Will we be able to see the add-on modules on Docker one day?

Feature Requests
1

Will we ever be able to see add-ons on Docker or is this not feasible?

2

It is extremely unlikely to change. In fact I am tempted to say an outright “no”.

Add-ons are just containerised applications managed by the supervisor.

If you want add-ons choose an install method that has a supervisor (see the table here: Installation - Home Assistant).

Otherwise manage your own containerised applications. You can find nearly everything that is available as an add-on as a container on Dockerhub.

4 Likes
3

Let us know if you are looking for a specific add-on and maybe we can give you a docker compose for it etc.

4

I’m always puzzled to see users who are able to setup HA under docker longing for addons…

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5

Puzzled because:
1 - They can install HA docker but not install the docker add-ons?
2 - They choose an install method without add-ons but want add-ons?

6

#1 really.
I can understand #2 because who wants to dedicate a whole device to a python application :wink:

7

I also chose docker for greater control of my Pi (and HA). I observed that docker installs seem a lot more stable than HAOS (judging by the number of issues with HAOS on the forum compared to docker).

However, I had to learn how to use docker in order to install HA this way and I have no clue how to inspect an add-on to create the docker compose file (and whatever HA config is needed). Luckily all the add-ons I wanted had well documented docker instructions.

8

Well,

  1. There are roughly 6 times more HAOS users than Container ones
  2. Typically, Container users are more computer literate than HAOS users, so they can self-support themselves

So I definitely wouldn’t deduce more stability for one or the other based upon amount of forum posts…

That being said, I’m of the opinion that supervisor and all the other components of HAOS add a level of complexity prone to issues, indeed.

2 Likes
9

The question is, is the OP looking for add-ons in the HA sense of the word, or do they simply want the functionality that is in the add-ons and can be had by installing additional containers? I remember when I first installed HA I went for the difficult route of installing supervised because I wanted to have add-ons and I wanted to use the hardware for other purposes as well. If you look in the table it seems like you cannot have add-ons with Container, leading me to think that I wouldn’t have access to HACS or any of the supported add-ons if I would run Container.
I’ve since learnt that that is not the case, but it’s not very obvious from the documentation.

10

I wonder at what point people started to think HACS was for addons…

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11

All fair points.

12

Yes the distinction between an add-on and an integration requires some understanding that may be lacking for a beginner.

13

Not very long after it was introduced.

Good lord, I just remembered the bad old days of having to manually check a list of version numbers of 3rd party integrations for updates. :scream:

Integrations and add-ons do sound very similar. What else could they be called to differentiate them?

Applications and core-extensions?

14

Perhaps if add-ons were called “HAOS extensions”?

15

That would be confusing for supervised installs. They don’t run Home Assistant OS they use Debian.

16

Supervised containers? That’s exactly what “addons” are.
I’ll start redirecting users obviously confused to

1 Like
17

good point. I see why your wrote ‘core-extensions’ now.

The problem is, even docker uses ‘core’ (eg system ➜ backups ➜ Core 2024.2.1.

18

I like that.

19

“core” is used by all install methods. It’s is synonymous with the home assistant program.

20

Way better than the glossary.