What it is
Limited Access Dashboard creates a separate, mobile-friendly page for a child, contractor, cleaner, sitter, landscaper, rental guest or visitor. You choose which devices appear and when the page can be used. The guest signs in with a separate username and password, not a Home Assistant account, and cannot see dashboards, history, settings, automations or other devices.
It is set up in the Home Assistant UI. Selected Rachio zone switches use timed watering automatically, and a Stop all water button is provided. Sign-ins and commands are recorded for the owner.
Design notes
This guide covers the published v0.6.4 release. It does not describe a personal installation.
Controls without an account
The guest opens a link in a browser and signs in with the dashboard's own credentials. Every displayed entity and every allowed action is checked on the server against the owner's choices, and the page does not expose a Home Assistant access token.
Limited in time
A dashboard can expire on a date or follow a weekly schedule, and a sprinkler test stops itself after a set time.
Why this design matters
Some people need a few controls for a short time. Giving them a Home Assistant account would give them far more than that.
What it can do
Chosen controls only
Lights, switches, media players, buttons, scenes, scripts, input booleans, sensors, binary sensors and climate entities, with sensors and climate shown read-only.
Dates and hours
Optional expiration date or allowed weekly schedule for each dashboard.
Safe watering tests
Timed Rachio zone runs and a Stop all water button.
Owner editor
Arrange tabs, sections, colors and cards, optionally let guests change appearance, and read recent sign-ins and commands.
Install and connect
Not for safety-critical controls
Do not use it for locks, gates, garage doors, alarms, heaters or other safety-critical controls, and keep automatic shutoffs inside Home Assistant itself. Read the project's security notes before exposing a dashboard outside your home.
Before you start
- Home Assistant reachable over HTTPS for the guest, such as a Home Assistant Cloud address or an HTTPS reverse proxy. Sign-in cannot complete over plain HTTP.
- Tested against Home Assistant 2026.9.4.
Install from the Marketplace
In Settings > Marketplace, search for Limited Access Dashboard and select Install. If the integration can load right away, its setup opens; otherwise a repair asks you to restart Home Assistant. Before Home Assistant 2026.11, search for it in HACS, download it and restart.
Create a dashboard
In Settings > Devices & services, add the integration, name the dashboard, create its separate username and password, add the entities, and set any expiration or schedule.
Share the link
Copy the dashboard link from the final screen and send it with the separate password. Do not share your Home Assistant account.
Test with non-critical devices
Try it with harmless devices first and check what the guest can and cannot do.
Limits and caveats
- Timed irrigation supports Rachio zone switches only, not controller, rain-delay, hose-timer or schedule switches.
- Custom Lovelace and HACS cards on the guest page are experimental, and only trusted card modules should be installed because they are not sandboxed.
- A link that shows a local address works only on the home network until remote access is configured.