Dashboard

The dashboard is Beacon’s default view — the first thing you see when you open the app. It is designed to give you a glanceable summary of the day from across the room.

Layout presets

Beacon ships with three dashboard layout presets. You can switch between them in Settings > General > Dashboard Layout.

Family (default)

The Family layout is a per-member calendar view designed for a family command center display.

• Top bar: The current time (styled in the theme’s accent color), the date, and a compact weather widget. Clicking the weather widget opens the full weather view.
• Main area: One column per family member. Each column shows the member’s avatar, their name (color-coded to match their assigned color), and their calendar events for the day. Only members with a calendar_entity assigned in Settings > Family Members get a column. Events that don’t match any member’s calendar appear in an “Other” column.
• Sidebar (300px, right side): Contains the Menu widget (today’s meals from AnyList) and the Tasks widget (todo items from Home Assistant or chores).

Classic

The original three-column layout:

Good for simple setups where per-member calendar columns are not needed.

Compact

A single-column, vertically scrollable layout. All dashboard content is stacked in one column. Best for mobile devices, tablets in portrait orientation, or narrow screens.

Top bar (Family layout)

In the Family layout, the top bar displays:

• Time: A large clock styled in the theme’s accent color. Updates every second.
• Date: The full date in “Wednesday, March 28” format.
• Weather: A compact weather widget showing the icon, temperature, and condition. Click it to open the full weather view.

Per-member calendar columns (Family layout)

The main area of the Family layout shows one column for each family member who has a calendar entity assigned.

• Each column header shows the member’s avatar and name (color-coded).
• Below the header, the member’s calendar events for the day are listed in chronological order.
• Each event card shows the event title and time (“All day” for all-day events, or start-end times).
• Events from calendars that don’t match any family member’s assigned calendar appear in a catch-all “Other” column on the right.

To assign a calendar to a family member, go to Settings > Family Members, edit the member, and select a calendar from the Calendar dropdown. See Family Members for details.

Meal plan widget

The meal plan widget appears in the sidebar (Family layout) or the right column (Classic layout). It shows today’s planned meals:

Meal data comes from AnyList via the sync script or MCP tools. If no meals are planned for today, the widget is hidden.

Weather widget

The weather widget appears in the top bar (Family layout) or the right column (Classic layout) when a weather entity is configured. It displays:

• Weather icon: An emoji representing the current condition (sunny, cloudy, rainy, etc.)
• Temperature: The current temperature rounded to the nearest degree
• Condition: A human-readable label like “Partly Cloudy” or “Sunny”

Supported weather conditions

The weather data comes from whatever weather entity you configure (Met.no, OpenWeatherMap, AccuWeather, etc.) and refreshes every 10 minutes.

Task checklist

Below the weather widget, a task checklist shows today’s chores. Each task displays:

• A checkbox that you can tap to mark the chore complete
• The chore icon (emoji) and chore name

Tasks are divided into two groups:

1. Incomplete tasks appear first with empty checkboxes
2. Completed tasks appear below with checked boxes and strikethrough text

If all tasks are completed, the checklist shows “All done!”. If no chores are configured, it shows “No tasks for today”.

Tapping a completed task’s checkbox will undo the completion.

Note: The dashboard checklist uses the first family member for tracking completions. For per-member chore management, use the full Chores panel (see Chores).

Countdown widget

The countdown widget displays upcoming events or milestones with a “days until” counter. It appears below the task checklist.

Two types of countdowns

1. Calendar-based countdowns: Any future calendar event that has “countdown” or “#countdown” in its description is automatically picked up as a countdown item.

2. Manual countdowns: Click the + button in the countdown header to add a custom countdown with a name and target date. Manual countdowns are stored in the browser’s localStorage.

How it works

• Each countdown item shows the number of days remaining, the event title, and the formatted date (e.g., “Mar 28”)
• Items are sorted by date (soonest first)
• Past countdowns (where the date has already passed) are automatically hidden
• Manual countdowns have an x button to remove them; calendar-based countdowns cannot be removed from this widget (edit the event instead)

Creating a countdown from a calendar event

1. Create or edit a calendar event
2. In the Description field, include the word countdown or #countdown anywhere in the text
3. The event will appear in the countdown widget on the dashboard

Example description: #countdown Summer vacation starts!

Creating a manual countdown

1. Click the + button in the Countdown header
2. Enter an event name (e.g., “Spring Break”)
3. Select a target date
4. Click Add

The widget is hidden entirely if there are no active countdowns and the add form is not open.

Customizing the dashboard

Troubleshooting

Weather does not appear

1. Verify you have a weather entity configured: check Developer Tools > States for entities starting with weather.
2. Make sure the weather_entity config option matches the entity ID exactly
3. Beacon fetches weather on connection — if HA is not connected, weather will be blank

Clock shows wrong time

The clock uses the browser’s local time, not Home Assistant’s time. Make sure the device running Beacon has the correct timezone set in its operating system settings.

”Nothing on the calendar today” even though events exist

1. Events are filtered to today’s date using the browser’s local date
2. If the browser’s timezone differs from your HA timezone, events may appear on the wrong day
3. Verify events exist for today in the Calendar view