How to install Home Assistant on Ubuntu Core¶
This guide walks you through installing Home Assistant (HASS) on Ubuntu Core. Home Assistant is an open source home automation solution, designed with a rich ecosystem of integrations for connecting smart devices. We use Ubuntu Core as the OS, to guarantee a secure and up to date foundation for what runs at the center of your smart home.
Note
The instructions should work on the following architectures:
ARM64 / AArch64
AMD64 / x86_64
The guide has been tested on Raspberry Pi 4.
Install Ubuntu Core¶
Refer to the official documentation for installing Ubuntu Core.
Set up the system¶
SSH to the machine. If you installed a pre-built Ubuntu Core image, it comes with Console Conf which has guided you to deploy the public keys from your Ubuntu SSO account. In this case, you should use your Ubuntu username to connect: ssh <user>@<ip>.
Take a look at what is installed:
$ snap list
Name Version Rev Tracking Publisher Notes
core22 20230703 821 latest/stable canonical✓ base
pi 22-2 132 22/stable canonical✓ gadget
pi-kernel 5.15.0-1048.51 778 22/stable canonical✓ kernel
snapd 2.61.2 21185 latest/stable canonical✓ snapd
As you see, everything on an Ubuntu Core system is a snap, including the kernel. At least this is how we start. Later on, we’ll also add a Docker container, via a snapped Docker Engine.
Let’s prepare the machine for the upcoming work.
Change the default hostname (ubuntu):
$ sudo hostnamectl set-hostname pi4
Install the Avahi snap. The Avahi daemon is needed for local mDNS broadcasts and mDNS discovery:
$ sudo snap install avahi
avahi 0.8 from Ondrej Kubik (ondra) installed
Reboot (sudo reboot) to make the hostname change effective.
Now, you should now be able to SSH to the machine via it’s local domain: ssh <user>@pi4.local
Install Home Assistant¶
We will use the Home Assistant snap to deploy it.
Install the latest stable version:
$ sudo snap install home-assistant-snap
home-assistant-snap (2023.12/stable) 2023.12.4 from Giaever.online (giaever-online) installed
We can follow with: snap logs -f -n 5 home-assistant-snap
Verify what resources this snap has access to:
$ snap connections home-assistant-snap
Interface Plug Slot Notes
bluez home-assistant-snap:bluez - -
content - home-assistant-snap:components -
content - home-assistant-snap:configurations -
content - home-assistant-snap:vscs-content -
content home-assistant-snap:bin - -
desktop home-assistant-snap:desktop - -
hardware-observe home-assistant-snap:hardware-observe :hardware-observe -
network home-assistant-snap:network :network -
network-bind home-assistant-snap:network-bind :network-bind -
network-control home-assistant-snap:network-control :network-control -
physical-memory-control home-assistant-snap:physical-memory-control - -
raw-usb home-assistant-snap:raw-usb - -
removable-media home-assistant-snap:removable-media - -
serial-port home-assistant-snap:serial-port - -
The essential networking interfaces have been connected, which are sufficient for us. It is possible to remove extra access, or add additional ones.
Now open the following address via a web browser to start onboarding Home Assistant: http://pi4.local:8123
Follow the wizard to set up your instance. In the end, you will be redirected to the default dashboard with some possible auto-configured devices. In my case, there are a few Chromecast devices:
You can now head over to Settings->Devices and Services to configure and add other devices:
That’s really it. You now have a fully functional Home Assistant instance, which stays up to date and secure.
Home Assistant comes with numerous Integrations out of the box, enabling you to add your smart home with little efforts. In the next section, we’ll walk you through adding Matter integration.
Add Matter Integration¶
Important
This guides uses a beta version of Python Matter Server from Home Assistant Libs, which is not ready for production.
In order to add Matter integration to Home Assistant, we need to use the Python Matter Server. This component is not available as a snap, so we will deploy it as a Docker container.
Install Docker snap:
$ sudo snap install docker
docker 24.0.5 from Canonical✓ installed
Run the Docker container for Python Matter Server:
$ sudo docker run -d \
--name matter-server \
--restart=unless-stopped \
--security-opt apparmor=unconfined \
-v $(pwd)/matter-server:/data \
-v /run/dbus:/run/dbus:ro \
--network=host \
ghcr.io/home-assistant-libs/python-matter-server:stable
Unable to find image 'ghcr.io/home-assistant-libs/python-matter-server:stable' locally
stable: Pulling from home-assistant-libs/python-matter-server
abd2c048cba4: Pull complete
861eb9f546f8: Pull complete
f7bb0ec509a9: Pull complete
3ec31f44b517: Pull complete
c4b248828bce: Pull complete
3738fbd089b3: Pull complete
252ff7c1d11a: Pull complete
675008dad2ae: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:aab82f903670b7bf4f72eb24c7d5b3520c854fe272f196e32b354c63f02d8724
Status: Downloaded newer image for ghcr.io/home-assistant-libs/python-matter-server:stable
5753ab4ecbc6f181be2669d4281cd27e0cb4d591d1faa4fa640759ff7547a38a
The above command pulled the image (because it didn’t exist locally) and then started it in the background.
We can follow with: sudo docker logs -f -n 5 matter-server
Now, head to the Home Assistant Settings->Devices & Services and add the Matter integration:
Leave the server URL as default: http://localhost:5580/ws, because we run the server on the same machine as the Home Assistant server.
Go to Devices tab and add a Matter Device. Here you’ll be asked to use the companion mobile application:
Install the Home Assistant Companion mobile app for iOS or Android. The application is documented here. In the following steps, we’ll use the Android application.
The application will usually discover the running Home Assistant instance. But we advise that you configure it manually to use the local domain name. Alternatively, you could set up an IP address on the device and use that instead.
Once you’ve completed configuring the application, you’ll land on the Home Assistant dashboard. Go to Settings->Devices and services->Devices and add your Matter device.
We’ll use a Matter-compliant Smart Plug, from an unknown manufacturer.
Tip: One of the benefits of Matter standard is that we don’t need to worry much about who made the device, because we should be able to use it as long as it is compliant with the standard. It is still essential to ensure the device is secured, possibly by sandboxing it inside the local network (block internet access).
Let’s add the device:
You need to scan it’s QR code:
This will drive the commissioning, through the following steps:
Connecting to device …
Checking network connectivity …
Generating Matter Credentials …
Connecting device to Home Assistant …
Device connected
Now, you should be able to control this device via the smart phone app or the web browser:
Take it to the next level¶
The Home Assistant instance can further configured and extended with community driver integrations.
You may refer to the following snaps from the same publisher:
Home Assistant Community Store - to manage custom integrations and plugins
Home Assistant Toolbox - to add tools such as cURL
Home Assistant Configurator - to configure Home Assistant remotely via a web-based text editor based on Ace
Remote configuration via VSCode Server - to run a VSCode server and allow remote management via VSCode code editor.