No mic icon / Assist UI missing in HA Core (Docker + WSL2) despite working pipeline

Configuration Voice Assistant
1

Setup:

  • Home Assistant Core (Docker)
  • Running inside WSL2 (Ubuntu)
  • homeassistant uses network_mode: host
  • Local voice stack:
    • Wyoming Whisper (STT)
    • Wyoming Piper (TTS)
    • Wyoming OpenWakeWord
  • Piper confirmed working (TTS plays in browser)
  • Whisper reports “Ready”
  • Voice assistant pipeline created successfully

Problem:

  • No microphone icon anywhere in HA UI
  • /assist returns 404
  • Browser mic permissions are allowed
  • Using http://localhost:8123 (not HTTPS)

What’s already been ruled out:

  • Not a networking issue
  • Not a Wyoming issue
  • Not browser permissions
  • Not SSL / HTTPS

Question:
Is the Assist / mic UI expected to appear in Home Assistant Core (Docker) in this setup?

Or is this:

  • a known limitation of Core vs HA OS / Companion App?
  • version-dependent?
  • requiring a specific integration or frontend flag?

Goal:
I want to confirm whether:

  • the mic UI should exist in this environment
    or
  • testing voice should be done another way
2

You should be running through https so your browser can utilize the microphone.

There are some workarounds but didn’t try any for myself.

https://blog.devgenius.io/how-i-finally-got-my-microphone-working-on-a-non-secure-local-website-without-https-1208d7d684b3