GPSD – Home Assistant Add-on

Run gpsd inside a Home Assistant OS container, exposing GPS data over TCP port 2947 for any client on your LAN.

Supported Hardware

Any USB GPS receiver that presents a serial port. Common chipsets:

• u-blox (e.g. VK-162, BN-220)
• SiRF Star (e.g. GlobalSat BU-353)
• MediaTek (e.g. Adafruit Ultimate GPS)
• Silicon Labs CP2102N USB-to-UART bridges

The device typically appears as /dev/ttyUSB0 or /dev/ttyACM0.

Installation

1. In Home Assistant, go to Settings → Add-ons → Add-on Store.
2. Click the ⋮ menu (top-right) → Repositories.
3. Add the repository URL:

   https://github.com/leo-stan/ha-addon-gpsd
   

4. Find GPSD in the store and click Install.
5. Configure the add-on (see below) and click Start.

Configuration

Option	Default	Description
device	/dev/serial/by-id/usb-...	Path to the serial GPS device (use /dev/serial/by-id/ for stability)
baud	9600	Baud rate for the serial connection
gpsd_options	"-n"	Extra gpsd flags (e.g. -n to poll on open)

Finding Your Device Path

Option 1 — HA UI (easiest):

1. Go to Settings → System → Hardware
2. Click All Hardware (bottom of the page)
3. Search for your GPS device (e.g. CP2102, ttyUSB, or ttyACM)
4. Copy the /dev/serial/by-id/... path

Option 2 — Terminal / SSH:

ls -l /dev/serial/by-id/

Always prefer the /dev/serial/by-id/... path — it is stable across reboots and doesn't change if you plug in other USB devices.

Example Configuration

device: /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Silicon_Labs_CP2102N_USB_to_UART_Bridge_Controller_2c109c3eadf4ef118da5c41b6d9880ab-if00-port0
baud: 9600
gpsd_options: "-n"

Testing

From another machine on the same network (requires the gpsd-clients package):

# Interactive GPS monitor
cgps -s <HA-IP>:2947

# Raw NMEA/JSON stream (5 sentences)
gpspipe -w -n 5 <HA-IP>:2947

Replace <HA-IP> with the IP address of your Home Assistant instance.

Troubleshooting

"GPS device not found"

• Verify the device is plugged in and detected: ls /dev/ttyUSB*
• Try the /dev/serial/by-id/ path instead
• Check the add-on configuration for typos in the device path

"Permission denied"

• The add-on already requests device access. If you changed the device path, make sure it is also listed in config.yaml under devices:.

No GPS fix

• Make sure the antenna has a clear view of the sky
• Some receivers need a cold-start time of 30–60 seconds
• Check baud rate matches your receiver (most default to 9600)
• Look at the add-on logs for gpsd output

Using with the Home Assistant GPSd Integration

Once the add-on is running, you can connect it to the built-in GPSd integration to get GPS entities in Home Assistant (latitude, longitude, fix mode, etc.).

1. Go to Settings → Devices & Services → Add Integration
2. Search for GPSd and select it
3. Enter the following:
   • Host: 127.0.0.1 (localhost)
   • Port: 2947
4. Click Submit

The integration will create a sensor.gpsd entity with attributes including:

• Latitude / Longitude
• Altitude
• Speed
• Fix mode (no fix, 2D, 3D)

You can use these in automations, device trackers, or dashboards.

License

MIT – see LICENSE.