Home Assistant add ons everyone should install

After you get Home Assistant running, the useful question is: which add-ons actually make your setup more capable? Below are the ones worth installing first.

One thing to get straight, because it trips people up: add-ons are software - extra containers the Supervisor installs and manages for you. They are only available on Home Assistant OS or a Supervised install. If you run Home Assistant as a plain Docker container (Home Assistant Container), there is no Supervisor and no Add-on Store - you run those same tools as separate containers yourself. Also worth separating in your head: a Zigbee or Z-Wave coordinator is hardware (a USB stick), while Zigbee2MQTT, ZHA, and Z-Wave JS are the software that talks to it. You need both.

The must-haves: core infrastructure

Terminal & SSH - Command-line access. You can do a lot in the UI, but troubleshooting often means reading logs, restarting things, or editing files the UI won’t touch. Install it early.

Studio Code Server (or File Editor) - A proper editor for configuration.yaml, automations.yaml, and the other YAML you’ll eventually edit. Studio Code Server gives you full VS Code in the browser with syntax checking; File Editor is the lighter option. Either beats hand-editing blind.

Samba Share - Mounts your Home Assistant config folder as a network share so you can edit from your regular computer. Convenient for bulk edits. Set a strong username and password - don’t leave it open to your LAN.

Zigbee and Z-Wave: the software half

If you’re adding wireless devices, you’ll pair them through one of these. Remember each one drives a hardware coordinator stick.

Zigbee2MQTT - The most flexible Zigbee option, with the broadest device support because its community writes converters quickly. It works with common coordinators like the ConBee III or the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus. The tradeoff is it requires an MQTT broker (Mosquitto), so it’s one more moving part. Note: you cannot run Zigbee2MQTT and ZHA on the same stick at once - pick one stack per coordinator.

ZHA - Worth mentioning even though it’s a built-in integration rather than an add-on: it’s the simplest Zigbee path (plug in a coordinator, add the integration, pair) and needs no MQTT. Good default for beginners; Z2M is the power-user upgrade.

Z-Wave JS - For Z-Wave devices. Mature, with a solid UI for managing nodes and lock user codes. You’ll need a Z-Wave coordinator stick such as a Zooz ZST39 (800-series).

If you’re starting fresh, Zigbee has more cheap devices and a larger ecosystem. Mixing Zigbee and Z-Wave is fine, but it does double your troubleshooting surface.

Automation power tools

Node-RED - A visual, flow-based editor that makes complex automations far more readable than YAML. Great for multi-step routines and conditional logic. Real learning curve, but worth it past simple “if this then that” rules.

ESPHome - For DIY devices, ESPHome is unmatched. Flash ESP32 or ESP8266 boards into temperature sensors, relays, displays, and presence sensors that integrate natively and locally with Home Assistant, all from YAML config. You can also reflash some commercial hardware with ESPHome (Shelly devices, for example, can be flashed - though Shelly’s own firmware is already fully local over its REST/MQTT API, so reflashing is optional, not required).

Mosquitto - The MQTT broker. Required if you use Zigbee2MQTT, and useful for any MQTT-based devices. Set a username and password; only enable anonymous access on a fully isolated network.

Monitoring and backups

Home Assistant Backups - Home Assistant has built-in backups; configure automatic backups and, ideally, a network/off-box location so an SD-card or disk failure doesn’t take your config with it. Community add-ons exist to push backups to cloud storage (Google Drive, Nextcloud, etc.) if you want off-site copies automated.

SQLite Web - Inspect the recorder database directly with SQL. Handy when you’re debugging why an automation isn’t firing or cleaning up bloated recorder history that the built-in tools won’t reach.

Worth a look

Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 - The official USB radio for Zigbee and Thread. ZBT stands for Zigbee and Thread; with the Thread firmware plus the Matter integration it gives you a Thread border router for Matter-over-Thread devices. Matter device support still varies by manufacturer, so check before buying. It replaced the Connect ZBT-1 (formerly SkyConnect), which was discontinued in November 2025 - existing ZBT-1 sticks still work and receive software updates, but new buyers should get the ZBT-2.

The Add-on Store itself - Don’t stop at this list. The store has plenty of options for niche integrations and tools. Install conservatively, but explore.

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Quick verdict

Install Terminal & SSH, an editor (Studio Code Server or File Editor), and your Zigbee or Z-Wave stack first. Add Node-RED when automations get complex, ESPHome if you build your own devices, and configure automatic backups before anything goes wrong. And remember: an add-on is software running on HAOS/Supervised - if you’re on plain Docker, you run these as containers yourself.