How I Built a Native Home Assistant Dashboard Editor with React and Capacitor

Troy Johnson — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 22:45:08 +0000

For over a year I’ve been working on HA Studio Pro, a native dashboard editor for Home Assistant on both iPad and Android.

The project started with a simple question:

Why is creating a beautiful Home Assistant dashboard still harder than it should be?

Home Assistant is one of the most powerful smart home platforms available, but designing dashboards often involves manually arranging cards, tweaking layouts, and repeatedly switching between edit and preview modes.

I wanted something different—a dashboard builder that felt more like using a design application.

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The Goal

My primary goals were to:

Build a native experience for iPad and Android
Create a visual drag-and-drop editor
Connect directly to Home Assistant without requiring a cloud service
Keep dashboards synchronized across devices
Design an interface optimized for wall-mounted tablets

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Technology Stack

HA Studio Pro is built using:

React
TypeScript
Capacitor
Home Assistant REST API
Home Assistant WebSocket API

This allowed me to maintain a single codebase while delivering native applications on both platforms.

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Building the Dashboard Editor

The most challenging part of the project wasn’t connecting to Home Assistant—it was creating a dashboard editor that felt natural.

Each card can be:

Dragged
Resized
Customized
Connected to any Home Assistant entity

The editor updates layouts visually in real time, allowing users to design dashboards without manually positioning components.

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Real-Time Home Assistant Integration

The application communicates directly with Home Assistant using both the REST API and WebSocket API.

That means dashboard elements update immediately as entity states change.

Examples include:

Lights
Cameras
Climate
Weather
Security
Energy monitoring
Media players
Sensors

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AI Integration

One feature I’m especially excited about is the built-in AI Assistant.

Instead of navigating multiple menus, users can interact with their smart home using natural language while remaining inside the dashboard.

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Lessons Learned

Building a cross-platform application taught me a lot about:

Native performance
Responsive dashboard layouts
Real-time synchronization
UI/UX design for always-on tablet displays
Optimizing React applications for large dashboards

There’s still plenty I’d like to improve, but seeing the project finally available on both the App Store and Google Play has been incredibly rewarding.

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What’s Next?

I’m continuing to add new dashboard components, improve customization, and expand the AI capabilities based on community feedback.

If you’re a Home Assistant user, I’d love to hear what features you’d want in a dashboard editor.

DEV Community: Troy Johnson

How I Built a Native Home Assistant Dashboard Editor with React and Capacitor