---
name: homarr-dashboard-setup
description: >-
  Deploy, configure, and populate a Homarr dashboard — Docker setup, user
  management, bulk-adding services via direct SQLite manipulation, layout
  planning, and troubleshooting.
tags: [homarr, dashboard, self-hosted, homelab, sqlite, docker]
---

# Homarr Dashboard Setup

Populate a Homarr dashboard with all self-hosted services. Homarr stores everything in SQLite -- apps, items (widgets), layout positions. For bulk operations, direct database manipulation is faster than the web UI.

## Quick reference

| Path | Value |
|------|-------|
| Container | `homarr` |
| Image | `ghcr.io/homarr-labs/homarr:latest` |
| Port | `8080:7575` |
| Config dir | `./appdata` (bind mount to `/appdata`) |
| DB location | `<config>/db/db.sqlite` |
| CLI tool | `docker exec homarr homarr <command>` |

## User management

### Create first admin (no users exist)
```bash
docker exec homarr homarr recreate-admin --username ray
# Shows a generated password
```

### Set a specific password
```bash
docker exec homarr homarr users update-password \
  --username ray \
  --password 'your-password-here'
```

### Reset password to random (all sessions terminated)
```bash
docker exec homarr homarr reset-password --username ray
```

### List users
```bash
docker exec homarr homarr users list
```

## Database schema (key tables)

### `app` -- service definitions
```
id          TEXT PRIMARY KEY  -- 25-char alphanumeric ID
name        TEXT              -- display name
description TEXT              -- optional tooltip
icon_url    TEXT              -- URL to icon
href        TEXT              -- click target URL
ping_url    TEXT              -- optional separate status-check URL
```

### `item` -- widgets on the board
```
id              TEXT PRIMARY KEY
board_id        TEXT              -- FK to board.id
kind            TEXT              -- 'app' for app widgets, 'clock', 'weather', etc.
options         TEXT              -- JSON: {"json":{"appId":"<app_id>","openInNewTab":true,"showTitle":true}}
advanced_options TEXT             -- usually {"json":{}}
```

### `item_layout` -- position/size on the grid
```
item_id    TEXT  -- FK to item.id
section_id TEXT  -- FK to section.id
layout_id  TEXT  -- FK to layout.id
x_offset   INTEGER
y_offset   INTEGER
width      INTEGER
height     INTEGER
```

### `board` -- the dashboard page
```
id       TEXT PRIMARY KEY
name     TEXT    -- unique name
```

### `section` -- a column/grid area on a board
```
id       TEXT PRIMARY KEY
board_id TEXT -- FK to board.id
```

### `section_layout` -- which layout template a section uses
```
id         TEXT PRIMARY KEY
section_id TEXT  -- FK to section.id
```

## Bulk-adding services via SQLite

When adding 10+ services, direct SQLite inserts beat the UI. Steps:

### 1. Discover running services and their ports
```bash
docker ps --format 'table {{.Names}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Ports}}\t{{.Status}}'
ss -tlnp | grep LISTEN
```

### 2. Get board/section/layout IDs
```sql
SELECT id, name FROM board;
SELECT id, board_id FROM section;
SELECT id, section_id FROM section_layout;
```

### 3. Icon URLs

Use the Homarr dashboard-icons repository:
```
https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/png/<name>.png
https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/walkxcode/dashboard-icons@master/svg/<name>.svg
```

Common icons: `immich.png`, `home-assistant.png`, `paperless-ngx.png`, `plex.png`,
`audiobookshelf.png`, `mealie.png`, `qbittorrent.png`, `pihole.png`,
`portainer.png`, `uptime-kuma.png`, `scrutiny.png`, `vaultwarden.png`,
`pocketbase.png`, `glitchtip.png`, `searxng.png`, `sunshine.png`

For missing icons, fall back to `chrome-beta.png` or another generic icon.

### 4. Generate IDs

Homarr uses ~25-char alphanumeric IDs. Generate them in Python:
```python
import secrets
def gen_id():
    return secrets.token_urlsafe(16)[:25].replace('-','0').replace('_','1')
```

### 5. Insert apps
```sql
INSERT INTO app (id, name, icon_url, href) VALUES
  ('<id>', '<Name>', '<icon_url>', '<href>');
```

### 6. Insert items (one per app)
```sql
INSERT INTO item (id, board_id, kind, options, advanced_options) VALUES
  ('<item_id>', '<board_id>', 'app',
   '{"json":{"appId":"<app_id>","openInNewTab":true,"showTitle":true}}',
   '{"json":{}}');
```

### 7. Insert layout records
```sql
INSERT INTO item_layout (item_id, section_id, layout_id, x_offset, y_offset, width, height) VALUES
  ('<item_id>', '<section_id>', '<layout_id>', 0, 0, 1, 1);
```

### 8. Restart container
```bash
docker restart homarr
```

### 9. Verify
```bash
sqlite3 <db_path> \
  "SELECT l.x_offset, l.y_offset, l.width, l.height, a.name
   FROM item_layout l
   JOIN item i ON l.item_id = i.id
   LEFT JOIN app a ON json_extract(i.options, '$.json.appId') = a.id
   ORDER BY l.y_offset, l.x_offset;"
```

## Pitfalls

- **DB owned by root**: The SQLite file is created by the Docker container and owned by `root:root`. Use `sudo` or `docker exec` for DB access.
- **Duplicate apps**: Homarr auto-discovers Docker containers and inserts into the `app` table. You may see duplicate entries -- e.g. the auto-discovered `homarr` + your manually created `Homarr`. Clean up old items/layouts if needed.
- **Layout columns are `x_offset`, `y_offset`**: Not `x`/`y`. Forgetting this causes silent misplacement.
- **IDs must be unique across `item` and `app` tables**: The random generator collisions are astronomically unlikely but verify if you suspect overlap.
- **Restart required**: Direct DB writes are not live-reloaded. Always `docker restart homarr` after inserts.
- **Container restarts reset uncommitted changes**: The DB is on a bind mount, but if your insert script hasn't committed before the container exits, changes are lost. Use explicit `connection.commit()`.
- **json_extract in joins**: When joining `item` to `app`, use `json_extract(i.options, '$.json.appId')` to extract the app reference from the item's JSON options field.
- **Nginx proxy vs direct access**: For services behind nginx on the same host, use `127.0.0.1:<port>`. For services reaching other hosts or directly exposed, use `192.168.50.98:<port>`.
