Install Homebridge on Debian or Ubuntu Linux

This guide provides step-by-step instructions to show you how to install Homebridge on Debian, Ubuntu or Raspberry Pi OS or other debian-based distros as a service so it will automatically start on boot.

• Prerequisites
• Installing Homebridge
  • Step 1: Add Homebridge Repository
  • Step 2: Install Homebridge
  • Complete: Login to the Homebridge UI
• Multiple Instances
• Updating
• How To Uninstall Homebridge
• Configuration Reference

Prerequisites

Before you get started, make sure you have the following ready:

• A Debian, Ubuntu or Raspberry Pi OS Linux machine (or similar).
• Access to the Terminal. This can be via a desktop Terminal app, or remotely via SSH. You will need the ability to copy and paste commands from this guide into the terminal.

Supported architectures:

• x86_64
• armhf (armv6 / armv7)
• aarch64 (arm64)

Installing Homebridge

Step 1: Add Homebridge Repository

Make sure you have the tools required to add the Homebridge repository installed:

Add the Homebridge Repository GPG key:

curl -sSfL https://repo.homebridge.io/KEY.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/homebridge.gpg  > /dev/null

Add the Homebridge Repository to the system sources:

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/homebridge.gpg] https://repo.homebridge.io stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/homebridge.list > /dev/null

Step 2: Install Homebridge

Update repositories:

sudo apt-get update

Install Homebridge:

sudo apt-get install homebridge

Complete: Login to the Homebridge UI

The Homebridge UI web interface will allow you to install, remove and update plugins, and modify the Homebridge config.json and manage other aspects of your Homebridge service.

Login to the web interface by going to http://<ip address of your server>:8581.

To find the IP address of your server you can run:

hostname -I

Review the Configuration Reference at the bottom of this guide.

Multiple Instances

This installation method does not support multiple instances. Use Child Bridges instead.

Updating

You can update Homebridge and the bundled Node.js runtime by installing the latest version of the Homebridge package using apt, and not impact your existing homebridge configuration.

Update repositories:

sudo apt-get update

Install latest version of the Homebridge package:

sudo apt-get upgrade homebridge

Please note that this will install the homebridge apt pkg versions of NodeJS, Homebridge and Homebridge-Config-UI-X overwriting any local changes to those packages.

Downgrading to previous release

This will downgrade the homebridge apt package version to an earlier release ie 1.1.0 and not remove your existing homebridge configuration. A list of previous releases is here. This will install the homebridge apt pkg versions of NodeJS, Homebridge and Homebridge-Config-UI-X overwriting any local changes.

sudo apt-get remove homebridge
sudo apt-get install homebridge=1.1.0

How To Uninstall Homebridge

To uninstall Homebridge run:

sudo apt-get remove homebridge

Optionally, remove the Homebridge repository:

sudo rm -rf /etc/apt/sources.list.d/homebridge.list

Optionally, to uninstall and remove all plugins and user config run:

# WARNING: This will delete /var/lib/homebridge, all your plugins, and Homebridge config.
sudo apt-get purge homebridge

Configuration Reference

This table contains important information about your setup. You can use the information provided here as a reference when configuring or troubleshooting your environment after setting up Homebridge using the instructions below.

	File Location / Command
Config File Path	/var/lib/homebridge/config.json
Storage Path	/var/lib/homebridge
Plugin Path	/var/lib/homebridge/node_modules
Node Path	/opt/homebridge/bin/node
Restart Command	sudo hb-service restart
Stop Command	sudo hb-service stop
Start Command	sudo hb-service start
View Logs Command	sudo hb-service logs
Install Plugin	sudo hb-service add homebridge-example
Remove Plugin	sudo hb-service remove homebridge-example
Enter Homebridge Shell	sudo hb-shell

Click here for the configuration reference for setups done before May 2022

	File Location / Command
Config File Path	/var/lib/homebridge/config.json
Storage Path	/var/lib/homebridge
Restart Command	sudo hb-service restart
Stop Command	sudo hb-service stop
Start Command	sudo hb-service start
View Logs Command	sudo hb-service logs
Systemd Service File	/etc/systemd/system/homebridge.service
Systemd Env File	/etc/default/homebridge

Click here for the configuration reference for setups done before January 2020

	File Location / Command
Config File Path	/var/lib/homebridge/config.json
Storage Path	/var/lib/homebridge
Restart Command	systemctl restart homebridge
Stop Command	systemctl stop homebridge
Start Command	systemctl start homebridge
View Logs Command	journalctl -f -n 100 -u homebridge
Systemd Service File	/etc/systemd/system/homebridge.service
Systemd Env File	/etc/default/homebridge