Home Assistant Docker on Mac OS

com.homeassistant.dns.sd.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.homeassistant.dns.sd</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/path/to/dns-sd.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

configuration.yml

homekit:
  - name: HASS Bridge
    port: 51827
    advertise_ip: [REAL_IP]

dns-sd.sh

#!/bin/bash -x

# register HASS Bridge by getting the avahi-browse output from the homeassistant container
DNS_SD_NAME="HASS Bridge"

LOG_FILE="/var/log/dns-sd.log"

prepare_command() {
    echo '/usr/local/bin/docker exec -t $(/usr/local/bin/docker ps | grep homeassistant | cut -d" " -f1) avahi-browse -t -r -p -k _hap._tcp | grep -m 1 "HASS Bridge" | cut -d";" -f5-6,9-10 | awk -F";" '\''{printf "dns-sd -R \"HASS Bridge\" %s %s %s %s\n", $1, $2, $3, $4}'\'''
}

DNS_SD_CMD=""  # Declare CMD as a global variable

run_command() {
    PREPARE=$(prepare_command)
    echo "Prepare command: $PREPARE" | tee -a $LOG_FILE
    DNS_SD_CMD=$(eval $PREPARE)
    echo "Running command: $DNS_SD_CMD" | tee -a $LOG_FILE
    eval $DNS_SD_CMD >> $LOG_FILE 2>&1 &
    pid=$!
    echo "Command running with PID: $pid" | tee -a $LOG_FILE
}

check_and_run_command() {
    if pgrep -f "$DNS_SD_NAME" >/dev/null; then
        echo "Command is already running. Killing it..." | tee -a $LOG_FILE
        pkill -f "$DNS_SD_NAME"
    fi
    run_command
}

check_if_need_run() {
    PREPARE=$(prepare_command)
    echo "Prepare command: $PREPARE" | tee -a $LOG_FILE
    NEW_DNS_SD_CMD=$(eval $PREPARE)
    if [[ "$NEW_DNS_SD_CMD" != "$DNS_SD_CMD" ]]; then
        echo "DNS_SD_CMD is not the same." | tee -a $LOG_FILE
        check_and_run_command
    else
        echo "DNS_SD_CMD is the same." | tee -a $LOG_FILE
    fi
}

interval=86400  # 24 hours in seconds

# Infinite loop to periodically run the check
while true; do
    check_if_need_run
    sleep $interval
done

docker-compose.yml

version: '3'
services:
  homeassistant:
    container_name: homeassistant
    build: .
    volumes:
      - /path/to/config:/config
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    ports:
      - 8123:8123
      - 51827:51827
    restart: unless-stopped
    privileged: true

docker-entrypoint.sh

#!/bin/bash
set -euxo pipefail

# Start dbus and avahi-daemon
mkdir -p /var/run/dbus/
rm -f /run/dbus/dbus.pid
dbus-uuidgen > /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
dbus-daemon --config-file=/usr/share/dbus-1/system.conf --print-address
avahi-daemon --daemonize 

# Run anything else you want to run before HA starts...

# Run original entrypoint
exec /init

Dockerfile

FROM homeassistant/home-assistant:stable

# Install avahi-daemon in container
# https://gnanesh.me/avahi-docker-non-root.html
RUN set -ex \
  && apk --no-cache --no-progress add avahi avahi-tools dbus   \
#   Disable default Avahi services
  && rm /etc/avahi/services/* \
  && rm -rf /var/cache/apk/*


COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/sbin/
ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/local/sbin/docker-entrypoint.sh"]

@ChainsLunatic Hello, I followed this guide as best I could but it's not working for me. I fully understand how to use Dockerfile and docker_compose but where do I put com.homeassistant.dns.sd.plist, dns-sd.sh, and docker-entrypoint.sh? Do I store them all in /usr/local/sbin folder? Thanks

@ChainsLunatic Hello, I followed this guide as best I could but it's not working for me. I fully understand how to use Dockerfile and docker_compose but where do I put com.homeassistant.dns.sd.plist, dns-sd.sh, and docker-entrypoint.sh? Do I store them all in /usr/local/sbin folder? Thanks

The docker-entrypoint.sh is the only one that goes into the container (see modified Dockerfile) the plist goes into your Mac hosts LaunchAgent directory (/User/username/Library/LaunchAgents/). The dns-sd.sh must be somewhere the plist-files can reach e.g. /User/username/dns-sd.sh. Do not forget to adjust the plists content according to your chosen location.

@ChainsLunatic Thanks for getting back to me. I edited the plist to include the path to the dns-sd.sh and put it in the LaunchAgents directory. Then I have my docker-entrypoint file stored in my main HomeAssistant config directory along with the Dockerfile and the docker compose. Dockerfile builds successfully and when I run docker compose, I'm getting this error in the command line in docker when I start the container: /usr/local/sbin/docker-entrypoint.sh: line 6: sudo: command not found + sudo tee /var/lib/dbus/machine-id

@ChainsLunatic Thanks for getting back to me. I edited the plist to include the path to the dns-sd.sh and put it in the LaunchAgents directory. Then I have my docker-entrypoint file stored in my main HomeAssistant config directory along with the Dockerfile and the docker compose. Dockerfile builds successfully and when I run docker compose, I'm getting this error in the command line in docker when I start the container: /usr/local/sbin/docker-entrypoint.sh: line 6: sudo: command not found + sudo tee /var/lib/dbus/machine-id

Please provide your dockerfile

@ChainsLunatic I decided to dive into running HA on Proxmox on a NUC, thanks for the help!

great, thanks!

I was struggling with getting homekit bridges to work on my Home Assistant running on a Mac Mini inside a docker container (on OrbStack). In my case I am usingnetwork_mode: host so my host is seeing the mDNS services, but the rest of my network wasn't. Thanks to your gist I put together a python script that takes care of the mDNS rebroadcasting, and since it may help someone just like your gist helped me, you can have a look at it here. It is for use cases where you don't have to rely on avahi inside the container and are able to resolve the services on your host machine.