Problems with HASS.Agent

jwindley · November 4, 2023, 2:28pm

I’ve replaced my son’s computer with a new one, and stupidly gave the new computer the same name as the old one, then installed HASS.Agent.
MQTT is working fine, but the device isn’t discovered with HASS.Agent and I can’t send notifications to it, which is my main requirement. I’ve seen some information that HASS.Agent is currently a little broken, and won’t add new devices unless you remove the integration and re-add. This kind of works, but pulls all the previous HASS.Agent devices back in, including the original PC under the original device name, even when it’s not powered up.
It looks like reinstalling the HASS.Agent integration automatically pulls back old devices and entities, which is what I’m trying to prevent. Any ideas how I can remove the HASS.Agent devices / entities so they don’t reappear automatically? At this point I just want to start from a clean slate with this integration.
Thanks!

jwindley · November 13, 2023, 11:03am

I’ve managed to get the new laptop / HASS .Agent working, but I’m still not really sure how… Lots of deleting of the integration and re-adding.
I’m still confused as everytime the integration gets added, all the old devices / entities are “discovered”, even if they are no longer on the network. This suggests to me that the integration isn’t discovering, but just showing devices / entities that are stale entries left over in the configuration.
I have one old device left which I’ve disabled, but will probably never be fully cleaned up.

jazzypants360 · October 28, 2024, 3:06am

Hey, just out of curiosity, did you ever figure out how to clean up these old entries? I’m dealing with the same issue at the moment. Thanks in advance!

jazzypants360 · October 28, 2024, 3:12am

Ah, I just stumbled upon this:

github.com

LAB02-Admin/HASS.Agent-Docs/blob/ac5fa70565501b9ede0870fa0d2ee156dce26792/docs/clean-slate.md

# Clean Slate

This manual shows you how to clean up HASS.Agent in both Home Assistant (*HA*) and locally. Use this whenever you want to start over, or something goes wrong with a sensor or command.

#### Home Assistant

HASS.Agent should keep everything tidy, but sometimes, old devices or entities get orphaned in HA. If you're like me, you want to clean them up. Other reasons can be that a sensor or command got messed up, tangled up because of duplicate device names, or you simply want to start over.

> When you delete your device in HA, it won't mess with your automations and scripts. Simply have HASS.Agent re-register (which is as easy as restarting it) and everything's up and running!

Before you get started, make sure you completely close HASS.Agent by chosing `exit` in the exit dialog. Otherwise it'll keep re-registering.

Afterwards, open HA, press `c`, type `devices` and press enter. This'll bring you to the devices list. Now type the name of the device you want to clean, and click it to open:

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/81011038/174077501-afd7458e-9579-4f30-9e1a-8596c4a31d43.png)

Check that you have a HASS.Agent device open, by looking at the `Device info` - it should say `LAB02 Research`:

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/81011038/174077693-8e55217b-88fa-431a-8fc3-72c62827d5b1.png)

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This resolved my issue. Hopefully, if you are still plagued by this, it will resolve it for you too!

jwindley · November 15, 2024, 3:26pm

hi Jazzy,
no I never did find a way to remove the old device, I just ended up disabling it in Home Assistant. Thanks for your comment, that was really useful!
J