Installation

Installation

There are two ways to run Glance: as a Home Assistant add-on (recommended for most people) or locally for development.

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Option 1 — Home Assistant Add-on (Ingress)

Runs on the HA server itself and shows up as the Glance panel in the sidebar. Requires a Supervisor (HA OS or Supervised). HA Container/Core have no add-on store and cannot use this.

One-click

Open the Add repository dialog pre-filled in your own HA:

https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/supervisor_add_addon_repository/?repository_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fjvenuto80%2FDynamic-HA-Dashboard

Then click Add.

The button only adds the repository — it does not install the add-on, and on some HA/browser versions it just opens the Add-on Store without the dialog. If that happens, use the manual steps below.

Manual (always works)

1. Settings → Add-ons → Add-on Store.
2. Top-right ⋮ menu → Repositories.
3. Paste and Add, then Close:

   https://github.com/jvenuto80/Dynamic-HA-Dashboard
   

4. Refresh the store. A new Glance — HA Dashboard Add-ons section appears.
5. Open Glance — HA Dashboard → Install → Start → Open Web UI (it also appears as Glance in the sidebar).

First install builds from source on your device (clones the repo + npm run build), so it can take several minutes and needs internet access.

Next: Configuration for first-time token setup.

Direct port access (Fully Kiosk Browser, tablets, wall displays)

By default the add-on is served through Ingress only (no exposed port — it inherits HA's authentication). To point a kiosk browser straight at the dashboard, give it a direct port:

1. Open the add-on → Configuration tab. You'll see a Network card with a row labeled 3000/tcp and an empty box to its left.
2. In that empty box, type the host port you want — enter 3000 (or any other free port).
3. Click Save, then Restart the add-on.

Then browse to http://<home-assistant-ip>:<port> — e.g. http://192.168.1.10:3000. Leaving the box empty keeps the add-on on Ingress only (sidebar panel).

The box on the left is the host port (the number you type in your browser). The 3000/tcp label on the right is the container's fixed port — don't change it. There is no separate top-level "Network" tab; the card lives on the Configuration tab (visible once the add-on is started).

Ingress vs. direct port — what to know

	Ingress (default)	Direct host port
URL	Glance sidebar panel	http://<ha-ip>:<port>
HA login	Required (wraps the dashboard)	Not required on that port
Best for	Normal + remote use	Kiosks/tablets on a trusted LAN

What changes when you set a direct port:

• You gain a stable, simple URL that kiosk browsers (Fully Kiosk, tablets, wall displays) can auto-launch reliably — no long Ingress token path.
• No Home Assistant authentication on that port. Anyone who can reach that IP:port on your network sees the dashboard UI with no login prompt.
• Your HA data stays protected by the token. Glance stores no secrets; it only connects to HA after a long-lived token is entered in Settings (saved per-browser in localStorage). A fresh device hitting the port sees an unconfigured dashboard until a token is added; your already-set-up kiosk keeps showing live data because its token lives in that browser.
• Keep the port on your LAN. Do not port-forward it to the internet or put it behind an unauthenticated reverse proxy — use Ingress for remote access.
• Both can run at once. Setting a host port doesn't disable the Ingress sidebar panel; leaving the box empty keeps it Ingress-only.

Recommendation: use the direct port only on trusted LAN kiosk devices, and keep Ingress for normal and remote access.

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Option 2 — Local development

npm install
npm run dev        # Vite dev server on http://localhost:3000
npm run build      # tsc -b + vite build  → dist/
npm run preview    # serve the production build

Strict TypeScript is enforced (noUnusedLocals); the build must be 0 errors.

Set connection values via .env (copy .env.example → .env) or in the in-app Settings modal. See Configuration.

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Updating the add-on

When a new version is published, the add-on page shows an Update button. After updating, restart the add-on so the sidebar panel re-registers (see Troubleshooting if the panel name looks stale).

Update rebuilds the dashboard from the latest source automatically. If you ever need to force a fresh build without a version change (e.g. testing new code on the same version), use the add-on's ⋮ menu → Rebuild.