Setting up HAOSKiosk

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Turn Your Home Assistant Box into a Big-Screen Kiosk (No Extra PC Needed)

Want your Home Assistant dashboard on the TV or a wall-mounted touch display plugged into the same device that’s running Home Assistant OS?

With the community HAOS Kiosk add-on you can launch a full-screen Chromium “kiosk” over HDMI — no separate tablet, Pi, or desktop required. Setup takes minutes and survives reboots.

What You’ll Need

  • A device running Home Assistant OS (HAS-B1 or Raspberry Pi 4/5).
  • A display connected to that device (HDMI, DisplayPort adapter).
  • Your Home Assistant URL (e.g. http://homeassistant.local:8123 or the box’s IP).
  • The HAOS Kiosk add-on repository URL: https://github.com/puterboy/HAOS-kiosk

Step 1 – Add the HAOS Kiosk Repository

  • In Home Assistant, go to Settings → Add-ons → Add-on Store.
  • Click the ⋮ (overflow menu) → Repositories.
  • Paste: https://github.com/puterboy/HAOS-kiosk and press Add.
  • Close the dialog and refresh the store — you should now see HAOS Kiosk Display under the repositories list.
  • Open HAOS Kiosk Display, and click Install

Tip: If it doesn’t appear straight away, refresh the page or try again — typos in the URL are the most common cause.

Step 2 – Create a “Kiosk” User

For unattended displays, use a non-admin Home Assistant user:

  • Settings → People → Add person
  • Create a Kiosk user with limited access, and make sure to use a strong random password. 
  • Log out and log in as the Kiosk user once (so the profile exists).
  • Make sure you note the username and password of this user. 

Step 3 – Configure the Kiosk

  1. Open the Configuration tab in the add-on.
  2. Fill out:
    • URL: http://homeassistant.local:8123
    • Username / Password: Kiosk credentials
    • Rotation / Scale: Adjust for screen readability
    • Auto-reload / Retry: Enable to recover from reboots or slow startups

Step 4 – Start the Add-On

  • Toggle Start on boot and Watchdog (recommended).
  • Click Start.

Step 5 – Plug In and Enjoy

  • Connect HDMI to your display.
  • Restart the add-on (or the host).
  • You should see your Home Assistant dashboard in full-screen on boot.

Troubleshooting

Add-on not showing up after adding the repo?
Double-check the URL, refresh the Add-on Store, and ensure you’re on Home Assistant OS (not just Container/Core).

Black screen / no signal on HDMI:
Verify the display is powered, try another cable/port, and confirm your device outputs to that connector (some mini-PCs have multiple display ports). Reboot the host after first install.

Touch rotation or scaling is off:
Adjust screen_rotation and device_scale_factor in the add-on config. For some touchscreens you may also need to calibrate in the add-on options.

HA starts after the browser:
Turn on retry/auto-reload in the add-on so it reconnects once HA is available.

Security & Housekeeping

  • Least-privilege user: the Kiosk user should have access only to the dashboards it needs.
  • No cloud exposure needed: the kiosk points at your LAN URL; you don’t need to open ports to the internet.
  • Backups: the add-on config is included in regular HAOS backups.

FAQ

Can I point the kiosk at a specific view?
Yes — use a direct URL such as /dashboard/kiosk/0 or your chosen view path.

Does this work on Raspberry Pi and x86?
Yes. Performance depends on GPU/driver support, but Pi 4/5 and modern mini-PCs generally handle a single kiosk screen well.

Can I use a long-lived access token instead of a username/password?
Currently, the add-on supports standard username/password login. Long-lived tokens are not officially supported yet, but have been requested and this may change in future versions. 

Can I run multiple displays?
HAOS Kiosk is designed for one local display. For multi-screen walls, consider additional devices or a separate OS driving a browser per screen.

What about CPU temperature and system stats on the dashboard?
Add the System Monitor integration or the Glances add-on/integration and drop those sensors onto your kiosk dashboard.

Why This Approach?

  • One box, zero faff: No second machine required
  • Appliance-like: Boots directly into dashboard
  • Flexible: Supports rotation, scaling, auto-login, and retry

Credits

Community Add-on:
🔗 HAOS Kiosk Repository
Tested with HAOS on Raspberry Pi 4/5 and x86 mini-PCs.

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