← Install

The starter path: Franzl without prior experience

No Home Assistant and no interest in tinkering with tech? Here's how to get there anyway, with a ready-made device you just plug in.

The idea

Franzl runs on Home Assistant, a free, open smart home hub with a huge ecosystem. That sounds like a tinkering project, but it doesn't have to be: Home Assistant is also available as a ready-made device you can buy, about the size of a book, that you just plug into power and your router.

Shopping list (one-time):

• Home Assistant Green: the official ready-made device from the Home Assistant developers, available from the retailers listed on the official site (in Austria/Germany/Switzerland, e.g. major electronics retailers).
• A free LAN port on your router and a power outlet. That's it.

Other ways to the same goal: Home Assistant runs just as well on a Raspberry Pi 4/5 (cheaper, but you install the operating system yourself) or on a mini PC, if you have one lying around (more power, but higher power draw). This guide describes the Green because it comes ready-installed, runs quietly and efficiently, and takes the fewest steps. If you're comfortable setting it up yourself, the Pi is the cheaper route.

Step by step

1. Plug it in: connect the Green to your router with the included LAN cable, plug in the power supply. It starts up on its own, nothing to install.
2. Open Home Assistant: after a few minutes, go to homeassistant.local:8123 in your browser and click through the short welcome wizard (name, location, account, all of it stays local, with you).
3. Add your devices: Home Assistant finds a lot on its own and actively suggests it: inverters, wallboxes, smart plugs on the same network. Usually it's one "Confirm" click per device. What your specific model needs is in our device database.
4. Install Franzl: from here, the path is the same for everyone: install the Franzl Gateway, enter the code in the app, done.

After that: do you ever need to look at Home Assistant again?

No, that's the whole point. Home Assistant is the machine in the basement; Franzl is what you actually live with: the Franzl app shows you everything, explains everything, and controls everything. You only go back into Home Assistant when you add a new device, or if you eventually catch the smart home bug and want more of it. That's fine too.