Home Assistant

Home Assistant

The published Home Assistant App is the recommended installation for Home Assistant OS. It packages the daemon and responsive dashboard, uses authenticated Ingress, publishes MQTT Discovery, and stores recordings in Home Assistant media storage. It supports an SDS200 reachable on the local network.

Prerequisites

• Home Assistant OS with Apps and the MQTT service available
• An SDS200 with a stable local hostname or address
• Host UDP port 50000 available for the scanner's inbound RTP audio

The App does not support SDS100 or SDS150 USB passthrough. Do not install the Python package or copy a Local App for a normal published installation.

Install the App

1. Open Settings > Apps > App store.
2. Open the top-right menu and choose Repositories.
3. Add https://github.com/stevenboyd78/sdsctl.
4. Open sds200 from that repository and choose Install.
5. Set scanner_host to the SDS200 LAN hostname or address.
6. Leave recording_directory at sdsctl/recordings unless another directory below /media is intentional.
7. Start the App and open Web UI.

Success means the Ingress dashboard reports Connected, scanner state updates, and the App log has no repeated restart or ownership failure.

Dashboard cards

The App packages the compact scanner, scanner-display, and Waterfall cards. Register the single aggregate JavaScript Module shown by the App's current documentation or lifecycle screen. The URL is digest-qualified and can change when a released card artifact changes, so copy the exact current value rather than retyping an older example.

The individual compatibility resources remain available for selective or existing installations. Register either the aggregate resource or the needed individual resources; duplicate registration is unnecessary.

The Waterfall card offers compatible 60-, 120-, and 240-frame history plus an explicit 15-, 30-, or 60-second mode, with 240 frames as the memory cap in every case. Its optional frequency pointer works with pointer, touch, or keyboard input and is a display aid only; it does not tune, hold, search, or change scanner span.

Browser audio and recordings

Browser audio starts only after an operator action. Recordings are finalized by the daemon and then become playable and downloadable from the dashboard and Home Assistant media storage. A browser closing must not interrupt another client or an active daemon-owned recording.

Optional Core integration

The separately versioned sdsctl Core integration adds one browsable media-source://sdsctl/live item. It does not create an output media-player entity. The App packages the artifact but never installs, activates, removes, or restarts Home Assistant Core automatically.

Install, update, rollback, bridge-key rotation, removal, and Core restart are explicit operator actions. Follow the Home Assistant live-audio guide and keep capability material out of screenshots, logs, messages, and source control.

Advanced private-LAN clients and displays

The App can optionally expose two independently authenticated private-LAN services: the encrypted daemon-client protocol for CLI/TUI devices, and a native HTTPS dashboard for an ordinary browser or kiosk. Both are disabled by default; neither replaces the recommended authenticated Ingress dashboard.

This supports one Home Assistant-hosted scanner daemon feeding multiple Pi or workstation displays without creating another scanner, PSI, audio, recording, or Waterfall owner. Home Assistant publishes enabled App ports host-wide, so this mode requires an intentional trusted-LAN firewall boundary and must never be port-forwarded to the Internet.

Follow Advanced Home Assistant access for the beginner-oriented two-restart setup, one-time credential download, Raspberry Pi TUI commands, native browser setup, per-client scopes, rotation, revocation, and safe disable workflow.

Update or remove

Use the normal App update offered by Home Assistant. Before a controlled upgrade, confirm that persistent recordings are below the configured /media directory. Removing the App does not automatically remove separately installed Core integration files or a configured integration entry; clean those through their documented lifecycle when applicable.

The /addons Local App workflow is only for development and physical release validation. A Local App and the published App must not compete for the scanner.

Detailed reference

Read the canonical Home Assistant App guide for architecture, configuration, networking, Ingress, MQTT entities, cards, local development, upgrades, persistent recordings, acceptance evidence, and security boundaries. Use Advanced Home Assistant access for private-LAN clients and displays, and use Troubleshooting when the repository, App, audio, MQTT entities, cards, or recordings fail.