Development Build

Development Build

The development build lets you test the latest Orbit Cards changes from the Dev branch before they are included in a release.

Warning

Development builds are unreleased and may change or break without notice. Keep the normal release installed and test development cards on a non-critical dashboard first.

How It Works

The Dev branch includes a separate bundle named orbit-cards-dev.js. Every card, badge, editor, and picker entry in that bundle uses a -dev namespace, so the development build can be loaded alongside the normal release without replacing it.

Home Assistant shows development components with (Dev) in the picker.

Download

1. Download orbit-cards-dev.js from the Dev branch.

2. Copy the file to:

   /config/www/orbit-cards-dev.js
   

3. In Home Assistant, go to Settings → Dashboards → Resources.

4. Add this resource:

   /local/orbit-cards-dev.js?v=1
   

5. Set the resource type to JavaScript module.

6. Refresh Home Assistant. If the development cards do not appear, perform a hard refresh or clear the frontend cache.

The direct download link always points to the current development bundle. To inspect the file before downloading it, open dist/orbit-cards-dev.js on the Dev branch.

Development Component Types

Use the development type that matches the normal component:

Component	Release type	Development type
Area Card	custom:orbit-area-card	custom:orbit-area-card-dev
Status Card	custom:orbit-status-card	custom:orbit-status-card-dev
Action Card	custom:orbit-action-card	custom:orbit-action-card-dev
Deck Card	custom:orbit-deck-card	custom:orbit-deck-card-dev
Status Badge	custom:orbit-status-badge	custom:orbit-status-badge-dev

To test an existing configuration, duplicate it and change only its type:

type: custom:orbit-area-card-dev
area: living_room
main_entity: light.living_room

For a Status Badge:

type: custom:orbit-status-badge-dev
entity: binary_sensor.front_door_contact_sensor

The development Status Badge can be used as both a Home Assistant Badge and Heading badge, just like the release version.

Use Alongside The Release

Keep both resources registered:

/hacsfiles/Orbit-Cards/orbit-cards.js
/local/orbit-cards-dev.js?v=1

Release configs continue to use their normal types, while test configs use the matching -dev type. This makes it possible to compare released and development behaviour on the same Home Assistant installation.

Do not change a production card to a -dev type unless you want that card to depend on the development resource.

Update The Development Build

1. Download orbit-cards-dev.js from the Dev branch again.
2. Replace /config/www/orbit-cards-dev.js with the new file.
3. Hard-refresh Home Assistant.

If the browser continues to use an older cached bundle, add or increment a version query on the resource:

/local/orbit-cards-dev.js?v=2

Increase the number each time you need to force the frontend to fetch the file again.

Return To The Release

Change each development component back to its release type by removing -dev:

# Development
type: custom:orbit-status-card-dev

# Release
type: custom:orbit-status-card

After all development configs have been converted or removed:

1. Remove the /local/orbit-cards-dev.js?v=... resource from Settings → Dashboards → Resources.
2. Delete /config/www/orbit-cards-dev.js if it is no longer needed.
3. Refresh Home Assistant.

If the resource is removed while a dashboard still contains a -dev type, Home Assistant will report that the custom element does not exist.