Could HACS become Home Assistant Marketplace in November? There is a good chance if the current plan for Home Assistant 2026.11 lands. HACS, the Home Assistant Community Store, is expected to move inside Home Assistant under that name. But the release has not shipped, so I would not call the move a done deal.
If that move happens, what could happen to the custom integrations, dashboard cards, and themes already in HACS? I use community projects because they let Home Assistant do things the built-in features do not always cover. I would not enjoy rebuilding that collection just because the sign above the shop might change.
The HACS team’s announcement is real and aims for Home Assistant 2026.11. The HACS transition guide and Home Assistant’s preview documentation describe the behavior currently expected. They are not a hands-on test of the final release. That difference matters.
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What the Home Assistant Marketplace plan actually says
Today, HACS is something you add separately. The plan is for Home Assistant Marketplace to be built in and available from Home Assistant’s Settings. That should remove the separate HACS installation step for new users. The community catalog is expected to move with it, including custom integrations, dashboard cards, themes, and templates.
I think of it as moving a small shop into the house. The shelves are easier to reach, but the products on them still come from their own makers. A built-in storefront is not a promise that every project has become an official Home Assistant integration.
Tired of reading?
I am making a video about the Home Assistant Marketplace plan, with the official announcement, the migration notes, and the two categories I would check first. Watch it here when it is ready: HACS becomes Marketplace video.
If you prefer the details at your own speed, keep reading. The migration sounds reassuring overall, but the word “should” is doing honest work until 2026.11 is actually released.
That is the useful headline for anyone seeing “HACS is gone” on a thumbnail. Home Assistant Marketplace is meant to be a new home for HACS, not a bonfire for your custom cards. But there are exceptions worth reading before you press Update.
Will my HACS projects survive the move?
According to the current migration guide, Home Assistant Marketplace should take over when Home Assistant starts after the update. Existing downloads are meant to stay. Repositories you added yourself and their update alerts should move too. Even old HACS links in your dashboard or bookmarks should open the new Marketplace page. That is a much nicer plan than telling everyone to start from zero.
I would still make a normal Home Assistant backup before a major update. That is not because the HACS Marketplace migration is known to break things. It is because backups are boring until the day they are suddenly your favorite feature. I would also note which custom projects matter most in my setup, especially the ones that control something I use every day.
The migration wording is a plan, not a guarantee that every unusual setup will behave perfectly. If a custom integration has its own release notes or special upgrade instructions, read those too. Home Assistant Marketplace can move the storefront, but it cannot rewrite every community developer’s instructions for them.
The AppDaemon and Python script exception
This is the part I would not skip. The current HACS guide says AppDaemon apps and Python scripts already downloaded through HACS should remain in place, but Home Assistant Marketplace will no longer keep them updated. The files staying put and the updates stopping are two different things. If you only hear “your downloads stay,” you can miss the second half.
So before the planned 2026.11 update, check whether you have either of those HACS categories. If you do, look at the project’s own maintenance instructions and decide how you will follow future updates. There is no need to delete a working app today. There is a good reason to know who will maintain it tomorrow.
I expect many people will never notice this exception because they do not use those categories. If you do use them, it is the difference between “my files are still here” and “someone is still telling me when a new version exists.” I would rather find that out before the update than six months later while chasing a mysterious bug.
Built in does not mean checked for you
Home Assistant’s preview documentation is direct about this: Marketplace content is made by the community. Home Assistant does not test, audit, or support every item in the catalog. A community project may run in your home and have access to your Home Assistant data or system. The easier installation path does not remove that trust decision.
Before adding something from Home Assistant Marketplace, I would check who maintains it, whether it has been updated recently, and what other users report. That is not a perfect security test. It is a sensible pause before giving a new project a place inside your smart home. A shiny “Install” button is still just a button, not a character reference.
Do I need GitHub to use it?
The preview docs make a useful distinction. Browsing, installing, and updating projects from the main Home Assistant Marketplace catalog should work without signing in to GitHub. If you add a custom repository by its own GitHub link, that is when the planned flow asks you to connect GitHub.
Think of the main catalog as the shelves everyone can browse. Your own repository link is a special item you bring to the counter. Most people can browse the shelves without a pass. The special request needs one. It would be easy to hear “Marketplace needs GitHub” and assume every ordinary install does, but that is not what the current documentation says.
What I would do before 2026.11
For now, I would keep using HACS normally. I would not remove it early or hunt for a Marketplace screen that belongs to an unreleased version. I would check for AppDaemon apps and Python scripts, make a current backup, and save the links for any community projects I rely on heavily.
Then I would wait for the actual Home Assistant 2026.11 release notes and updated documentation. The Home Assistant Marketplace implementation is real, and the HACS announcement is real, but shipping details can still change. Once the release is out, I can compare the live behavior with this plan instead of pretending a preview page is a hands-on test.
If you are new to Home Assistant, this change could make community projects easier to discover. If you are already a HACS user, the practical question is simpler: which of your custom projects should move, and which ones need your own update plan? That is the question I would answer before update day.
And if the Home Assistant Marketplace gives you room for one more experiment, my Home Assistant AI Recipes book has ideas to try. It cannot update your AppDaemon apps, but at least it will not ask you to log in to GitHub before dinner.
If you want more
For the older setup path, see my HACS installation tutorial. It describes the current HACS experience, not a verified 2026.11 Marketplace screen. You can also browse more Home Assistant articles while we wait for the real release.