Adventures in Home Assistant: Episode 2

HACS: Unlocking the Secret Store… and Realizing WHY I Now Need a Text Editor

After my triumphant Episode 1—where I installed Home Assistant and immediately gave my Raspberry Pi far too much responsibility—I decided it was time to level up. I wanted more integrations, more dashboards, more delightful chaos. And that meant installing HACS, the Home Assistant Community Store.

HACS is basically the secret underground marketplace of Home Assistant.
If Home Assistant were Hogwarts, HACS would be Diagon Alley.
If Home Assistant were a video game, HACS would be the modding community.
If Home Assistant were a sandwich… it would be the toppings you only add when you’re feeling bold.

Point is: HACS unlocks the good stuff.

🔓 Step 1: Installing HACS (a.k.a. Opening the Forbidden Door)

Because I’m running Home Assistant Container (Docker) on Raspberry Pi OS, I don’t get the fancy Supervisor or Add-on Store. No one‑click installs. No “just press the button.”
Nope. I get the DIY edition of Home Assistant.

So installing HACS looks like this:

Prerequisites

1. Review the full list of requirements:
   https://hacs.xyz/docs/use/download/prerequisites/
2. Have a GitHub account ready.

Step 1: Installing HACS

(Because my Docker setup doesn’t include the Add-on Store)

1. Go to https://hacs.xyz/docs/use/
2. Follow the “Getting Started with HACS” guide.

Once you’re done, you’ll see the HACS icon appear in the left sidebar. From there, you can browse all sorts of community-built integrations and automations.

📝 Step 2: Installing a File Editor

After unlocking HACS, I quickly realized I needed a way to edit YAML like a responsible adult.

1. Visit the File Editor documentation:
   https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/blob/master/configurator/DOCS.md
2. Install File Editor through: Settings → Apps → Install App → File Editor

Once installed, the File Editor icon will show up in the sidebar. You can use it to edit configuration.yaml and manage the folders in your Home Assistant root directory. There are other editors out there, but this one is simple and gets the job done. The important part is is simply making sure you can access your root folder and configuration.yaml.

🧹 Developer Note: A Little Housekeeping

When editing configuration.yaml and the root folder (the homeassistant directory in my setup), I try to follow a few simple rules.

1. Keep configuration.yaml tidy

I keep the main configuration file minimal. Anything more complex—custom functions, templates, or special logic—goes into separate YAML files that I link back into configuration.yaml.

Links follow the key word: !include <file.yaml> format.

For example:

script: !include scripts.yaml
 
 
```yaml
# Add media file directories
homeassistant:
  media_dirs:
    media_local: /config/media
    recording: /config/config_recordings
 
# Loads default set of integrations. Do not remove.
default_config:
 
# Load frontend themes from the themes folder
frontend:
  themes: !include_dir_merge_named www/themes
 
# Load other automation, script, scene, and template files
automation: !include automations.yaml
script: !include scripts.yaml
scene: !include scenes.yaml
template: !include templates.yaml
zone: !include zones.yaml

2. Use a clean folder structure

Here's a basic layout I follow (yours may have more files depending on your setup):

/homeassistant (or your config root)
│
├── configuration.yaml
├── automations.yaml
├── scripts.yaml
├── scenes.yaml
├── templates.yaml
│
├── media/
│   ├── audio/
│   ├── text_to_speech/
│   └── video/
│
├── www/
│   ├── community/
│   ├── images/
│   ├── maps/
│   └── themes/

Keeping things organized makes it easier to expand your Home Assistant setup without losing track of where everything lives.

Next time: I go hunting for “just a couple integrations” and end up discovering a whole ecosystem of things my house apparently wants to know. Weather, presence, devices, moods — suddenly everything is connected, and I’m not entirely sure I meant for that to happen.

Stay tuned.