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HomeAssistant_inabox

Home Assistant in a box is an Unraid container that installs a full Home Assistant OS virtual machine on your server and manages it for you, so you can set up…

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Home Assistant in a box is an Unraid container that installs a full Home Assistant OS virtual machine on your server and manages it for you, so you can set up Home Assistant without downloading ISOs or editing VM settings or XML. This version is no longer developed and has been replaced by Home Assistant in a box v3, which you install from Community Applications: open v3, confirm your existing Home Assistant VM appears on its page, then delete this old container. Your VM is not affected either way because it belongs to Unraid's VM manager, not to this container, so it keeps running no matter what you do here - including deleting the container. v3 finds Home Assistant VMs you already have by reading the VM's own disk, so an install made by this container is recognised automatically, even while it is switched off. Note that Unraid does not update Docker templates when a container image updates, so updating this container will not move you to v3 on its own; it will instead start in a notice mode that explains what has happened and where to go.

Platform availability

Available on 1 of 9 platforms

  • Unraid
  • TrueNAS (not listed)
  • Umbrel (not listed)
  • ZimaOS (not listed)
  • Proxmox (not listed)
  • Helm (not listed)
  • Mac (not listed)
  • Windows (not listed)
  • Linux (not listed)

Health score?A 0-100 score computed nightly from four factors: maintained (40%: recent commits and steady activity), popular (25%: GitHub stars, log scale), easy to install (20%: platforms, install notes, setup guides, Docker image) and light to run (15%: minimum RAM, ARM support). When the source code has been checked, a fifth factor, security check (20%: automated scan for committed secrets, unsafe desktop-app settings, known-vulnerable dependencies and project hygiene; any serious finding caps it at 20), is added. Factors without data are left out and the rest are rescaled.

58/100 Fair

Maintained
75last commit 18 days ago
Popular
3345 GitHub stars
Easy to install
351 install platform, install notes, Docker image
Light to run
85512 MB minimum RAM

Availability: platform listings confirmed today, links checked 9 days ago

GitHub stars
45
Open issues
0
Last commit
2026-09-26
License
GPL-3.0
Activity
rising

Checked 7 days ago - source: GitHub (SpaceinvaderOne/Home_Assistant_inabox)

Resources & Compatibility

Minimum requirements: 512 MB RAM. ARM (e.g. Raspberry Pi) is not supported.

Checked 17 days ago - source: Docker Hub image tags and published docs

First-install notes

  • Replace the example API access token In startup.sh (the script the container runs when it starts), change SERVER_AUTH_TOKEN from the example to your own unique secret string. An API token is like a password for programs, so if you leave the placeholder, others could use it to access your custom Octopus Energy data. source
  • Start the custom API before SSH login Add the two lines that set the token and start the Octopus API server in startup.sh before the line that starts the SSH (secure shell login) server. Without them, the custom API may not start, so Home Assistant may not get the extra meter and rate data. source
  • Turn on rate entities before using charts If you want to use the ApexCharts (chart card) import/export rate example, enable the matching Octopus rate entities in Home Assistant first. Otherwise the chart will have no values to display and you'll think the integration is broken. source
  • First install The install is guided in the container's web page: click install, answer a few questions, and a few minutes later you create your Home Assistant account - no ISOs to download and no VM settings or XML to edit. source

Fetched today - each note links to its source

Alternatives

No alternatives collected yet.

Common questions

How do I move from HomeAssistant_inabox to v3?

Install HomeAssistant_inabox_v3 from Community Applications, open it and check your existing Home Assistant VM appears on its page, then delete the old container. Your VM is not affected because it belongs to Unraid's VM manager, not to this container.

Is the old HomeAssistant_inabox appdata folder used after migrating?

Once you're moved over, the old appdata folder at appdata/HomeAssistant_inabox isn't used by anything.

Does a container image update automatically change the Unraid Docker template?

No, Unraid does not update Docker templates when a container image updates.

How does HomeAssistant_inabox create the Home Assistant VM on Unraid?

It runs a Docker container that downloads and installs a fully functional Home Assistant VM onto an Unraid server.

Answers sourced from forums.unraid.net, github.com

Community

Collected 10 days ago - public community threads