Ha Error Checking

Home Assistant Error Checking and Validation

Debug and validate Home Assistant dashboards, configurations, and entity usage programmatically.

Quick Start

Use the automation script for fast dashboard validation:

python ~/.claude/skills/ha-error-checking/scripts/check_dashboard.py climate-control

Or use the Quick Start workflow below for custom checks.

Quick Start Workflow

import json
import websocket
import os

HA_URL = "http://192.168.68.123:8123"
HA_TOKEN = os.environ["HA_LONG_LIVED_TOKEN"]

def check_dashboard_errors(url_path: str):
    """Check for errors in a specific dashboard."""
    ws_url = HA_URL.replace("http://", "ws://") + "/api/websocket"
    ws = websocket.create_connection(ws_url)
    msg_id = 1

    # 1. Auth
    ws.recv()
    ws.send(json.dumps({"type": "auth", "access_token": HA_TOKEN}))
    ws.recv()

    # 2. Check system logs for lovelace errors
    ws.send(json.dumps({"id": msg_id, "type": "system_log/list"}))
    msg_id += 1
    logs = json.loads(ws.recv())

    lovelace_errors = [
        log for log in logs.get("result", [])
        if "lovelace" in log.get("name", "").lower()
        or "frontend" in log.get("name", "").lower()
    ]

    # 3. Validate dashboard config
    ws.send(json.dumps({
        "id": msg_id,
        "type": "lovelace/config",
        "url_path": url_path
    }))
    msg_id += 1
    config_response = json.loads(ws.recv())

    # 4. Get all entity states
    ws.send(json.dumps({"id": msg_id, "type": "get_states"}))
    msg_id += 1
    states_response = json.loads(ws.recv())

    ws.close()

    return {
        "lovelace_errors": lovelace_errors,
        "config": config_response.get("result"),
        "available_entities": [s["entity_id"] for s in states_response.get("result", [])]
    }

System Logs - Check for Errors

Get All System Logs

ws.send(json.dumps({"id": 1, "type": "system_log/list"}))
response = json.loads(ws.recv())

logs = response.get("result", [])
# Structure: [{"name": "homeassistant.components.lovelace", "message": "...", "level": "ERROR", ...}, ...]

Filter for Lovelace/Frontend Errors

lovelace_errors = [
    log for log in logs
    if "lovelace" in log.get("name", "").lower()
    or "frontend" in log.get("name", "").lower()
]

for error in lovelace_errors:
    print(f"[{error['level']}] {error['name']}: {error['message']}")

Dashboard Configuration Validation

Get Dashboard Config

ws.send(json.dumps({
    "id": 1,
    "type": "lovelace/config",
    "url_path": "climate-control"  # Must contain hyphen
}))
response = json.loads(ws.recv())

config = response.get("result")
# Returns the full dashboard configuration dict

Validate Dashboard Exists

ws.send(json.dumps({"id": 1, "type": "lovelace/dashboards/list"}))
response = json.loads(ws.recv())

dashboards = response.get("result", [])
dashboard_paths = [d["url_path"] for d in dashboards]

if "climate-control" in dashboard_paths:
    print("Dashboard exists")
else:
    print("Dashboard not found")

Check Dashboard URL Path Format

CRITICAL: Dashboard URL paths must contain a hyphen.

def validate_url_path(url_path: str) -> tuple[bool, str]:
    """Validate dashboard URL path format.

    Returns:
        (is_valid, error_message)
    """
    if "-" not in url_path:
        return False, f"URL path must contain hyphen: '{url_path}' -> '{url_path}-view'"

    if " " in url_path:
        return False, f"URL path cannot contain spaces: '{url_path}'"

    if not url_path.islower():
        return False, f"URL path must be lowercase: '{url_path}'"

    return True, ""

# Examples
validate_url_path("climate")         # ❌ (False, "URL path must contain hyphen...")
validate_url_path("climate-control") # ✅ (True, "")
validate_url_path("Climate-Control") # ❌ (False, "URL path must be lowercase...")

Entity Validation

Get All Available Entities

ws.send(json.dumps({"id": 1, "type": "get_states"}))
response = json.loads(ws.recv())

entities = response.get("result", [])
entity_ids = [e["entity_id"] for e in entities]

# Group by domain
from collections import defaultdict
by_domain = defaultdict(list)
for entity_id in entity_ids:
    domain = entity_id.split(".")[0]
    by_domain[domain].append(entity_id)

print(f"Total entities: {len(entity_ids)}")
print(f"Sensors: {len(by_domain['sensor'])}")
print(f"Climate: {len(by_domain['climate'])}")

See examples/examples.md for entity extraction from dashboard configs and pattern matching.

HACS Card Installation Validation

Check if Card is Installed

def check_hacs_card_installed(ws, repository_id: int) -> bool:
    """Check if a HACS card is installed by repository ID."""
    ws.send(json.dumps({
        "id": 1,
        "type": "hacs/repositories/list"
    }))
    response = json.loads(ws.recv())

    repositories = response.get("result", [])
    installed = [r for r in repositories if r.get("id") == repository_id]

    return len(installed) > 0

# Known repository IDs
HACS_CARDS = {
    "mini-graph-card": 151280062,
    "bubble-card": 680112919,
    "modern-circular-gauge": 871730343,
    "lovelace-mushroom": 444350375,
    "apexcharts-card": 331701152,
}

# Check installation
if check_hacs_card_installed(ws, HACS_CARDS["apexcharts-card"]):
    print("ApexCharts card is installed")
else:
    print("ApexCharts card NOT installed - install via HACS first")

See examples/examples.md for programmatic HACS card installation.

Card Configuration Validation

Validate ApexCharts Span Configuration

CRITICAL: span.end must be one of: "minute", "hour", "day", "week", "month", "year", "isoWeek"

VALID_SPAN_END_VALUES = ["minute", "hour", "day", "week", "month", "year", "isoWeek"]

def validate_apexcharts_span(card_config: dict) -> tuple[bool, str]:
    """Validate ApexCharts span configuration.

    Returns:
        (is_valid, error_message)
    """
    if "span" not in card_config:
        return True, ""  # span is optional

    span = card_config["span"]
    if "end" not in span:
        return True, ""  # end is optional within span

    end_value = span["end"]
    if end_value not in VALID_SPAN_END_VALUES:
        return False, f"Invalid span.end: '{end_value}'. Must be one of: {VALID_SPAN_END_VALUES}"

    return True, ""

# Usage
apexcharts_card = {
    "type": "custom:apexcharts-card",
    "span": {"end": "now"}  # ❌ Invalid
}

is_valid, error = validate_apexcharts_span(apexcharts_card)
if not is_valid:
    print(f"Error: {error}")
    # Fix it
    apexcharts_card["span"]["end"] = "hour"  # ✅ Valid

Supporting Files

• examples/examples.md - Comprehensive workflows (complete dashboard validation, entity extraction, pattern matching, HACS installation, custom card validation)
• references/reference.md - Error patterns, known entity IDs, troubleshooting solutions, best practices
• scripts/check_dashboard.py - Automated dashboard validation script

Common Error Patterns

1. ApexCharts Span Error

Error: "Invalid value for span.end: now"

Solution:

# WRONG
card = {
    "type": "custom:apexcharts-card",
    "span": {"end": "now"}  # ❌
}

# CORRECT
card = {
    "type": "custom:apexcharts-card",
    "span": {"end": "hour"}  # ✅
}

2. Dashboard URL Path Missing Hyphen

Error: Dashboard doesn't appear in sidebar

Solution:

# WRONG
url_path = "climate"  # ❌

# CORRECT
url_path = "climate-control"  # ✅

3. Entity Not Found

Error: "Entity not found: sensor.temperature"

Solution:

# Check entity exists
all_entities = get_all_entity_ids(ws)
if "sensor.temperature" not in all_entities:
    print("Entity not found - check spelling in Developer Tools → States")

    # Find similar entities
    similar = [e for e in all_entities if "temperature" in e]
    print(f"Did you mean: {similar}")

See references/reference.md for complete error pattern reference.

Browser Console Debugging

For frontend errors, check browser console (F12):

• ApexCharts errors: Look for "Invalid configuration"
• Custom card not loading: Look for "Custom element doesn't exist"
• Entity not found: Look for "Entity not available"
• JavaScript errors: Look for "Uncaught" or "SyntaxError"

Best Practices

1. Always validate before saving: Check entities exist before adding to dashboard
2. Check URL path format: Ensure hyphen in dashboard URL path
3. Validate custom cards: Verify HACS cards installed before use
4. Check system logs: Review logs after dashboard updates
5. Use valid values: ApexCharts span.end must use valid enum values
6. Test incrementally: Add cards one at a time and validate

Troubleshooting Checklist

• Dashboard URL path contains hyphen
• All entity IDs exist in HA
• Custom cards installed via HACS
• ApexCharts span.end uses valid value (hour/day/week/month/year)
• No system log errors for lovelace/frontend
• Browser console shows no errors (F12)
• Dashboard config is valid JSON/YAML
• Entity state_class set correctly for sensors

Notes

• Dashboard URL paths MUST contain a hyphen (e.g., "climate-control" not "climate")
• ApexCharts span.end only accepts: minute, hour, day, week, month, year, isoWeek
• HACS repository IDs: mini-graph-card (151280062), apexcharts-card (331701152)
• Check system logs after every dashboard update for errors
• Use Developer Tools → States to verify entity IDs before use