A Home Assistant custom component that adds a sidebar panel to manage your recorder configuration (which entities get recorded) and database maintenance (purge, repack, stats) — without editing configuration.yaml.
SQLite only. MariaDB and PostgreSQL are explicitly rejected during setup with a clear error message.
Warning
Use with care. Purge operations permanently delete recorder history and cannot be undone. The migration flow modifies configuration.yaml directly. Always create a full Home Assistant backup before using maintenance or migration features. The authors take no responsibility for data loss.
- Sidebar panel integrated directly into the Home Assistant navigation bar.
- Per-device and per-entity control: enable or disable recording with a toggle — no YAML editing required.
- Database statistics: total / current / obsolete records, matched exclusions, disk size (sums
.db+.db-wal+.db-shm), SQLite file path. - Maintenance actions:
- Purge the database (uses global retention setting).
- Purge excluded entities (full history, ignores retention).
- Auto-update stats after each purge (optional).
- Repack after manual purge (optional).
- Restart Home Assistant.
- Orphan exclusion detection: shows entries in
gui_recorder.yamlthat no longer match any entity, with a one-click bulk-remove. - Guided migration: imports your existing
recorderconfiguration fromconfiguration.yamlin 3 steps (import → disable old block → activate!include). - Cache busting: the panel JS is served with
?v=VERSIONto prevent stale versions after updates.
Per-device and per-entity control, with purge actions per row:
Orphan exclusion detection and obsolete record cleanup:
GUI Recorder is part of the default HACS catalog — no custom repository needed.
- Click the button above, or open HACS → Integrations and search for GUI Recorder, then install it.
- Restart Home Assistant.
- Go to Settings → Devices & services → Add integration and choose GUI Recorder.
- Copy
custom_components/gui_recorder/into<config>/custom_components/gui_recorder/. - Restart Home Assistant.
- Settings → Devices & services → Add integration → GUI Recorder.
After installing and configuring the integration, a GUI Recorder panel appears in the sidebar. From there you can:
- Filter entities by
entity_id, friendly name, domain, or platform. - Toggle recording for entire devices or individual entities.
- Run database analysis and purges (global, per-device, or per-entity).
- Import your existing
recorderconfig fromconfiguration.yaml.
The generated configuration is written to gui_recorder.yaml, included from configuration.yaml via:
recorder: !include gui_recorder.yamlThe integration writes that file automatically. If you already had a recorder: block in configuration.yaml, the panel's migration flow guides you through replacing it.
Removing the integration doesn't touch your recorder database or delete any data — GUI Recorder only ever reads it. The generated gui_recorder.yaml also lives in your config directory, not inside the integration, so it isn't removed either: recorder: !include gui_recorder.yaml is plain Home Assistant YAML and keeps working with the integration gone, so your current recording behavior is preserved either way.
To leave configuration.yaml clean (recommended), fold gui_recorder.yaml back into a plain inline recorder: block instead of leaving it pointed at a generated file:
- Open
gui_recorder.yamland copy everything below the two#comment lines at the top. - In
configuration.yaml, replace:withrecorder: !include gui_recorder.yaml
recorder:followed by that copied content, indented one level underneath, e.g.:recorder: auto_purge: true auto_repack: true purge_keep_days: 10 commit_interval: 5 exclude: entities: - sensor.example
- Remove the integration: Settings → Devices & services → GUI Recorder → Delete. For a manual install, also delete
custom_components/gui_recorder/. - Restart Home Assistant and confirm everything looks right.
- Optional cleanup, only after confirming the restart worked: delete
gui_recorder.yamland.storage/gui_recorder.data. Neither is required — they're harmless if left in place, and.storage/gui_recorder.datalets a future reinstall pick up right where you left off.
- Home Assistant 2024.1.0 or later.
- Recorder database on SQLite (MariaDB and PostgreSQL are not supported).


