Hey everyone!
I’d like to share Snapdash — a lightweight desktop widget system
that displays live Home Assistant sensor data directly on your
desktop.
What it does
Each sensor you select becomes a small, frameless floating window
(widget) with a native macOS-style look. Widgets update in real time
over WebSocket — no polling, no browser tab needed.
Key features:
Real-time updates via HA WebSocket API with pulse animation
on state change
Frameless widgets — transparent, rounded corners, draggable
anywhere
Secure — token stored in OS keychain (macOS Keychain /
Windows Credential Manager / Linux Secret Service), never in config
files
Cross-platform — macOS (Apple Silicon), Windows,
Linux
Lightweight — built in Rust with GPU-accelerated rendering,
designed for 24/7 background operation
Installation
macOS (Homebrew):
brew tap schizza/tap
brew install --cask snapdash
All platforms: download pre-built binaries from GitHub
Releases.
From source (Rust 1.85+):
git clone GitHub - schizza/snapdash: A pluggable desktop widget system - Home Assistant today, anything tomorrow. · GitHub
cd snapdash
cargo build --release
Quick start
- Launch Snapdash → Settings window opens automatically
- Enter your HA URL (e.g.
http://homeassistant.local:8123) - Create a [Long-Lived Access Token](https://www.home-assistant.io/d
ocs/authentication/#your-account-profile) and paste it in - Click Save → Snapdash connects and lists your sensors
- Tick any sensor → a floating widget appears on your desktop
- Drag widgets wherever you want
Why Rust?
I wanted something that runs 24/7 without eating memory or CPU.
Electron was too heavy for showing a single number. Rust +
iced (GPU-accelerated UI
framework) gives native performance with minimal footprint —
typically <30MB RAM, <1% CPU at idle.
Current status
**v0.0.2 — It works, but expect rough edges.
What’s working:
WebSocket connection with auto-reconnect- Sensor picker GUI
- Live updates with pulse animation
- Mac Light / Mac Dark theme
- Drag & drop widget positioning
- Update notifications
- Homebrew installation
On the roadmap:
Sensor history & sparkline charts
Plugin API for non-HA data sources
System tray & autostart
Signed macOS/Windows binaries
Links
GitHub:
github.com/schizza/snapdash- Website: snapdash.rs
Bug reports:
Issues
Discussion: GitHub
Discussions
Feedback welcome!
I’d love to hear:
- What sensors do you want on your desktop?
- What features are you missing?
- How does it run on your system? (OS, HA version)
If you find a bug, please open an issue — there
are templates for bug reports and feature requests.
Thanks for trying it out! 