Installation

Quick Start

1. Install from HACS
2. Add LCARdS integration to HA
3. Initialize and Configure LCARdS from LCARdS Config Panel

HA-LCARS Theme Integration

LCARdS supports and integrates well with HA-LCARS themes. Use these two together for the best experience.

Once HA-LCARS is installed, append the LCARdS theme profiles to your themes.yaml to map the full LCARdS colour palette to the HA-LCARS chrome and HA core colour tokens in one step — see HA-LCARS Theme Profiles.

1. Install via HACS

1. Open HACS in Home Assistant
2. Go to Integrations and search for LCARdS
3. Click Download and confirm
4. Restart Home Assistant
5. Go to Settings → Integrations → Add Integration and search for LCARdS
6. Click through the setup (configuration options below)

LCARdS is now active. It automatically:

• Loads lcards.js on every Home Assistant page
• Registers the LCARdS Config sidebar panel

Manual Installation

Manual installation (unmanaged updates)

1. Download lcards.zip from the latest GitHub release
2. Extract the contents into config/custom_components/lcards/ (the directory should contain manifest.json and __init__.py directly — not a nested lcards/lcards/ folder)
3. Restart Home Assistant No configuration.yaml changes are required.
4. Go to Settings → Integrations → Add Integration → LCARdS

lovelace-layout-card compatibility

LCARdS works well with lovelace-layout-card There are some quirks to be aware of when using grid-layout - we have a patched version that fixes the issue and will remain available until fixed upstream.

Please see Sizing Inside Custom Layout for details.

2. Configuration (Integration)

After installation, LCARdS integration options can be configured from the integration configuration:

Settings → Integrations → LCARdS → Configure

Option	Default	Description
Show sidebar panel	On	Display the LCARdS Config entry in the Home Assistant sidebar. Disable if you prefer a cleaner sidebar — the integration stays active and all cards continue to work.
Sidebar Title	LCARdS Config	Customizable title for the sidebar entry.
Sidebar Icon	mdi:space-invaders	Customizable icon for the sidebar entry.
Log Level	warn	Default logging level for all cards. debug, trace are excessively versbose - only used for deep troubleshooting.
Enable Preview Features	false	Unlocks features that are still under active development. These may change during development - Please provide your feedback, discuss or get help on GitHub Issues and Discussions.

Changes take effect immediately — no restart required.

3. LCARdS Configuarion - Config Panel

The LCARdS Config Panel is registered automatically by the integration. Access it via the LCARdS Config entry in the Home Assistant sidebar.

From the Config Panel you can:

• Create all required helpers in one click (alert mode, sounds, sizing)
• Customise Alert Mode colour palettes per alert level
• Configure sound schemes and per-event overrides
• Browse theme tokens and CSS variables live
• Explore installed packs

After setup, if you don't want it visible all the time, toggle Show sidebar panel off in the integration options — it can be re-enabled at any time.

See Configuration overview for full details.