home-information/docs/Deployment.md

Deployment Options

Production configuration and self-hosting options beyond a single-machine localhost install. This guide assumes you already have a working installation per the Installation Guide.

Network Access Configuration

By default, the app only accepts requests addressed to localhost. To access it from another device on your network (by IP address or hostname), edit ~/.hi/env/local.env and add the URLs you'll use:

# Example: accessing via IP address and hostname
HI_EXTRA_HOST_URLS="http://192.168.1.100:9411 http://home-server:9411"

Multiple URLs are space-separated. After saving, restart the app: docker restart hi.

If you see Invalid HTTP_HOST header errors in the logs, this is the setting you need.

Auto-Start on Reboot

The Docker container is configured to restart automatically (--restart unless-stopped), but Docker itself needs to start on boot:

macOS (Docker Desktop):

Docker Desktop → Settings → General → "Start Docker Desktop when you log in"

Linux (Ubuntu/systemd):

# Check if enabled
systemctl is-enabled docker

# Enable if needed
sudo systemctl enable docker

User Management

If you enabled user authentication, create user accounts via the Django admin interface:

1. Sign in at http://localhost:9411/admin/ using:

   • Email: DJANGO_SUPERUSER_EMAIL (from your env file)
   • Password: DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD (from your env file)

2. Add users at: http://localhost:9411/admin/custom/customuser/add/

Requirements: Email configuration must be working (users receive "magic code" login links).

Using docker compose directly

If you already use docker compose to manage your services, you may prefer compose verbs over the docker logs hi / docker stop hi commands documented in the Installation Guide. They are equivalent — install.sh generates a compose file at ~/.hi/docker-compose.yml, so you can use either set of commands interchangeably.

cd ~/.hi
docker compose ps          # status
docker compose logs -f     # follow logs
docker compose restart     # restart
docker compose down        # stop and remove the container
docker compose up -d       # bring it back
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d   # update to latest image

If docker compose was not installed when you first ran install.sh, you can install it later and start using these commands immediately — the compose file is written either way.

Integrating into your own compose stack

If you already manage your services with a single docker compose file (or directory of files), you can run Home Information from that stack instead of using install.sh.

Reference files in the repository root:

• docker-compose.example.yml — minimal service definition for the published image, with volumes and env file
• local.env.example — the full env-var surface with placeholder values and inline documentation

Copy both files into your stack, fill in the placeholder values in local.env, then start the app with your usual compose commands.

Important format note: docker compose's env_file parser is not the same as shell-sourced env files. No export, no shell-style quoting (single or double quotes), no ${VAR} interpolation. local.env.example is in the correct format; do not adapt a shell-sourced env file by hand without removing those features.

Integrations

Connect Home Information with your existing home automation, security and document systems. See the Integrations Guide for setup instructions.