Official docker image runs HASS as root

[hass]

Is the a reason the official HASS core docker image runs the process as root and does not honour the PUID and PGID variables? Asking here before opening a bug for the image because non-system processes should never run as root.

[ShadowFist]

@hass

Asking here before opening a bug for the image because non-system processes should never run as root.

I suggest you search these forums & closed GitHub issues before you do that. I’m pretty sure there are multiple threads on this subject already.

EDIT: here you go, these are just the first 3 results I found in these forums. I’m sure there’s plenty more:

WTH It's not possible to use a non-root account for Docker image

Looks like HA does not support nor want to support using non-root account for HA running in Docker container. I know it’s already been discussed here: But it feels like it the WTH month so…

Improving Docker security - non-root application configuration

Instructions published on https://www.home-assistant.io/installation/generic-x86-64 explain how to run the container with the “privileged” flag and in root mode. This can be a disaster for security, especially if your setup is internet facing. To improve security, we will: Run the application within the container as a low privileged user Prevent the container from acquiring extra privileges Define granular capabilities for the container if required I’m using Docker with docker-compose on a U…

Running official docker container as non-root user results in "Unsupported Third Party Container" installation method

I’m in the process of migrating my installation from Core to Container, as the former is no longer supported. For improved security, I would like to run the container as a non-root user, as I did with the older Core Python venv installation. It seems that Home Assistant runs fine in this setup, except that the information screen reports the installation method as “Unsupported Third Party Container.” Is this expected? Is there an official or supported method to run the official container as a…

[hass]

@ShadowFist Thanks for the info and the search results. It is extremely disappointing the HASS team took this stance re running at root. Running an application as root is very very very very poor practice under any circumstance. Sadly, this will now force me back to running HASS under native OS in a python environment.

[ShadowFist]

@hass

Sadly, this will now force me back to running HASS under native OS in a python environment.

If this means running HA as Core or Supervised, I don’t have good news for you. Those installation types were removed a week ago after a 6-month deprecation notice.

Read the linked thread for alternatives - I suggest HAOS under Proxmox, though I’m not sure whether it runs as root or whether you can change that.

[Impact]

@hass

Sadly, this will now force me back to running HASS under native OS in a python environment.

Which is not supported. There are third party images which support running as non-root. These aren’t directly supported either but I feel like it’s still better than plain core.

@ShadowFist

I’m not sure whether it runs as root

It uses the same images. This is Inside of HAOS

# docker top homeassistant | awk {'print $1'} | uniq
UID
root

[hass]

Not good news at all. Just catching up on these drastic changes. I was stuck on 2025.1 for almost a year. I will remain on 2025.11 for the foreseeable future.