# app-node-red: the Home Assistant Community App that packages Node-RED > This repository is not Node-RED itself but the Home Assistant Community App packaging it, maintained by Franck Nijhof. It gives Home Assistant users Node-RED flows in the browser editor without a manual container, and its README is mostly a pointer to the app documentation. **hassio-addons/app-node-red** — Node-RED - Home Assistant Community Apps - Repository: https://github.com/hassio-addons/app-node-red - Stars: 654 · Forks: 136 - Language: JavaScript - License: MIT - Published: 2026-10-21 · Updated: 2026-10-21 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/hassio-addons-app-node-red ## A packaging layer, not the Node-RED codebase The first thing to get straight about this repository is what it contains. The description reads Node-RED - Home Assistant Community Apps, and the topics are addon, addons, app, apps, home-assistant, homeassistant and node-red. The primary language is listed as JavaScript, matching the runtime it packages. So this is the distribution wrapper: the piece that puts Node-RED into Home Assistant's own app management rather than leaving you to run it yourself. The README describes the software it wraps as a programming tool for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services, one that provides a browser-based editor where flows are built from the nodes in the palette and deployed to the runtime in a single click. That description is why the app is worth having inside Home Assistant rather than on a separate box: the flows can drive the devices and services your instance already knows about. The maintainer is named in the README, which credits Franck Nijhof with the original setup of this repository, and the copyright line runs from 2018 to 2026. The repository also points to a sibling repository holding multiple apps for Home Assistant, which is how a user finds the alternatives. One consequence of this structure is worth stating early: most questions about behaviour are answered by the Node-RED documentation at nodered.org/docs, not by this repository. ## The repository is thin and the node-red directory holds the app The top-level listing is short: .github/, .mdlrc, .yamllint, LICENSE.md, README.md, images/ and a node-red/ directory. The screenshots used in the README live in images/, one of which is a capture of Node-RED running in the Home Assistant frontend. The node-red/ directory is where the app itself lives, and the README links a file inside it as the authoritative source for this project. The link points at node-red/DOCS.md, described as the full app documentation. That distinction between the README and DOCS.md is the most important structural fact here: the README is a landing page with badges, a short description and support links, and the operational detail lives in the app folder. Two small configuration files at the root hint at how the repository is maintained. .mdlrc and .yamllint are lint configurations for Markdown and YAML, which means the YAML inside the app folder is checked for formatting consistency. Neither file is explained in the README, so their exact rules are something you would learn by opening them. The .github/ directory holds the automation and the contribution guidelines, which the README links as a separate document at .github/CONTRIBUTING.md. The README states plainly that this is an active open-source project open to people who want to use the code or contribute to it. ## Release tags in the v22 series without a stated mapping The release record is the clearest signal of how the project is versioned. Recent tagged releases are v22.0.5 on 2026-09-02, v22.0.6 on 2026-09-11 and v22.1.0 on 2026-10-03. The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-10-22, so commits continued after the newest tag. Those numbers follow the v22 line, and patch releases such as.5 and.6 followed by a minor bump to.1.0 are the pattern of a project that re-releases when the underlying Node-RED version moves or when the packaging changes. What the README does not do is state the mapping. Nowhere in it is written which Node-RED version a given app tag corresponds to, and the release notes are the place that information would have to come from. If you are deciding between two tags, that is the document to read. The badges at the top of the README make two claims worth reading carefully rather than repeating. The project stage badge says production ready, and the maintenance badge points at a yes/2026 image, meaning the project is presented as maintained for the current year. These are project self-descriptions rather than independent assessments, and the release dates are the harder evidence: a tagged release roughly two weeks before the last push is a better signal of upkeep than any badge. The licence is MIT, with the full text in LICENSE.md and the copyright line in the README covering 2018 to 2026. ## Support runs through Discord, the forum and GitHub issues The README routes every kind of question to a specific channel, and it distinguishes them rather than pointing at a single inbox. App support and feature requests go to the Home Assistant Community Apps Discord server. General Home Assistant discussion belongs in the Home Assistant Discord server. There is a community forum thread for this app, and a Reddit community at /r/homeassistant for broader questions. The Node-RED documentation covers the software itself, and you can open an issue on this repository. That structure tells you something about the boundary between the two projects. Questions about flow behaviour, node availability or the editor belong with Node-RED. Questions about the app inside Home Assistant, its options or its versions belong here. For a user, the practical consequence is that the first place to look for anything specific to this app is DOCS.md in the node-red/ directory, and the second is the Community Apps Discord, where the app support questions are gathered. The forum link points at a specific thread for this app, which is a good place to read how other users configured it before you post. ## What the README does not tell you It is worth being explicit about the gaps, because the README is short enough that readers assume it is complete. There are no installation steps. The README never shows how to add the app to a Home Assistant instance, which button to press or which repository to add. It also does not document the port the app listens on, the options it exposes in the add-on configuration, where the flow storage lives, or what happens to your flows when the app is upgraded or reinstalled. There is no upgrade or rollback section, and no changelog in the repository listing. That is a deliberate trade-off in the way these community apps are structured: the README is a hub for links, and the configuration specifics belong to the app folder and its documentation. The cost is that a reader arriving from a search engine will not find the answer to a specific question on the page itself. The screenshots do their job for the first question, which is what it looks like. The capture of Node-RED in the Home Assistant frontend shows that the editor runs in the same browser session as your instance rather than on a separate host. But a screenshot cannot tell you what happens to your flows on an upgrade, and for a tool where your work lives in flows you authored, that is the question to answer first. ## Community app versus running Node-RED yourself There is a real alternative, and it is the one many self-hosters start with: run Node-RED in a container you control, with your own image tag, your own volume for the flow storage and your own update schedule. The difference is not about which Node-RED you get. Both routes run the same editor and the same flow model. The difference is who owns the lifecycle. With this app, the container image is built and tagged by this repository, the version bumps arrive as v22.x tags, and the update path runs through Home Assistant's app management, which means the operator of the Home Assistant instance is also the operator of the Node-RED app without touching a compose file or a registry. With your own container, you choose the tag, you decide when to pull, and you keep the flow file on a volume you named. In exchange you handle the image yourself, and you are the one who notices when a new Node-RED version exists. For someone already running Home Assistant, the Community App route removes a second deployment to babysit and gives you Node-RED next to the instance it drives. For someone who needs a specific Node-RED build, or who wants their flows outside the Home Assistant installation entirely, the self-managed container is the more honest choice, and nothing in this repository pushes you away from it. ## Conclusion app-node-red is a reasonable choice for a Home Assistant operator who wants Node-RED running inside the same app system as the rest of the instance, with releases tracked by version tags such as v22.1.0 from 2026-10-03 and a last push on 2026-10-22. It is the wrong choice if you need to know exactly which Node-RED build is inside the container before you install it, because the README never states that mapping, and it offers nothing to a user outside Home Assistant. Before adding it, read node-red/DOCS.md for the app options and port the repository does not describe, decide where your flow JSON will live so a rebuild does not lose it, and check the release notes for the tag you are about to install. ## FAQ ### How do I install the Node-RED app for Home Assistant? The README does not contain installation steps. It points to the full app documentation at node-red/DOCS.md inside this repository, and to the Home Assistant Community Apps Discord server for app support and feature requests. ### What is the relationship between app-node-red and the Node-RED project? This repository packages Node-RED as a Home Assistant Community App. Node-RED itself is the programming tool with the browser-based flow editor, and its own documentation lives at nodered.org/docs. ### How often is app-node-red updated? Recent tagged releases are v22.0.5 on 2026-09-02, v22.0.6 on 2026-09-11 and v22.1.0 on 2026-10-03, and the last push was on 2026-10-22. The README does not state which Node-RED version each app tag contains, so the release notes are the place to check. ### What licence is the app-node-red app released under? MIT, with the full licence text in LICENSE.md and a copyright line reading Copyright (c) 2018-2026 Franck Nijhof. The original setup of the repository is credited to Franck Nijhof. ## Sources - [hassio-addons/app-node-red on GitHub](https://github.com/hassio-addons/app-node-red) - [Issues](https://github.com/hassio-addons/app-node-red/issues) - [License: MIT](https://github.com/hassio-addons/app-node-red/blob/main/LICENSE) - [README](https://github.com/hassio-addons/app-node-red/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/hassio-addons/app-node-red/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/hassio-addons-app-node-red