Packages

Packages in Home Assistant provide a way to bundle different integration’s configuration together. With packages we have a way to include different integrations, or different configuration parts using any of the !include directives introduced in splitting the configuration.

Packages are configured under the core homeassistant/packages in the configuration and take the format of a package name (no spaces, all lower case) followed by a dictionary with the package configuration. For example, package pack_1 would be created as:

homeassistant:
  ...
  packages: 
    pack_1:
      ...package configuration here...

The package configuration can include: switch, light, automation, groups, or most other Home Assistant integrations including hardware platforms.

It can be specified inline or in a separate YAMLYAML is a human-readable data serialization language. It is used to store and transmit data in a structured format. In Home Assistant, YAML is used for configuration, for example in the configuration.yaml or automations.yaml files. [Learn more] file using !include.

Inline example, main configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more]:

homeassistant:
  ...
  packages: 
    pack_1:
      switch:
        - platform: rest
          ...
      light:
        - platform: rpi
          ...

Include example, main configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more]:

homeassistant:
  ...
  packages: 
    pack_1: !include my_package.yaml

The file my_package.yaml contains the “top-level” configuration:

switch:
  - platform: rest
    ...
light:
  - platform: rpi
    ...

There are some rules for packages that will be merged:

1. Platform based integrations (light, switch, etc) can always be merged.

2. Integrations where entities are identified by a key that will represent the entity_id ({key: config}) need to have unique ‘keys’ between packages and the main configuration file.

   For example if we have the following in the main configuration. You are not allowed to re-use “my_input” again for input_boolean in a package:

   input_boolean:
     my_input:
   

3. Any integration that is not a platform [1], or dictionaries with Entity ID keys [2] can only be merged if its keys, except those for lists, are solely defined once.

Create a packages folder

One way to organize packages is to create a folder named “packages” in your Home Assistant configuration directory. In the packages directory, you can store any number of packages in a YAMLYAML is a human-readable data serialization language. It is used to store and transmit data in a structured format. In Home Assistant, YAML is used for configuration, for example in the configuration.yaml or automations.yaml files. [Learn more] file. This entry in your configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more] will load all YAMLYAML is a human-readable data serialization language. It is used to store and transmit data in a structured format. In Home Assistant, YAML is used for configuration, for example in the configuration.yaml or automations.yaml files. [Learn more]-files in this packages folder and its subfolders:

homeassistant:
  packages: !include_dir_named packages

The benefit of this approach is to pull all configurations required to integrate a system into one file—rather than keeping them spread across several files. You can use other !include methods for packages; for example !include_dir_merge_named. However, unlike !include_dir_merge_named, the !include_dir_named method uses the same indentation as the ‘configuration.yaml’. This means that you can copy and paste elements from the config file. With !include_dir_named, the file name is used as the package name. File names must be unique.

With the !include_dir_merge_named method, the package name has to be included in the file. The configuration below then needs to be indented accordingly. This means you cannot directly copy and paste from the configuration file.

homeassistant:
  packages: !include_dir_merge_named packages/

and in packages/subsystem1/functionality1.yaml:

subsystem1_functionality1:
  input_boolean:
  ...
  binary_sensor:
  ...
  automation:

Customizing entities with packages

It is possible to customize entities within packages. Just create your customization entries under:

homeassistant:
  customize: