (I see the potential, but oh the learning pain!).
I’ve run through guides to get set up through docker-compose. I’m running MQTT, nodered, mariadb, Zwave_js_server all in separate docker containers (thankfully I found tutorials and docker containers for those).
Here’s where I hit a roadblock which has got me worried…
I was trying to set up automatic backups to git. Everything went well (following another guide). But I got to the end where I was supposed to use an automation within HA itself to trigger a shell script on a schedule to backup all the configuration files to github. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to call that script on the host from within the containerized HA installation. Every guide I’ve found uses SSH & Web Terminal, Shell_Command addons. Just install them via Supervisor or the addon store or HASSIO. But I cannot find either of those things in my installation. What the heck is Hass.io? What is supervisor?
Yes I am aware that I could use a cron job to schedule the backups. Finishing the backup task isn’t what’s got me worried, its just my first indication that the containerized installation might have a serious drawback.
I’m about to start installing my many many smart devices. And I’m likely going to need addons to do so. How does one install addons in a containerized HA installation?
Is there a way to access the addon store from the container version of Home Assistant?
Are there docker containers and docker-compose config templates for all the addons in the store?
Do I need to start over with an OS installation on dedicated hardware to gain access to addons?
Am I completely misunderstanding something here?
I am ok with managing containers. I guess I’m not really after the add-ons themselves. As long as I can find equivalent containers with the same functionality.
I switched to using Discord to ask my questions as suggested. General consensus if someone else finds this thread and is having similar trouble:
My main problem is I’m so new to this that I don’t know what all the names mean, so I was looking for the wrong things in the wrong places and asking the wrong questions.
hass.io is what home assistant OS used to be called.
you must be running Supervised or OS versions of HA to use add-ons/add-on store.
Supervisor is a container and all addons are containers themselves. BUT they’re not designed to run in ordinary docker containers, rather inside HA operating system or Supervised versions. So you won’t be able to use them directly with your plain containerized installation even if you access their repositories manually.
most add-ons are based on pre-existing applications, for which there are usually already docker containers that predate the relatively new Add-on system.
If you’re running containerized HA like me, you’ll have to find, configure and maintain your own collection of such docker containers for the applications outside of HA that you want to use.
Look to the individual applications’ documentation for yaml config and docker container config options. Help you find in the HA community will mostly be Supervisor/Addon help that can be VERY misleading if you’re new to this and trying to run Containerized.
I was given this link as a good place to start for useful dockerized applications: https://tools.linuxserver.io/dockers
then of course Docker-Hub.
Beware. I’m still very new to this, so take these statements with a grain of salt.
Hi there, thank you for sharing this. Would you mind sharing your how-to setup and your sources which you found useful in getting the job done about how to setup home assistant container in docker and mostly the part of installing the add-ons manually?
Hope you find the time to share at least any resources.
You can’t use the HA addons with the HA docker install. The reason to use the docker install is that it gives one a lot more flexibility as you have access to the host system but unfortunately it means there isn’t a one-click install option for addons.
A lot of the addons are based on already existing docker images which you can containerise yourself to get the same functionality. For instance I’m using code-server instead of the file browser add on but there are lots of alternatives.
I cannot for the life of me figure out how to call that script on the host from within the containerized HA installation. Every guide I’ve found uses SSH & Web Terminal, Shell_Command addons.
Hi, I’m using HA running inside a docker container and to trigger actions on the host side I created a pipe on the hosting OS inside a mounted volume in HA. Then a simple python script running on the host side waits for input reading the pipe. HA sends requests writing to the pipe. I use it to trigger updates of the docker image from HA gui itself, but can be used to trigger whatever action on host side. If you need more details let me know.