Beginners Guide

Home Assistant Beginner's Guide

Home Assistant is an open-source DIY home automation platform. To get started, all you need is a Raspberry Pi, an existing server or NAS, or an old computer. You will also need a bit of patience (okay, maybe a lot of patience). To get you started, I’ve put together a few beginner-friendly guides on Home Assistant that should ease your entry into the world of limitless home automation.

The following beginner’s guide will guide you through the setup of the Home Assistant Operating System on a Raspberry Pi, the installation of your first add-on, the integration of your first services, and much more. The articles are structured hierarchically, meaning the knowledge you gain from the first will be needed in the second, and so on.

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Basic knowledge of Home Assistant

I recommend starting with reading these two articles. Knowing exactly what Home Assistant can and can’t do will help you make the decision whether it is what you are looking for. The second article is recommended because you will find many brand names in the Home Assistant communities, which could lead to some confusion.

An illustration of two women wearing name tags

Why does Home Assistant have so many names?

Aug 2, 2022

In the first part of the Home Assistant Beginner’s Guide guide we’ll be going over the basics: A quick explainer on what Home Assistant and Hass.io are, followed by the hardware requirements and installation of Home Assistant on top of Hass.io.

Read article

As you’ve returned to this page, I’m going to assume that you’ve decided to go with Home Assistant for your home automation. Good choice! To get your project started, you will want to buy a Raspberry Pi. I’ve got a detailed comparison of the different models ready for you. The reason I suggest a Raspberry Pi is that it is far and away the easiest way of getting started for absolute beginners and has great support from developers.

Installing Home Assistant and its add-ons on a Raspberry Pi

Congratulations on coming this far. With all the hardware in place, the fun can finally start. The following beginner’s guides will help you install Home Assistant, and set up the most important add-ons.

Setting up Home Assistant