Home Assistant 2026 Guide: HACS Marketplace, MCP, Link and Every Change From 2026.9 to 2026.11
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- 19 Oct, 2026
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Between early September and early November 2026, Home Assistant changes more than it usually does in half a year. Three monthly releases, a patch with a nasty Matter Server side effect, a rename of the paid cloud service, a third-party integration that suddenly needs a subscription and, above all, the end of HACS as a separate add-on. If you run a local smart home, this is the one page to read before you click "Update".
We merged our coverage of the 2026.9, 2026.10 and 2026.10.1 releases, the Home Assistant Link announcement, the HACS Marketplace transition and the daylight-saving checks into a single guide, with dates, what breaks and what to do.
What to remember
- 2026.11 (November): HACS becomes the built-in Marketplace under Settings. Your custom integrations carry over; AppDaemon apps and Python scripts stop getting updates.
- 2026.10 (October 7): one-click MCP server for AI assistants, a new OpenStreetMap-based map, and trigger IDs you can tick instead of type.
- 2026.10.1 (October 10): WLED and Matter thermostat fixes; some users see the Matter Server fail to start after a reboot.
- December 2: Home Assistant Cloud is renamed Home Assistant Link. Same features, same price for now.
- Always take an off-device backup before a major release.
The timeline at a glance
| Date (2026) | Release or event | Headline change | Should you act? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 2 | Home Assistant 2026.9 | Active alerts, "why did this change" history, Matter network map | Optional, low risk |
| Oct 2 | Nabu Casa blog post | Home Assistant Cloud will become Home Assistant Link | No action needed |
| Oct 7 | Home Assistant 2026.10 "You are here" | MCP in one click, new map, easy trigger IDs | Yes: read the breaking changes |
| Oct 10 | Core 2026.10.1 | WLED, Matter thermostat and ZHA fixes | Yes if you use WLED or Matter thermostats |
| Oct 11–12 | Withings API change | New Withings accounts need Withings+ for the integration | Only if you set up Withings now |
| Oct 25 / Nov 1 | Clocks fall back (EU / US) | Fixed-time automations shift relative to daylight | Check sun-based triggers |
| November | Home Assistant 2026.11 | HACS moves inside Home Assistant as Marketplace | Yes: audit custom repos first |
| Dec 2 | 2026.12 release | Link name becomes official | No |
2026.9: making the house explain itself
The September release was about clarity rather than raw features.
Alerts that rank urgency
The security dashboard gained an Active alerts section that separates severity levels. A door left open is no longer shouted at you with the same weight as a smoke alarm, and when everything is fine the section simply disappears.
The "why" behind a state change
Activity history now shows what caused a change. Instead of guessing why the shutters closed at 4 p.m., you see that an automation reacted to heavy rain. For anyone debugging a family member's complaint, this is the most useful change of the year.
A real Matter network map
Matter users get a topology view showing Thread border routers, nodes and links directly in the interface. Before, the same information meant digging through logs. If you are planning to add presence sensors or Thread lights, this map is the first place to look for weak spots (see our mmWave presence sensor and Thread guide).
Modbus configuration for solar inverters, heat pumps and energy meters also started moving from YAML to the UI, and 13 new integrations arrived.
2026.10 "You are here": AI, maps and trigger IDs
The stable 2026.10 release landed on October 7 after a beta week that started October 1.
MCP in one click
The former AI tasks page under Settings → System is now simply AI, with a Model Context Protocol card. One toggle starts the MCP server and the card lists the URLs to paste into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. New setups expose all entities but only let administrator accounts connect; both defaults can be changed. Home Assistant can also discover other apps that run their own MCP server, and KNX users get AI tools that query their ETS project and bus.
Our advice: before you connect a cloud assistant, create a dedicated area or label for the entities it may control, and keep locks and alarms out of scope until you trust the setup.
A new map, served by your own instance
After the old tile provider started demanding an API key, maps moved to OpenStreetMap vector tiles fetched and cached through your instance. They are sharp at every zoom, support a dark style, and the new Map dashboard adds People, Devices and Zones tabs. Older wall tablets fall back to the classic map.
Trigger IDs without typing
The Triggered by condition now lets you tick the triggers you want; Home Assistant handles the IDs behind the scenes. Existing YAML IDs keep working. Dashboard visibility conditions gained the same options as automations (template, sun, zone, device) and show whether a card is visible right now.
Matter controls from the beta
Supported Matter leak sensors can expose separate switches for audible and visual alarms, compatible Matter locks get a one-touch keypad locking preference, and devices that report it can show frequency and power factor. A control appears only when the device's Matter implementation exposes it.
Breaking changes to check
- Legacy auth mode is gone: usernames are now always lowercase, without surrounding spaces.
mqtt.publish,mqtt.dumpand Synology reboot/shutdown need an admin when triggered by hand.- Proxmox uptime sensors become timestamps; Mealie 3.2 or newer is required; Linode and Tank Utility are disabled.
- State conditions that mix
forwith attributes or state lists now fail validation.
2026.10.1: the patch, and the Matter Server scare
Core 2026.10.1 shipped on October 10. WLED now reloads colour modes when the LED setup changes, wired WLED controllers stop creating useless Wi-Fi sensors, and Matter thermostat calibration limits follow the Thermostat cluster revision (±2.5 °C up to revision 6, ±12.7 °C from revision 7). ZHA 2.3.1 and a generic thermostat timing fix are included.
On October 11 a Home Assistant OS user opened issue #185752: after updating, the log shows "Failed to start the Matter Server app: Timeout connecting to Supervisor" at every reboot. The triage reply says nothing changed in Core on this point between 2026.10.0 and 2026.10.1, and the root cause was still open at the time of writing. The workaround is to restart the Matter Server app manually after a reboot, then add your logs to the issue.
HACS becomes the Marketplace in 2026.11
This is the change that will generate the most forum threads. According to the official HACS documentation, from Home Assistant 2026.11 HACS ships inside Home Assistant as the Marketplace integration, under Settings → Marketplace.
| Item | What happens |
|---|---|
| Custom integrations downloaded via HACS | Stay installed and keep receiving updates |
| Custom repositories, update entities | Carried over with names, areas and labels |
| Entity IDs | Unchanged, so automations and dashboards keep working |
Old /hacs bookmarks | Open the Marketplace |
| Sidebar entry | Gone: the Marketplace lives under Settings |
| AppDaemon apps, Python scripts | Keep running but are no longer managed or updated; a repair lists them |
| Dashboard resources | Served from /local/community/; old /hacsfiles/ paths still work, YAML users get a repair |
| Installing HACS on 2026.11+ | Blocked by Home Assistant |
On 2026.10 or older, nothing changes. The HACS custom integration will not get new features anymore, and the HACS installer stops at 2026.11.
Home Assistant Cloud becomes Home Assistant Link
In a post on October 2, Nabu Casa explained that "cloud" confused newcomers into thinking Home Assistant runs in the cloud. It does not: it runs at home, and the subscription only adds remote access, off-site backups, Alexa and Google voice control, cloud speech and better camera streaming. The rename becomes official on December 2 with the 2026.12 release.
The announcement mentions no price change. On October 15, Nabu Casa's pricing page listed $6.50 a month or $65 a year in the US, and €7.50 a month or €75 a year in Europe, with a 31-day free trial. Subscribers do not need to do anything.
Two side quests: Withings and the clock change
Withings+ for new accounts
The Withings integration relies on a free developer app you create yourself. Withings now requires a Withings+ membership for accounts created after the October 2026 cutoff on its free API plan (£8.95 a month in the UK). Existing accounts are not affected. If yours works, do not delete or recreate the developer app. If you are buying a scale now, a Bluetooth model read locally through ESPHome or a Bluetooth proxy avoids both the cloud and the fee.
Daylight saving time
The EU falls back overnight from October 24 to 25 and the US on November 1 at 2 a.m. (timeanddate). Home Assistant follows the time zone set in Settings → System → General, so a 7 a.m. automation still runs at 7 a.m. Three traps remain:
- The repeated 1–2 a.m. hour in the US: keep irrigation or heating cycles out of it.
- Fixed-time lighting: replace "6 p.m." with a sunset trigger plus an offset.
- Devices with their own schedules (thermostats, plugs, ovens): check them the morning after.
Your upgrade checklist for 2026.11
- Take a full backup and store it off the machine (Home Assistant Link, a NAS or a USB drive).
- Export the list of HACS repositories you use and note any AppDaemon apps or Python scripts.
- If you declared dashboard resources in YAML, plan to move them to
/local/community/. - Read the 2026.10 breaking changes if you skipped that release.
- After updating, reboot once and check the Matter Server app state.
- Open Settings → Repairs and work through every entry before adding new integrations.
Running Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi? Our Raspberry Pi 5 kit review covers storage and cooling, which matter more than ever with bigger releases. For hands-on hardware, see our smart switch flashed for Home Assistant and, if you hesitate between platforms, our Homey Pro 2026 review. More hubs are compared in our Matter hub buyer's guide.
FAQ
Do I lose my custom integrations when HACS becomes the Marketplace?
No. Everything downloaded through HACS stays installed and keeps receiving updates, with the same entity IDs.
Can I stay on HACS?
Yes, as long as you stay on 2026.10 or older. From 2026.11, Home Assistant blocks installing HACS.
Is the MCP server safe to enable?
By default only administrator accounts can connect. Limit the exposed entities and keep security devices out until you have tested the assistant.
Will Home Assistant Link cost more?
Nabu Casa announced no price change with the rename. Prices on October 15 were $6.50/month or €7.50/month.
The Matter Server does not start after updating. What now?
Restart the Matter Server app manually, check its logs and add them to GitHub issue #185752.
Sources: Home Assistant 2026.9, Home Assistant 2026.10, HACS documentation, Nabu Casa, GitHub #185752, timeanddate.