homeESS

Hier klicken für die deutsche Fassung.

homeESS is a self-hosted energy management server for photovoltaic systems, batteries and controllable electrical loads. It reads device values through MQTT or isolated adapters, calculates the current energy state and controls loads through a responsive web interface.

The server is built with Node.js and SQLite and is intended to run continuously on small, energy-efficient Linux systems. A detailed product overview is available in FEATURES.md.

Hardware requirements

Tested deployment targets include Raspberry Pi 4/5, small x86 mini PCs and virtual machines or LXC containers. A minimal Debian installation is sufficient.

Software requirements

• Debian, Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi OS or another Debian-based distribution
• systemd and apt
• Node.js 20.17 or newer; the installer adds a suitable Node.js version when required
• An MQTT broker is optional for the initial start

Installation

On a minimal system, install curl and sudo first:

apt update
apt install -y curl sudo

Install homeESS with one command:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mykaefer/home-ess/main/install.sh | sudo bash

The installer places the application in /opt/home-ess, stores persistent data in /var/lib/home-ess, installs the home-ess.service systemd unit and starts the web interface on port 3000.

Open http://<server-ip>:3000 and sign in with the initial account admin / admin. Change this password immediately after the first login.

Updating an existing installation

Run the same command again. Application code and installed official adapters are updated while the database, identities, uploaded adapters and the explicit adapter selection remain intact:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mykaefer/home-ess/main/install.sh | sudo bash

Adapters deliberately removed in the web interface stay removed. To explicitly restore every official adapter from the repository, use --all:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mykaefer/home-ess/main/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- --all

The built-in update function follows the stored adapter selection and never performs the --all operation.

License

The homeESS server is licensed under GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0-only). The Android app, the homeESS Remote license and the essrelay service are a separate proprietary add-on.