# Install the App

Add Hungry Machines to Home Assistant in about ten minutes — install through HACS, sign in, and register the appliances you want optimized.

The Hungry Machines app lives inside Home Assistant. It adds a **sidebar panel** for managing your appliances, schedules, and preferences, plus two optional **dashboard cards** for at-a-glance status. Once it's installed and signed in, it collects the readings the optimizer needs and applies each day's schedule to your devices automatically — no code, no API keys to manage.

This is the path for **most people**. If you'd rather build your own integration or a non–Home Assistant app, see [For Developers](/for-developers/).

## What you need

- **Home Assistant** — any installation type (HAOS, Container, Supervised, or Core).
- **[HACS](https://hacs.xyz/)** installed and configured.
- **A Hungry Machines account** — created at [hungrymachines.io](https://hungrymachines.io).
- **For each HVAC you want optimized, a `climate.*` entity** in Home Assistant. A power sensor, a dedicated indoor-temperature sensor, and a humidity sensor are optional but help Hungry Machines learn your home faster. A `weather.*` entity is optional too — pick it later to feed the optimizer your local forecast.

## Step 1 — Create your Hungry Machines account

Go to **[hungrymachines.io](https://hungrymachines.io)** and sign up. Confirm your email when the verification message arrives. The email and password you set there are what you'll use to sign in inside Home Assistant.

> **Tip**
>
> You only need to do this once. The same credentials sign you in on the website, in the Home Assistant panel, and on any additional device you connect later.

## Step 2 — Install through HACS
1. In Home Assistant, open **HACS → ⋮ (top right) → Custom repositories**.

2. Add the repository:
   - **Repository:** `https://github.com/hungrymachines/energy-dashboard`
   - **Type:** `Integration`
   - Click **Add**.

3. Search for **Hungry Machines** in HACS and click **Download**.

4. **Restart Home Assistant** when HACS prompts you.
> **Note**
>
> No `configuration.yaml` editing required — everything is done from the Home Assistant UI.

## Step 3 — Add the integration
1. Open **Settings → Devices & Services → Add Integration**.

2. Search for **Hungry Machines** and click it.

3. Enter your **hungrymachines.io email and password** and click **Submit**.
That's the only thing the setup dialog asks for — you'll pick your appliances and their entities in the panel next. A **Hungry Machines** entry now appears in your sidebar, and the two dashboard cards become available in the card picker. The integration also starts working in the background: it captures readings from your appliances, pushes your weather forecast once a day, and each morning fetches and applies the day's optimized schedules.

## Step 4 — Sign in and add your appliances

Click the **Hungry Machines** entry in the sidebar and sign in with the same email and password. The first time in, your dashboard is empty — use **Add appliance** to register each device you want optimized:

- **Pick a type** — HVAC, EV charger, home battery, water heater, or solar.
- **For HVAC**, choose the `climate.*` entity it controls, and optionally a dedicated indoor-temperature, humidity, or power sensor. Have more than one HVAC? Add each separately — every unit gets its own schedule and learns independently.
- **For EV charger, battery, or water heater**, choose the switch and any state-of-charge or tank-temperature sensor.
- **Solar** is forecast-only — enter your system size and orientation, no entity needed.

Each appliance then shows its own card with today's schedule, an **Edit constraints** button, and a pause toggle. You can edit or remove an appliance any time.

> **Tip**
>
> See [Your Dashboard, at a Glance](/home-assistant/dashboard/) for a tour of what each part of the panel does.

## Step 5 — Add the dashboard cards (optional)

The panel is the main surface; the cards are extras you can drop onto your existing Lovelace dashboards. In any dashboard, click **Add card → search "Hungry Machines"**, then fill in the entity IDs that match your home:

```yaml
type: custom:hm-thermostat-card
# Optional: pick a specific HVAC when you have more than one registered.
# With exactly one HVAC the card resolves it automatically.
# appliance_id: 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555
entities:
  indoor_temp: sensor.living_room_temp
  outdoor_temp: sensor.outside_temp
  hvac_action: sensor.hvac_action
```

```yaml
type: custom:hm-savings-card
# Optional: scope the savings figure to one HVAC.
# Omitted → whole-home average + next scheduled run.
# appliance_id: 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555
entities:
  power: sensor.home_power
```

Sign-in is shared with the panel — once you've signed in there, the cards light up immediately.

## Installing without HACS

If you don't use HACS:
1. Download `hungry_machines.zip` from the [latest release](https://github.com/hungrymachines/energy-dashboard/releases).

2. Unzip it into your Home Assistant config at `custom_components/hungry_machines/` (create the directory if it doesn't exist).

3. **Restart Home Assistant.**

4. Continue from **Step 3** above.
## Keeping the app up to date

When a new release ships, HACS shows an update badge. Click **Update**, then restart Home Assistant. Your sign-in and preferences carry across updates.

## Next steps

- [Your Dashboard, at a Glance](/home-assistant/dashboard/) — what each part of the panel and cards shows.
- [Day-to-Day Use](/home-assistant/day-to-day/) — living with Hungry Machines once it's running.
- [Choosing Your Electricity Pricing](/home-assistant/pricing/) — set the rate plan the optimizer saves against.

Canonical page: https://docs.hungrymachines.io/home-assistant/