Automatic Updates to Home Assistant Core Explained

Automatic updates to Home Assistant Core are a game-changer, allowing you to stay up-to-date with the latest features and security patches without lifting a finger.

Home Assistant Core can be updated automatically through the Home Assistant Supervisor, which can be accessed from the Home Assistant UI.

This means you'll never have to worry about manually updating your Home Assistant Core again, freeing up time for more important things.

The Supervisor will automatically check for updates and install them, ensuring your system stays secure and functional.

You can schedule updates to run at a specific time or day, such as Saturday at 5am. This is done using the crontab tool, which is similar to Task Scheduler on Windows.

To set up automatic updates, you can use the crontab tool to run a script at a specific time or day. For example, you can run your update script automatically on Saturday at 5am.

The crontab tool is a Linux tool that runs scripts and things automatically at a specified time. It's similar to Task Scheduler on Windows.

You can choose to run your updates at a specific time or day, such as the first Wednesday of each month. This is useful if you want to read any breaking changes or learn about issues with the update before it's installed.

To change the date and time that the script runs, you can run crontab -e again and change the schedule information at the front of the /opt/update.sh part of the line.

Some people prefer to update their system in the middle of the month (day 15), while others prefer to avoid major version releases and only update in the middle of the month. If you select a day greater than 28, updates will not run every month.

You can also select which updates to include in your automatic updates, such as kernel and OS updates, firmware updates, or add-ons and HACS components. You can also exclude certain items from automatic updates, such as keeping certain add-ons on a specific version.

If you want to perform actions before or after the update process, you can use the Pre-Update Actions or Post-Update Actions options. These actions can include sending notifications, turning devices on or off, or activating scenes.

To configure Home Assistant, you'll need to create a configuration file named `configuration.yaml` in the Home Assistant configuration directory.

This file will store all your configuration settings, including your Home Assistant instance's name, timezone, and locale.

The configuration file is a YAML file, which is a human-readable format that's easy to edit.

You can customize the file to fit your needs, but be aware that changing certain settings may require a restart of Home Assistant.

Home Assistant will automatically create a default configuration file if one doesn't exist.

You can find the default configuration file in the configuration directory, and use it as a starting point for your own configuration.

The configuration file is where you'll define your integrations, automations, and other customizations.

You can add new integrations by including their respective configuration settings in the file.

Each integration has its own set of configuration options, which you can find in the Home Assistant documentation.

The configuration file is where you'll also define your automations, which are custom rules that automate tasks in your home.

Automations are defined using a YAML syntax that's similar to the configuration file.

You can use the Home Assistant automation documentation to learn more about writing automations.