Home Assistant configuration checklist¶

Use this checklist after changing apps.yaml, updating the backend through HACS, or troubleshooting a panel that does not show the expected page.

1. Confirm AppDaemon reads the file you edited¶

• appdaemon.yaml points AppDaemon to the expected app directory:

app_dir: /config/appdaemon/apps

• The panel configuration is in /config/appdaemon/apps/apps.yaml.
• There is no second stale apps.yaml in another AppDaemon config path.
• AppDaemon was restarted after the change.

See Troubleshooting Home Assistant setups for more details.

2. Check MQTT before debugging cards¶

The panel and AppDaemon must use matching MQTT topics.

panelRecvTopic: "tele/tasmota_your_mqtt_topic/RESULT"
panelSendTopic: "cmnd/tasmota_your_mqtt_topic/CustomSend"

Check that:

• Tasmota connects successfully to the MQTT broker;
• the Tasmota topic matches the topic used in apps.yaml;
• FullTopic was not changed unless the resulting send and receive topics were also adjusted;
• the AppDaemon log shows successful MQTT plugin initialization.

A healthy AppDaemon MQTT startup contains a line similar to:

INFO MQTT: MQTT Plugin initialization complete

3. Validate the panel app block¶

Each panel app should define the required AppDaemon metadata and the main config block:

nspanel-1:
  module: nspanel-lovelace-ui
  class: NsPanelLovelaceUIManager
  config:
    panelRecvTopic: "tele/tasmota_your_mqtt_topic/RESULT"
    panelSendTopic: "cmnd/tasmota_your_mqtt_topic/CustomSend"
    model: eu

Check that:

• the panel app name is unique;
• module and class are unchanged;
• model matches the panel type (eu, us-l, or us-p);
• required keys are indented under config.

4. Validate cards and navigation targets¶

Navigation entries use the navigate. prefix and target a card key:

entities:
  - entity: navigate.livingroom

The target card must exist in cards or hiddenCards:

hiddenCards:
  - type: cardGrid
    title: Living Room
    key: livingroom

Check that:

• every navigate.<key> has a matching card key;
• card keys are unique;
• key names match exactly, including case;
• the target card belongs to the same panel app.

5. Validate defaultCard¶

If the panel opens the wrong page after leaving the screensaver, check screensaver.defaultCard first:

screensaver:
  defaultCard: home
cards:
  - type: cardGrid
    title: Home
    key: home

The value of defaultCard should match a card key that exists in the panel configuration.

6. Test Home Assistant templates separately¶

When configuration values contain Home Assistant templates, test them in Developer Tools > Template before adding them to apps.yaml.

Example:

{{ state_attr('climate.living_room', 'hvac_action') }}

Check that every referenced entity exists and that the template handles unavailable or missing states.

7. Restart and read logs after the change¶

After editing apps.yaml:

1. restart the AppDaemon add-on;
2. open the AppDaemon log;
3. look for YAML parse errors, Python tracebacks, MQTT connection errors, or missing entities;
4. verify the panel receives fresh content.

If the issue remains, collect the information listed in Information to include in a GitHub issue.