esphome-docs/components/host.rst

Host Platform
=============

.. seo::
    :description: Configuration for the host platform for ESPHome.
    :image: host.svg

The ``host`` platform allows ESPHome configurations to be compiled and run on a desktop computer. This is known
to work on MacOS and Linux. On Windows `WSL <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install>`_ (Windows Subsystem for Linux) can be used to create a Linux environment that will run ESPHome.

The only configuration required is to optionally set a dummy MAC address that will be used to identify the
configuration to Home Assistant (the native MAC address is not readily available.)

.. note::

    HA will not automatically discover an ESPHome instance running on ``host`` using MDNS, and you will need
    to add it explicitly using the IP address of your host computer.

Many components, especially those interfacing to actual hardware, will not be available when using ``host``. Do not
configure wifi - network will automatically be available using the host computer.

.. code-block:: yaml

    # Example configuration entry
    host:
      mac_address: "06:35:69:ab:f6:79"

Configuration variables:
------------------------

- **mac_address** (**Optional**, MAC address): A dummy MAC address to use when communicating with HA.

Build and run
-------------

The ``esphome run yourfile.yaml`` command will compile and automatically run the build file on the ``host`` platform.


See Also
--------

- :ref:`SDL display <sdl>`
- :doc:`esphome`
- :doc:`/components/time/host`
- :ghedit:`Edit`