Common tasks - Core

Backup

To learn how to back up the system or how to restore a system from a backup, refer to the backup documentation under common tasks.

Update

Best practice for updating Home Assistant Core:

1. Back up your installation and store the backup and the backup emergency kit somewhere safe.

   • This ensures that you can restore your installation from backup if needed.

2. Check the release notes for backward-incompatible changes on Home Assistant release notes. Be sure to check all release notes between the version you are running and the one you are upgrading to. Use the search function in your browser (CTRL + f / CMD + f) and search for Backward-incompatible changes.

3. Update Home Assistant.

4. Review persistent notifications and log to see if there are any issues with your configuration that need to be addressed.

5. Stop the Home Assistant service.

6. Switch to the user that is running Home Assistant

   sudo -u homeassistant -H -s
   

7. Activate the virtual environment that Home Assistant is running in

   source /srv/homeassistant/bin/activate
   

8. Download and install the new version

   pip3 install --upgrade homeassistant
   

9. When that is complete start the service again for it to use the new files.

Running a specific version

To see which version your system is running, go to Settings > About.

In the event that a Home Assistant Core version doesn’t play well with your hardware setup, you can downgrade to a previous release. In this example 2025.1.2 is used as the target version but you can choose the version you desire to run.

1. Stop the Home Assistant service.

2. Switch to the user that is running Home Assistant.

   sudo -u homeassistant -H -s
   

3. Activate the virtual environment that Home Assistant is running in.

   source /srv/homeassistant/bin/activate
   

4. Download and install the version you want.

   pip3 install homeassistant==2025.1.2
   

5. When that is complete start the service again for it to use the new files.

Running a beta version

If you would like to test next release before anyone else, you can install the beta version.

1. Stop the Home Assistant service.

2. Switch to the user that is running Home Assistant.

   sudo -u homeassistant -H -s
   

3. Activate the virtual environment that Home Assistant is running in.

   source /srv/homeassistant/bin/activate
   

4. Download and install the beta version.

   pip3 install --pre --upgrade homeassistant
   

5. When that is complete, start the service again for it to use the new files.

Running a development version

If you want to stay on the bleeding-edge Home Assistant Core development branch, you can upgrade to dev.

1. Stop the Home Assistant service.

2. Switch to the user that is running Home Assistant.

   sudo -u homeassistant -H -s
   

3. Activate the virtual environment that Home Assistant is running in.

   source /srv/homeassistant/bin/activate
   

4. Download and install the version you want.

   pip3 install --upgrade git+https://github.com/home-assistant/core.git@dev
   

5. When that is complete, start the service again for it to use the new files.

Configuration check

After changing configuration files, check if the configuration is valid before restarting Home Assistant Core.

1. Switch to the user that is running Home Assistant.

   sudo -u homeassistant -H -s
   

2. Activate the virtual environment that Home Assistant is running in.

   source /srv/homeassistant/bin/activate
   

3. Run the configuration check.

   Run the full check:

   hass --script check_config
   

   Listing all loaded files:

   hass --script check_config --files
   

   Viewing a integration’s configuration (light in this example):

   hass --script check_config --info light
   

   Or all integrations’ configuration

   hass --script check_config --info all
   

   You can get help from the command line using:

   hass --script check_config --help
   

4. When that is complete, restart the service for it to use the new files.