---
title: "Watchman"
description: "Watchman is a Marketplace integration for Home Assistant. It has 18.5k installs sharing analytics, works locally and was last updated March 25, 2026."
canonical: "https://vulpo.app/integrations/marketplace/dummylabs-thewatchman"
url: "https://vulpo.app/integrations/marketplace/dummylabs-thewatchman.md"
last-updated: "2026-10-22"
version: "1.4"
---

# Watchman

> Watchman is a Marketplace integration for Home Assistant. It has 18.5k installs sharing analytics, works locally and was last updated March 25, 2026.

Watchman is a custom integration that tracks missing entities and actions referenced in Home Assistant config files. It scans YAML files for referenced entities and actions, checks each entity's current state, and reports those that are missing or unavailable, and checks that actions exist in the registry. Parsing is lightweight and based on line-by-line heuristics, so it can produce false positives and false negatives. The report can be saved as a text file or sent through a notification method, and a report action and a button create the report file. Diagnostic sensors cover status, missing entities, missing actions, last parse, parse duration, and processed and ignored files. Options include folders to watch, ignored entities, files, labels and states, report layout, and masking of names in logs, and it is set up in the UI.

Automatic summary of the README and code of dummylabs/thewatchman. Something wrong, or are you the maintainer and want your own text here? [Get in touch](https://vulpo.app/contact)

[Open in My Home Assistant](https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/hacs_repository/?owner=dummylabs&repository=thewatchman&category=integration)

On Home Assistant 2026.11 or newer? [Open it in the Marketplace](https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/marketplace_repository/?owner=dummylabs&repository=thewatchman&category=integration)

## Supports

- **Works locally**: Talks to your devices on your own network. No vendor cloud in between.
- **From the Marketplace**: Installed through the Marketplace, formerly HACS.

## Setting it up

Install it from the Marketplace and restart Home Assistant, then add it under Settings, Devices and services.

### After setup

- **Folders to watch:**: Comma-separated list of folders where watchman should look for config files
- **Ignored entities and actions:**: Add entities and actions to exclude from tracking. Supports glob patterns (e.g. switch.\*)
- **Exclude entities with the states below from the report:**: Comma-separated list of the states excluded from tracking
- **Exclude disabled automations**: Exclude entities used only by disabled automations
- **Ignored files:**: Add file glob patterns to exclude from tracking (e.g. \*/esphome/\*)
- **Ignored labels:**: Use labels to exclude entities from tracking
- **Parse UI controlled dashboards**
- **Startup delay for watchman sensors initialization**
- **Obfuscate sensitive data in logs**: Whether to mask entity and action names in debug logs for privacy
- **Enforce max file size limit**
- **List of report columns width, e.g. 30, 7, 60**
- **Custom header for the report**
- **Report file location e.g. /config/report.txt**
- **Add entity friendly names to the report**

Texts from the code of [dummylabs/thewatchman](https://github.com/dummylabs/thewatchman).

## Entities

- **Buttons**: Create Report File
- **Sensors**: Last Update, Missing Entities, Missing Actions, Status, Parse Duration, Last Parse, Processed Files, Ignored Files
- **Texts**: Ignored Labels

## Actions

- **Report**: Run the Watchman report
  Fields: Create file report, Send report as notification, Notification action data parameters, Force full configuration rescan, Notification message chunk size
- **Set ignored labels**: Overwrite the list of labels to ignore.
  Fields: Labels

## From the README

> Home Assistant setups evolve over time—entities can disappear, and services/actions may be renamed by integrations. Watchman helps you spot these changes early by scanning your configuration for references to missing or renamed entities, so you can fix issues before automations break. Discussion on Home Assistant Community Forum

From the README of [dummylabs/thewatchman](https://github.com/dummylabs/thewatchman#readme), [MIT License](https://spdx.org/licenses/MIT.html). Shortened.

## At a glance

- Kind: Marketplace integration
- Number: 18.5k installs sharing analytics; 692 GitHub stars
- Connection: Works locally
- Upkeep: No update in 6 to 18 months
- Needs: Needs the Marketplace (HACS on 2026.10 and older)
- Latest version: v0.8.4, last updated March 25, 2026
- Domain: `watchman`
- Source: <https://github.com/dummylabs/thewatchman>
- Issues: <https://github.com/dummylabs/thewatchman/issues>
- Screenshot: https://vulpo.app/integrations-img/bf6d973a5a8fea9d.webp (from dummylabs/thewatchman's README)
- Screenshot: https://vulpo.app/integrations-img/2049cd987f0d7c4c.webp (from dummylabs/thewatchman's README)
- Screenshot: https://vulpo.app/integrations-img/9c2cf89600f5b066.webp (from dummylabs/thewatchman's README)

In Vulpo: Button card, Chart card, Apple Watch

Independent directory, made by the developer of Vulpo. Not affiliated with Home Assistant or the Open Home Foundation. [About these numbers](https://vulpo.app/integrations/about)

Last updated 2026-10-22. Source: https://vulpo.app/integrations/marketplace/dummylabs-thewatchman

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