Home Assistant 2026.11: the Marketplace lands, Matter cameras arrive, and the breaking changes to check before Wednesday
The 2026.11 beta notes went up on 28 October 2026, and the stable release is expected on Wednesday 4 November 2026. That word is doing real work: the notes call themselves “a work in progress” and warn that “some features may not make it into the final release.” Treat this as a pre-flight briefing rather than a changelog of shipped software — what to decide this week, what to check before you press update, and which headline features are worth caring about yet, all drawn from the 2026.11 beta release notes and the week’s reporting, with no hands-on testing behind it.
What’s landing this week (and what “expected” means)
The release party livestream is scheduled for Wednesday 4 November, 20:00 GMT / 12:00 PT / 21:00 CET, and secondary coverage carries the same expectation — though nothing in the sources confirms the date is locked, and the notes repeat that not all features are final.
Two consequences follow. Do not plan anything irreversible around Wednesday, and do not read this as a promise that anything below is definitely in the stable build. The useful part of a beta is not its feature list but its breaking-change list.
The Marketplace: HACS moves in-house
The biggest change: “With this release, HACS becomes part of Home Assistant as the new Marketplace.” HACS, founded by ludeeus and donated to the Open Home Foundation “about a year and a half ago,” stops being a separate custom integration and becomes a built-in part of the system.
The mechanics matter more than the branding. The marketplace itself is free: “Everything in the Marketplace is free, and that will not change.”
- Install type. Every installation type, including Home Assistant Container, “without manually downloading or unpacking files.”
- Location. Settings > Marketplace — “It comes with Home Assistant, so there is nothing to set up.”
- No GitHub account. “You do not need a GitHub account to install or update projects.” Custom repositories added via “Add from link” are the exception: they need a GitHub connection whose device sign-in “only reads public information and cannot access private repositories.”
- Restarts. You “select Install, and you land straight in its setup flow, without a restart. Updates still need a restart for now.”
- Project pages and updates. Each project shows downloads, GitHub stars, the required Home Assistant version and open issues, and every installed project gets an update entity under Settings > Updates.
Centralising the catalogue alongside Core is convenient, and the Marketplace integration documentation covers the setup flow. None of that changes what the code is or who stands behind it.
The first-run warning — what the Marketplace does not do
On first launch you are shown a notice: “Everything in the Marketplace is made by the community. It is not tested, audited, or supported by the Home Assistant project, and it runs inside your Home Assistant.”
Browsing works before you accept that notice; installing and updating do not. Read it literally: this is a distribution change, not a review process. As the migration coverage at smarthomeassistant.co.uk puts it, “It does not make community code safer.”
One behaviour to know: the catalogue is checked for updates every six hours, and if it marks a repository as critical the Marketplace uninstalls it immediately, restarts Home Assistant and raises a repair. That is a removal mechanism, not a security guarantee — plan for a surprise restart if you run many community projects.
Migration caveats — four things HACS users must check
The headline promise is that “If you use HACS today, there is nothing you need to do.” Migration runs on first start, installs and custom repositories carry over, and HACS links open the Marketplace. These four are the exceptions, and they are worth 15 minutes before Wednesday:
- Custom repositories without a
hacs.jsonfile stay installed but cannot be updated. - YAML dashboard resources need their paths changed from
/hacsfiles/to/local/community/. Old paths still work and a repair reminds you — but “the Marketplace cannot add resources for you,” so you edit the YAML yourself. - AppDaemon apps and Python scripts keep running, but are no longer managed.
- Templates and tools. Templates calling
integration_entities('hacs')must change tointegration_entities('marketplace'); anything usinghacs/WebSocket commands or readinghass.data["hacs"]finds nothing.
One more, and it is the one to underline: the HACS installer stops at Home Assistant 2026.11, so a separate HACS installation is no longer possible on that version. And the documentation describes no way to roll the migration back by downgrading to 2026.10 — it recommends restoring a backup instead. That is why the checklist below starts with a backup.
Matter cameras arrive (with a catch)
“With Matter 1.5, cameras are part of the standard, and Home Assistant now supports them.” You get a camera entity with live video and snapshots, streamed with WebRTC directly between browser and camera, and the entity follows the camera — including whether its privacy mode is on.
The catch is infrastructure: “Matter cameras need a Matter server that is recent enough to support them. Home Assistant only discovers cameras when the connected server does.” With an older server, a commissioned camera can sit on your network invisible to Home Assistant — check the Matter integration documentation before concluding a camera is broken.
Two-way audio in Labs
Two-way audio arrives behind Labs: Settings > System > Labs. Once enabled, a live stream gets a talk button, and “in this release” it is supported for Matter cameras and Reolink cameras.
Two conditions apply. A Reolink camera must use RTSP, “because RTMP and FLV can’t carry audio back to the camera,” and browsers only allow microphone access over a secure connection, so it works when you open Home Assistant over HTTPS. If the talk button does nothing, check the stream protocol and the URL scheme first.
The other big features
Exclude targets. You can now exclude entities, devices, areas, floors and labels from a target in triggers, conditions and actions. The UI puts “Exclude target” next to “Add target”; YAML adds an exclude block to the target, as documented under excluding targets. Exclusions re-resolve on every run, so a light added later to an excluded area is excluded too, and unmatched exclusions appear under “Exclusions with no effect.”
Local disk backups. Settings > System > Storage → Add storage → Local disk. The disk is remembered by its file system identifier and must be formatted already. Restoring no longer makes a temporary copy of the whole backup first, and a new “Last successful automatic backup size” sensor lets you spot a backup that stopped running — see the OS storage documentation.
LoRaWAN. Connect ChirpStack or The Things Network, with a new LoRaWAN page in Settings > Connectivity showing a gateway and device map. Unsupported devices still appear “with a note on what is missing.”
Zigbee Green Power in ZHA. ZHA now supports battery-less devices such as Friends of Hue switches. The Source ID is shown with network details; reconfigure and cluster options are left out.
Integrations. The release welcomes 38 new integrations, including Bosch Smart Camera, Flic Button over Bluetooth without an account, Nature Remo, SenseCAP, Škoda and Xiaomi Weather. Flipr has been removed “because the company behind it was liquidated,” with a minimal version left to show configuration alerts.
The breaking-changes checklist: what to check before Wednesday
Each item below is a change plus the action it implies.
- Entity display names. Cards, badges and rows without a name now show the device name followed by the entity name, so a “Temperature” entity on a “Thermostat” device reads “Thermostat Temperature.” Entity IDs are unchanged and old names remain aliases for voice assistants, but
friendly_nameis “planned for deprecation” — migrate templates toentity_name(),device_name()andarea_name(). Multi-part devices like a power strip now get a device per part. Expect a ten-minute dashboard review plus a search forfriendly_name. - Auth. “Invalid client id” appears when the browser address differs from the scheme, host and port Home Assistant sees. Add the proxy to trusted proxies or use a domain name. Addresses such as a public address, a global IPv6 address or a Tailscale address in 100.64.0.0/10 must match.
- Sun and calendar YAML triggers. Without
offset_type, a negative offset now means before the event and a positive offset after. UI-built triggers are unaffected. - Honeywell Evohome.
evohome.reset_system,evohome.clear_zone_overrideand the Reset preset are removed;evohome.set_system_modenow needs the controller’s climate entity. - Hive. Custom polling intervals are ignored; use default polling.
- Philips Hue. The “None” effect is removed — use “off”.
- MQTT. Entities without a
unique_idno longer create devices from theirdeviceconfig. Add one. - Matter. Concentration sensors use the device’s unit.
climate.turn_onresumes the last non-off mode. Tilt-only covers usecover.*_cover_tiltactions. - Tuya. Multi-channel devices move channel entities to child devices, changing names.
- Z-Wave. Requires zwave-js-server 3.11.0+ (Z-Wave JS app 1.9.0+ or Z-Wave JS UI v11.24.2+). Upgrade the server first.
- ZHA. Group entities move to their own group devices, and the coordinator page no longer lists them. Re-target group automations.
- Telegram. The legacy notify platform is removed — use the bot notify entities or
telegram_botactions. - Ring. The siren switch is removed — use the siren entity.
- Nanoleaf. Touch gesture device triggers are removed — use the Touch gesture event entity with an
event.receivedtrigger. - Python dependencies. Core no longer installs packages into
depsoutside a virtual environment. - Polling. Control4, Hayward Omnilogic, Hive, Kraken, Plaato and Keenetic NDMS2 no longer honour custom polling intervals; Control4 polls every 5 seconds.
- Bluesound and DoorBird.
bluesound.join/unjoingive way tomedia_player.join/unjoin; DoorBird events carry the image entity asentity_id.
The three pitfalls that will bite hardest
(a) No backup means no documented rollback. The Marketplace migration runs automatically at first start, and the documentation describes no way to roll it back by downgrading to 2026.10 — it recommends restoring a backup. Take a fresh one and download a copy off the machine; the new “Last successful automatic backup size” sensor confirms an automatic backup actually ran.
(b) Offset semantics flip silently. A YAML trigger for “sunset, offset 00:30:00” that used to fire 30 minutes early now fires 30 minutes late when offset_type is missing, as the breaking-changes checklist at mangodeveloper.com spells out. Nothing errors; the lights simply come on at the wrong time.
(c) A unit change kills thresholds without a sound. “A TVOC sensor reporting 189 ppb now shows 0.189 ppm instead of 189 ppm,” and “a rule like ‘above 150’ will never fire against 0.189.” Review every numeric condition on a Matter sensor and rescale it; Settings > Tools > Statistics is where unit problems get fixed.
Should you update on Wednesday? A triage table by setup type
| Your setup | What changes for you | Risk level | Do this before updating | Can you roll back? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HACS user with YAML dashboard resources | Migration on first start; resource paths move to /local/community/ and a repair only reminds you |
Medium | Back up; rewrite every YAML resource path | No documented path; restore a backup |
| HACS user, UI-only | Migration on first start; installs, custom repositories and update entities carry over | Low | Back up; check custom repositories for hacs.json |
No documented path; restore a backup |
| No HACS, but Sun or calendar YAML triggers | Triggers without offset_type reinterpret the offset sign |
Medium | Back up; add offset_type to each trigger |
Not documented |
| Matter sensors with numeric thresholds | Concentration sensors report in the device’s unit, so thresholds may never fire | High | Back up; rescale numeric conditions; check Settings > Tools > Statistics | Not documented |
| Matter camera owner | Camera appears only if the connected Matter server is recent enough | Medium | Back up; confirm the server version first | Not documented |
| Z-Wave user | Needs zwave-js-server 3.11.0+; multi-endpoint devices gain child devices | High | Upgrade the add-on or UI to that minimum, then back up | Not documented |
| Honeywell Evohome, Telegram, Ring or Nanoleaf user | Services, notify platform, siren switch or device triggers removed | High | Back up; rewrite affected scripts and automations | Not documented |
| Minimal setup, few automations | Mostly entity display names on dashboards and badges | Low | Back up; skim the dashboard afterwards | Not documented |
Risk levels reflect only documented breaking changes that apply to that setup, not a judgement about release quality.
The week in Matter and the wider ecosystem
Time-boxed to the week’s Matter-relevant items. The CSA released Matter 1.6 on 17 June 2026 and Matter 1.5.1, with camera improvements, on 31 March 2026. On 21 October 2026, matter.js shipped 0.18.0 with support for Matter 1.6.1. IKEA will begin selling its Matter thermostat in January 2027. Aliro was named one of Time’s best innovations of 2026 on 15 October. UniFi began showing Matter devices in its Network overview on 12 October, and Shelly is rolling out the Matter Controller update for its wall displays, announced 6 October. The matter-smarthome.de news ticker tracks all of these.
Then there is Google Home’s 29 October 2026 update, which touches Matter devices directly. Compatible Matter smart plugs and energy monitors “that measure cumulative energy usage” now show real-time power and total energy consumed in kWh on device tiles and controller screens — Android only for now. The app recognises specific Matter closure types, including garage doors, gates, windows, blinds and cabinets, instead of treating every closure as a generic gate. A one-tap thermostat energy-saving shortcut was added, though Google does not say which thermostats support it or what temperatures it uses. Firmware fixes cover five older Nest cameras and doorbells migrated to the Google Home app, and Nest Wifi Pro now fails over to the ISP’s DNS when public DNS is blocked. Worth noting: Google’s release notes “are generated with the help of Gemini and may require updates or corrections,” as reported here.
FAQ
Is the Marketplace free? Yes. “Everything in the Marketplace is free, and that will not change.”
Do I have to do anything if I use HACS?
In the ordinary case, no — migration runs on first start and your installs and custom repositories carry over. Check the four caveats above: hacs.json, YAML resource paths, AppDaemon and Python scripts, and integration_entities('hacs').
Will my dashboards break?
Entity IDs will not change, so automations keyed on IDs keep working. Display text changes: cards, badges and rows without a name now show device name plus entity name. Budget a ten-minute dashboard review and search templates for friendly_name.
Can I roll back to 2026.10? For the Marketplace migration, the documentation describes no way to roll back by downgrading — it recommends restoring a backup. Take one before Wednesday and keep a copy off the machine.
Do Matter cameras need new hardware or a Thread border router? Nothing in these sources says a Thread border router is required. The stated requirement is “a Matter server that is recent enough to support them” — and Home Assistant only discovers cameras when the connected server does.
Will my voice commands stop working? No. Old entity names remain aliases for voice assistants, so “turn on the ceiling light” keeps working even when the dashboard label changes.
When exactly does 2026.11 ship? Expected, not confirmed: Wednesday 4 November 2026. The notes remain “a work in progress,” and some features may not make the final release.
The Bottom Line
Update on Wednesday if you run a simple setup, have a verified backup downloaded off the machine, and have skimmed the list for the integrations you use. On a minimal install the visible change is mostly dashboard naming.
Wait a week if you are a HACS user with hand-edited YAML dashboard resources, run Matter concentration sensors behind numeric thresholds, depend on Z-Wave, or use Honeywell Evohome, Telegram, Ring or Nanoleaf. Let others find the rough edges while you rewrite affected automations at your own pace; a week’s delay costs nothing, a broken heating automation in November costs comfort.
The one thing everyone must do first: take a backup and download a copy off the machine. The documented recovery path for the Marketplace migration is restoring a backup, and a backup that only exists on the device you are updating is not a backup. Confirm it ran — the new “Last successful automatic backup size” sensor helps. And keep the hedge in view: the stable release is expected on Wednesday, not confirmed, and these notes describe a beta.
How This Guide Was Built
This is a news digest, not a review. Nothing here was tested hands-on: no 2026.11 beta installed, no Matter camera paired, no Marketplace project installed. The dossier behind this post was assembled from fetched pages rather than a real home, so any claim about how the release behaves in practice — how a dashboard reads after the naming change, how a camera stream performs, whether a migration runs cleanly on a particular install — is unverified.
The pages checked were: the Home Assistant 2026.11 beta release notes, which supply the Marketplace, Matter camera, backup, LoRaWAN, ZHA and breaking-change details; the Marketplace integration documentation and the migration write-up at smarthomeassistant.co.uk, covering resource paths, the six-hourly catalogue checks, critical-repository behaviour and the no-downgrade advice; the entity-naming guide at smarthomeassistant.co.uk; mangodeveloper.com’s breaking-changes checklist for the sunset offset and TVOC examples and the Tailscale address range; mangodeveloper.com’s Google Home coverage; and the matter-smarthome.de news ticker for the Matter 1.6 and matter.js items. The HACS-side discussion is tracked in HACS issue 5590. Where a source is secondary, it is attributed inline; anything not traceable to those pages was left out rather than filled in from memory.
📖 Related Reads
- ToolBrain — tool reviews, LLM comparisons, and AI workflow guides
Cross-links automatically generated from SmartHome Field Guide.
← Back to guides