In the world of smart homes, we strive to be able to control and monitor as many functions as possible centrally. So why not also keep an eye on the status of your websites or services? This is exactly where Uptime Kuma comes into play. In this article, I'll show you what Uptime Kuma is, why you should use it and how you can integrate it into Home Assistant to make your smart home even smarter.
For detailed instructions and an explanation of all configuration options, I recommend the YouTube video linked below. In this video, every single setting is explained in detail so that you receive comprehensive instructions for the exact setup. You can find any code from the video in this article so that you can use it directly without having to type it in.
What is Uptime Kuma?
Uptime Kuma is a powerful, open-source monitoring tool that allows you to monitor the status of websites, APIs or other services. It works in a similar way to paid services such as "UptimeRobot", but is completely free and extremely flexible.
With Uptime Kuma you can:
- Monitor websites in real time.
- Set up notifications when a website is down.
- Create a clear dashboard display for your server status.
Uptime Kuma runs locally on your server or Raspberry Pi, giving you full control over your data. However, you can also run it on any other server you can rent. The integration can be found here: https://github.com/meichthys/uptime_kuma
Why integrate Uptime Kuma into Home Assistant?
Home Assistant is the central hub for your smart home. From here, you can control devices, automations and keep an eye on important information. The integration of Uptime Kuma brings you the following benefits:
Orchestration platform
Home Assistant becomes the central control platform on which you not only have your smart home under control, but also the status of your digital services.
Central overview
You can see directly in your Home Assistant dashboard whether all important websites and services are available. This saves you having to switch between different tools.
Fast response in the event of failures
Thanks to Home Assistant, you can set up notifications that inform you when a website is offline. You may even want to create an automation that triggers certain actions in the event of an outage, such as sending an alarm to your smartphone.
What is Home Assistant?
Home Assistant is an open source platform for home automation that aims to connect and centrally control all devices in the home. It is designed to provide a unified user interface and simple, flexible control for a variety of smart home devices from different ecosystems. Here are some points in favor of Home Assistant:
- CompatibilityHome Assistant supports thousands of devices and services from various manufacturers, including lighting, air conditioning, heating, cameras, weather sensors, voice assistants and more.
- Local controlUnlike many commercial smart home platforms that rely on cloud services, Home Assistant runs locally on your network. This means increased privacy and reliability, as your smart home devices work even without an active internet connection.
- Automation and scenesOne of the main features of Home Assistant is the ability to create complex automations and scenarios. For example, you can have lights switch on automatically when it gets dark or turn on the heating when the temperature falls below a certain level.
- Simple user interfaceHome Assistant offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to monitor and control devices. This interface is fully customizable.
- Integration with voice assistantsHome Assistant can be integrated with voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to enable voice-controlled control of your smart home devices.
- Open source and community-drivenSince Home Assistant is open source, it is supported by an active community that is constantly developing new integrations and improving existing ones.
- Data protection and securityAs a locally running platform, Home Assistant has the advantage that the data remains within its own network. This protects privacy and increases security compared to cloud-based solutions.
In summary, Home Assistant is a powerful and flexible solution for those who want to design their own smart home and control their devices centrally, regardless of the manufacturer or ecosystem.
Installation of HACS and integration of in Home Assistant
Step 1: Installing HACS in Home Assistant
Home Assistant Community Store (HACS) is a custom add-on for Home Assistant that provides access to a variety of custom integrations and plugins developed by the community. How to install HACS:
- Check requirements: Make sure that your Home Assistant is ideally up to date.
- Download Execute script: Open a terminal for the Docker container version or the core version.
- Docker: Dial into the container with:
docker exec -it homeassistant bashor (similar) - Core: Switch to the user who is running Home Assistant
- Execute the following command for both variants:
wget -O - https://get.hacs.xyz | bash -
- Docker: Dial into the container with:
- Restarting the Home Assistant: After the files have been copied, restart Home Assistant.
- Integrate HACS into Home AssistantGo to "Configuration" > "Integrations" > "Add" in the Home Assistant interface and search for HACS. Add it and enter your GitHub token if prompted.
For the supervised version, please refer to the Documentation of HACS itself to read about the installation.
Step 2: Add Uptime Kuma integration via HACS
Once HACS is installed, you can simply add Uptime Kuma:
- Open HACS: Go to HACS in the Home Assistant interface.
- Search for integrationClick on "Integrations" and use the search function to search for "Uptime Kuma".
- Install Uptime KumaFind Uptime Kuma in the list and click on "Install". This will add the integration to your Home Assistant.
- Restarting the Home Assistant: Start Home Assistant again to apply the changes.
- Configure Uptime KumaAfter restarting, you can set up and customize Uptime Kuma via "Configuration" > "Integrations" in Home Assistant.
Conclusion
With these steps, you have successfully installed HACS in your Home Assistant and added the Uptime Kuma integration. This powerful combination opens up a world of additional features and customizations that have been and are being developed by the Home Assistant community. More blog posts and videos on useful integrations to follow. If you don't want to miss out, subscribe to my YouTube channel!
The perfect addition: the Lovelace Uptime Card
To display the status of your websites and services even more clearly in Home Assistant, you can use the Lovelace Uptime Card use. This specially developed card from dylandoamaral is perfectly designed to display the data from Uptime Kuma in an appealing and informative way in your Home Assistant dashboard.
What can the Uptime Card do?
The Uptime Card shows the status of your monitored websites and services in a visually clear and structured form. It supports:
- Color-coded status displaysGreen for "online", red for "offline".
- Detailed availability statisticsYou can see at a glance how high the uptime of your websites was over a certain period of time.
- Custom icons and labelsCustomize the map to match your dashboard.
- Several services in one card: Ideal for clearly displaying many web pages.
Example configuration
Here is an example of how you can configure the Uptime Card in Home Assistant:
type: custom:uptime-card
title: Website status
entities:
- entity: sensor.website_1_status
name: My website
icon: mdi:web
- entity: sensor.api_service_status
name: API service
icon: mdi:api
show_status: true
show_graph: true
show_name: trueIn this example, two services are monitored: a website and an API service. The map shows the current status and can even graphically display the availability over the last few hours or days if desired.
Why use this card?
The Uptime Card is an ideal addition to your dashboard as it takes the integration of Uptime Kuma in Home Assistant to the next level. You can visualize all important information in an appealing way and save yourself tedious clicking through lists or logs.
With the Uptime Card, you not only make your smart home more functional, but also more visually appealing - perfect for anyone who appreciates clarity and style in their Home Assistant interface.
YouTube video implementation
An example from practice
Imagine you run a small website or blog. With Uptime Kuma, you always know whether your site is available. Thanks to the integration with Home Assistant, you will be notified immediately if something is wrong. Maybe you also have important APIs or streaming services that need to be online all the time - Home Assistant becomes your personal command center.
Conclusion
The combination of Uptime Kuma and Home Assistant is a real benefit for any smart home. You have all the important information in one place and can react quickly to problems. Why wait? Try it out and turn your smart home into the ultimate control center for your digital life!
If you have any questions or ideas for implementation, please write them in the comments. Have fun experimenting!
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