# UI-Lovelace-Minimalist: 20 Lovelace cards wrapped around button-card

> UI-Lovelace-Minimalist ships 20 cards and seven chips for Home Assistant dashboards as prebuilt Lovelace templates. Underneath it is someone else's custom card project, and the README openly asks for new maintainers.

**UI-Lovelace-Minimalist/UI** — UI-Lovelace-Minimalist is a "theme" for HomeAssistant

- Repository: https://github.com/UI-Lovelace-Minimalist/UI
- Website: https://ui-lovelace-minimalist.github.io/UI/
- Stars: 2,083 · Forks: 422
- Language: JavaScript
- License: MIT
- Published: 2026-10-14 · Updated: 2026-10-14 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/ui-lovelace-minimalist-ui

## A Lovelace theme built mostly on top of button-card

Home Assistant builds dashboards out of Lovelace cards, and this repository is a packaged set of them for people who want a finished look without designing every card by hand. The README puts the word theme in quotation marks each time it uses it, because what ships here are card templates rather than a stylesheet that restyles the stock cards. Design credit goes to tben, with inspiration taken from a Behance project by 7ahang. The technical layer is realised mostly by taking advantage of RomRaider's button-card, and that is the mechanism to understand first. Each card is a configured instance of an external custom card project, so extending one means writing YAML against a documented template rather than adding behaviour to a component maintained in this tree.

## 20 cards and seven chips arrive in one download bundle

The inventory is fixed at 20 cards and seven chips, plus other templates bundled into the same download, and none of it is enumerated in the README, which says the list would not fit in that file. Readers are sent to the cards page on the wiki instead. On disk the pieces split into three directories with different jobs. custom_cards/ holds the prebuilt card templates, custom_components/ sits where Home Assistant expects an integration rather than a card, and config/ appears in the top level listing without a single line of explanation. That gap matters when you decide what to copy into your own instance, because the README never says whether config/ replaces or merges with the configuration a Home Assistant user already has, and the installation page it points to is the only place that could settle it.

## Three wiki pages and HACS carry the whole installation path

There is no command to copy here, and that reflects where the project keeps its instructions. The Installation and update part of the README does one thing: it points at three pages on the wiki, Download, Installation and Configuration, and promises in-depth instructions for a fresh install as well as an update from an earlier version. Delivery runs through HACS, with a hacs.json file at the top level of the repository and one contributor credited for implementing most of the HACS functionalities, while another is credited for the inspiration to deliver themes that way at all. A first run for a Home Assistant user is therefore short: open the Download page, follow the HACS route it describes, then use the Configuration page for the resource path. None of those steps is written down in the repository, so an offline install is not something this repository supports you through.

## The packaging describes a Python docs site, not the cards

The Python metadata in this repository describes something other than what most people install. The project identifies itself in pyproject.toml as ui_lovelace_minimalist, calls itself a custom component for Home Assistant, and declares a floor of Python 3.13:

```toml
[project]
name = "ui_lovelace_minimalist"
version = "1.4.4"
description = "A custom component for Home Assistant"
readme = "README.md"
requires-python = ">=3.13"
```

Those dependencies are the MkDocs plugins that build the wiki, not anything a Home Assistant instance runs. The primary language of the repository is JavaScript, which is what the cards are written in, and Python shows up here purely as the toolchain rendering pages at the wiki URL. One consequence is worth stating plainly: nothing in these files constrains which Home Assistant versions the cards support, so the compatibility question has to be answered on the wiki rather than from the packaging metadata.

## Two dependency files pin the same packages differently

The repository describes one toolchain in two files, and the two disagree about how tightly to hold it. In pyproject.toml both documentation dependencies carry exact pins, mkdocs-awesome-pages-plugin at 2.10.1 and mkdocs-material at 9.7.7, while requirements.txt turns both into a floor, starting mkdocs-material at 9.7.1 and the pages plugin at 2.10.1 or later. That second file also adds colorlog and pip, neither of which appears in the project dependencies:

```bash
colorlog==6.10.1
mkdocs-awesome-pages-plugin>=2.10.1
mkdocs-material>=9.7.1
pip>=26.1
pre-commit==4.6.0
ruff==0.15.12
```

The lint side is stricter than the install side. The ruff configuration demands version 0.13.0 or newer, caps line length at 88, targets py313, and excludes the docs directory, which leaves .yamllint and .markdownlint.yml to police the documentation instead. Contributors inherit a two layer style setup, which suits a repository that mixes a documentation site with configuration files.

## A popup link in the README skips its path segment

One entry in the table of contents is broken in a way that only shows up when you read the markup. Every other link points at https://ui-lovelace-minimalist.github.io/UI/ followed by a path, but the popups entry omits the project segment and leaves a double slash between host and path, so the documented route to a popup lands on an address the site does not serve. The same table groups three documentation trees under one heading, Setup, Usage and Development, and only the Usage column names its targets, Cards, Chips and Custom-Cards. Small thing, but the index is where a new user starts, so a dead entry there costs more attention than a dead entry buried inside a page. It also tells you that parts of this documentation have been maintained by editing text rather than by following it.

## The maintainer callout contradicts the closing appeal

The load bearing line in the README is a callout above the screenshots: the project is looking for new maintainers, the current maintainers are no longer actively working on it, and without fresh leadership the project and its associated Discord server may be forced to shut down. A Discord thread and a GitHub discussion are linked as places to volunteer. The last push was on 2026-10-05, which says code still moves, but the callout says who moves it. Read to the bottom of the same file and you find a Contributions note calling this a living project where all input is welcome, a claim the top of the file contradicts outright. Licence terms raise no obstacle to forking or continuing the work, since the repository carries the MIT licence.

## The wrapper measured against plain button-card, and where it loses

The honest comparison is with installing button-card on its own, because that project does the actual work. Taken directly you get the same custom card engine with none of the 20 cards, seven chips or the wiki that explains them, and you inherit the job of writing every template yourself. This repository adds the packaged templates, the documentation site and HACS delivery. What it adds as cost is a layer to keep in step: the technical work is realised mostly by taking advantage of button-card, yet nothing in the packaging files pins a button-card version, so compatibility between the two projects is left to whoever assembles the dashboard. Given the shutdown warning, it is also the wrong choice for anyone who needs a dashboard that keeps receiving work after this repository stops.

## Conclusion

Adopt UI-Lovelace-Minimalist if you run Home Assistant, want working cards today, and can live with a project that asks publicly for new maintainers. Leave it if an abandoned upstream would leave you without a dashboard, since every card is a configured instance of button-card rather than a standalone widget. Before installing, read the wiki Download and Configuration pages, check whether the top level config folder clashes with the configuration you already have, and decide who takes over when the current maintainers stop.

## FAQ

### What is UI-Lovelace-Minimalist and who is it for?

It is a set of prebuilt Lovelace card templates for Home Assistant, which the README describes as a theme in quotation marks. The download bundles 20 cards, seven chips and other templates, with design work credited to tben.

### How do I install UI-Lovelace-Minimalist in Home Assistant?

The README routes installation to three wiki pages, Download, Installation and Configuration, instead of giving a command. Delivery runs through HACS, and a hacs.json file sits at the top level of the repository.

### Does UI-Lovelace-Minimalist need button-card to work?

Yes. The credits state that the technical part is realised mostly by taking advantage of RomRaider's button-card, so the cards are configured instances of that project rather than a separate card engine. Nothing in the packaging files pins a button-card version.

### Is UI-Lovelace-Minimalist still being developed?

The repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-10-05, but the README carries a callout saying the current maintainers are no longer actively working on it and asking for new maintainers. That callout warns the project and its Discord server could be shut down without fresh leadership.

### Why does the project warn about a shutdown?

Because the callout at the top of the README says the maintainers may be forced to shut down the project without new people taking over, and it links a Discord thread and a GitHub discussion for volunteers. The same file closes by calling this a living project where all input is very welcome.

### What does the config directory at the top level contain?

The repository listing shows a config/ directory, but the README does not describe what it holds or how it relates to an existing Home Assistant configuration. The README points readers to the Configuration page on the wiki for that.

## Sources

- [License: MIT](https://github.com/UI-Lovelace-Minimalist/UI/blob/main/LICENSE)
- [Project website](https://ui-lovelace-minimalist.github.io/UI/)
- [README](https://github.com/UI-Lovelace-Minimalist/UI/blob/main/README.md)
- [Releases](https://github.com/UI-Lovelace-Minimalist/UI/releases)
- [UI-Lovelace-Minimalist/UI on GitHub](https://github.com/UI-Lovelace-Minimalist/UI)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/ui-lovelace-minimalist-ui