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home-assistant/automating-homeassistant-configs-to-github.md

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+# Automating Home Assistant Configuration to GitHub
+
+Being a newbie to Home Assistant, I wanted to automate the changes to the configuration files/folder by pushing these backups to a private GitHub repository. This approach helps avoid exposing any secrets or API tokens and ensures that I can restore contents when required due to any failures of the Home Assistant instance.
+
+While many articles cover this topic, I want to capture all the steps comprehensively without neglecting any detail. Here is a step-by-step guide to setting up this automation: 
+
+1. Install Advanced SSH & Web Terminal Addon. [Home Assistant Community Add-on: Advanced SSH & Web Terminal](https://github.com/hassio-addons/addon-ssh)
+
+2. Create the .gitignore file in the terminal by using the following command. Include the needed lines of code in the .gitignore for excluding it from committing. 
+```zsh
+nano .gitignore 
+```
+
+3. Initial git commands and changing master to main branch for keeping the GitHub naming convention for branches. 
+```sh
+git init
+# add all files to repository by using .
+git add .
+# By default the HA terminal will create master branch which can be updated to main with the following command. type git branch -m master main
+➜  /config git:(master) ✗ git branch -m master main
+# now branch is updated commond line will display follows
+➜  /config git:(main) ✗
+```
+
+4. Create .ssh directory to store SSH key passphrases. **[More reading](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/about-ssh)**
+
+```sh
+# create a directory named as .ssh by using mkdir command
+➜ mkdir .ssh          
+# enter the following line of command ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C “[email protected]” 
+➜ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C “[email protected]”  
+# Enter the file name as .ssh/id_rsa to save the key and enter twice for creating empty password. It will display the following confirmations. 
+Enter file in which to save the key (/root/.ssh/id_rsa): .ssh/id_rsa
+Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): 
+Enter same passphrase again: 
+Your identification has been saved in .ssh/id_rsa
+Your public key has been saved in .ssh/id_rsa.pub
+```
+
+5. Copy and add the SSH key generated from file "ssh/id_rsa.pub" to the "SSH and GPG Key" section in the github.com. [https://github.com/settings/ssh/new](https://github.com/settings/ssh/new)
+
+6. Enter the following command to target and inform where the newly generated id_rsa file.
+```zsh
+➜  git config core.sshCommand "ssh -i /config/.ssh/id_rsa -F /dev/null"
+```
+
+7. Now enter the following commands. You will obtain these lines of code when the creating your free GitHub repository. **Remember** to use **SSH** mode, not HTTPS version of the remote URL.  
+```zsh
+➜  git remote add origin [email protected]:Akbarsait/mygitreponame.git
+➜  git push -u origin main
+```
+If incase you set remote URL incorrectly, follow this command to update it. 
+```zsh
+➜  git remote set-url origin [email protected]:Akbarsait/mygitreponame.git
+```
+
+8. Create a Shell script "backup2git.sh" with the following git commands to handle adding and committing files to repository.     
+```sh
+# get the HA version and set ha version, current date and custom message. 
+HA_VERSION=`cat .HA_VERSION`
+COMMIT_DATE=$(date +'%d-%m-%Y %H:%M:%S')
+COMMIT_MESSAGE="Autocommit from HA - [$HA_VERSION]: $COMMIT_DATE"
+
+echo "$COMMIT_MESSAGE"
+
+git add .
+git commit -m "$COMMIT_MESSAGE"
+git push
+```
+
+9. Provide executable access to the file and Check by manually running it. This manual execution is happening at the "Advanced SSH & Web Terminal" docker container not to the actual Home Assistant container. 
+```sh
+# setting execute permission to the file
+➜ chmod +x backup2github.sh
+# run the file to view results and correct any erros. 
+➜ ./backup2github.sh
+```
+
+To validate how it runs on the Home Assistant container utilizes the following command. Further reading on how to handle Shell command through SSH. **[SSH’ing from a command line sensor or shell command](https://community.home-assistant.io/t/sshing-from-a-command-line-sensor-or-shell-command/258731)**
+
+```sh
+# run the following command
+➜ docker exec -it homeassistant bash
+# will display the prompt as follows 
+homeassistant:/config# 
+# now run the following command.
+➜ ./backup2github.sh
+```
+The SSH terminal will display the following message. Type "yes" to add github.com as a known host. This will allow in executing the script through the automation. 
+
+![HA Comman execution](/assets/images/blog/ha-config-runonHA.png)
+
+10.  Include the following lines of code to the configuration.yaml file.  
+```yaml
+shell_command:
+  run_gitbackup: bash ./backup2github.sh
+```
+11.  Create an Automation that runs on a specific time internal by calling the above shell script as a service. 
+
+![HA Automation Script](/assets/images/blog/ha-github-autoamtion.png)
+
+The code of the automation viewed by checking in the 'Edit in YAML' option.
+
+```yaml
+alias: Daily HAConfig GitHub Backup
+description: ""
+trigger:
+  - platform: time
+    at: "15:00:00"
+action:
+  - service: shell_command.run_gitbackup
+    data: {}
+
+```
+By following these steps, you can ensure that your Home Assistant configuration is regularly backed up to a private GitHub repository. This setup will provide peace of mind knowing that you can restore your configuration in the event of any failures.
+
+Feel free to reach out with any questions or comments. Happy automating!