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Home Assistant 2026.11 replaces HACS with Marketplace, built into Settings → Marketplace. It carries forward the community catalog, but the steps between finding a project and using it have changed. Install a compatible integration and you can go straight into setup without restarting Home Assistant.
This guide covers what Marketplace adds, what it improves, and what HACS could already do. If you’ve just upgraded and want to check your setup, use our migration verification guide and free audit tool.
Is Marketplace just HACS with a new name?
Marketplace builds on HACS and uses the same community catalog. You’ll still find custom integrations, dashboard cards, themes, and template macros. Projects are still published on GitHub and use hacs.json to describe what to install. The difference is that Marketplace now ships as part of Home Assistant Core, including on Home Assistant Container.
To get started, open Marketplace as an administrator and accept the first-run notice. That lets you install and update content. You can use the catalog without setting up HACS separately or connecting a GitHub account. The projects themselves remain community-maintained. Being listed in a built-in panel carries no promise that a project has been audited or will work with your setup.
A shorter path from Install to setup
The usual HACS workflow was to download an integration, restart Home Assistant, then find the integration under Devices & services. With Marketplace, open the project and select Install. If the integration has a setup flow and can load immediately, Home Assistant opens that flow as soon as installation finishes. If you close it, you can return to setup from the project page or add it later under Settings → Devices & services. If it’s already configured, the project page can take you to the integration.
This applies to eligible first installs. An integration that uses YAML, has already loaded, or replaces a built-in integration can still require a restart. Integration updates still require a restart to apply the new version. When one is needed, check Settings → System → Repairs for the notice and restart action.
For a dashboard card, you usually just reload the browser. If the www folder didn’t exist when Home Assistant started, the system may ask you to restart first. Check your resource entry if you manage dashboard resources in YAML. Themes and template macros can reload automatically, as they already did in HACS. Automatic theme loading depends on Home Assistant being configured to read the themes folder.
What’s different about finding and evaluating projects?
HACS already had search, sorting, and filters. Marketplace reorganizes them into Discover, Browse, and Installed. Discover surfaces popular and recently active projects. Browse is the full list, searchable by name, description, or repository. Filter by type, status, or source, and sort by stars, downloads, or recent activity. Source separates catalog projects from repositories you added by link. You can also group rows by status, type, or source. The view’s URL carries its search, sorting, and filters, so you can reopen or share it. Installed shows your own projects and highlights how many updates are waiting.
The project page brings details such as the available version, activity, downloads, GitHub stars, project links, and declared minimum Home Assistant version into view. Check the requirement and look for signs that the project is maintained before you install. A high star count tells you a project is popular. It doesn’t prove it will work with your setup.
If the latest release requires a newer version of Home Assistant, Marketplace offers earlier releases in the install dialog. You can also open ⋮ → Install another version. HACS already let you choose a release. Marketplace’s picker lets you search tags and marks both the installed release and the one it offers as an update. If an update causes problems and you need to roll back, the documented route is to restore a backup.
GitHub is optional for the catalog
HACS asked you to connect GitHub during setup. Marketplace can browse the catalog and install or update catalog content without a GitHub connection. The files for catalog releases can be retrieved directly from a release or archive. Looking up other versions can still run into GitHub’s unauthenticated request limit.
Custom repositories were already a HACS feature. Select Add from link and paste the public GitHub URL. Marketplace tries to recognize the content type and asks you to choose when it can’t. You need a GitHub connection to add a custom repository and have it checked for updates automatically. The repository needs a hacs.json file and the required structure for its content type. The GitHub device sign-in uses a code and can only read public information. In the same dialog, you can open or remove projects you added from links. An installed project stays listed until you uninstall it.
Download source in Marketplace’s ⋮ menu is for connections that have trouble reaching GitHub. The built-in alternative uses relays run by the Home Assistant community in China, with third-party relays as a fallback. The source you choose handles both the catalog and the files you install.
Updates, restart notices, and uninstalling
HACS 2.0 already provided update.* entities, restart notices, and a switch for pre-releases. Marketplace keeps that approach. Go to Settings → Updates to read release notes and apply an update. Marketplace checks the catalog every six hours. With GitHub connected, it checks repositories added by link every 48 hours. If the source is unreachable, its update entity can be temporarily unavailable while installed content stays in use.
You can opt into pre-releases from the project page. Use ⋮ → Include pre-releases on an installed project, or exclude them again in the same menu. This saves a trip to the Marketplace device page to enable the pre-release entity and turn on its switch. The setting applies to that project only.
The change for automations is how Marketplace signals a pending restart. It creates a repair and leaves the release_summary attribute empty. Existing update entities keep their IDs. If a template calls integration_entities('hacs') to find them, change the argument to 'marketplace'. Custom tools that call the old hacs/* WebSocket commands need to support the new API.
When you uninstall an integration, Marketplace detects whether it’s still configured. You can open its setup entries or delete them and uninstall in one step. Deleting those entries removes associated devices and entities. If you remove the last setup entry from Devices & services, Home Assistant can also offer to uninstall the project. In Installed, you can select several projects and uninstall them together. Review the affected integration setups before confirming. Marketplace checks for entries in use and warns that it will remove them. That Installed action is separate from removing links from the custom repository list, which handles one link at a time.
HACS and Marketplace at a glance
| Task | HACS | Marketplace |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Separate install | Built into Settings |
| First install | Download, then set up | Opens setup if it can load now |
| Browse | Search and filters | Views, source filter, more details |
| GitHub | At initial setup | Optional for catalog |
| Custom repo | URL and type | Detects type if it can |
| Update | Entities, betas, notices | Betas on project page, restarts in Repairs |
| Uninstall | Files per project | Multiple projects and their setups |
| Scripts and AppDaemon | Managed | Files kept outside the store |
Three things worth trying
- Start with Installed. Pick something you already use. Check its version, any pending update, and the Home Assistant version it requires.
- Try the new install flow with an integration you need. Read the project page first, then see if it takes you directly into setup. If it asks for a restart, look in Repairs to see what’s pending.
- Set up an alert for an important project. Trigger a notification when its
update.*entity reports a new release. This gives you time to read the notes and choose when to update.
Limits and questions from the community
Where did the sidebar shortcut go?
Open Settings → Marketplace. Marketplace has no dedicated sidebar entry with the title and icon options HACS offered. An old browser bookmark to /hacs still opens Marketplace.
Does Marketplace include apps or blueprints?
Home Assistant apps have their own section. The templates in Marketplace are reusable macros. For an automation or script blueprint, import it from a URL and re-import it when the author posts an update. Marketplace no longer manages AppDaemon apps or Python scripts. It leaves the existing files in place.
Can I preview every dashboard card or theme?
A project page can show images the maintainer included in the README. Stable 2026.11 has no standard screenshot gallery or interactive preview across the catalog.
What if a community integration uses the same domain as a built-in one?
Marketplace warns you before installing it. After a restart, the community integration can take over that domain for existing and new setups. To get the built-in version back, uninstall the community version and restart. If a catalog entry is retired for lack of maintenance, the installed copy stays but stops getting catalog updates. A critical removal for harmful content can trigger automatic uninstall and restart.
Where Marketplace makes a practical difference
The biggest gains are getting to a compatible integration’s setup in fewer steps and being able to use the catalog without connecting GitHub. The separate catalog views and richer project pages also help you decide what to install. If you mainly use HACS to find cards, install themes, and watch update entities, much of that routine will feel familiar.
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