---
title: TCP
description: Instructions on how to set up TCP within Home Assistant.
ha_category:
  - Binary sensor
  - Sensor
ha_release: 0.14
ha_iot_class: Local Polling
ha_domain: tcp
ha_platforms:
  - binary_sensor
  - sensor
ha_integration_type: integration
related:
  - docs: /docs/configuration/
    title: Configuration file
ha_quality_scale: legacy
---

The TCP {% term integration %} allows the integration of some services for which a specific Home Assistant integration does not exist. If the service communicates over a TCP socket with a simple request/reply mechanism then the chances are that this integration will allow integration with it.

There is currently support for the following device types within Home Assistant:

- [Binary sensor](#binary-sensor)
- [Sensor](#sensor)

## Sensor

To enable the TCP {% term integration %}, add the following lines to your {% term "`configuration.yaml`" %} file.
{% include integrations/restart_ha_after_config_inclusion.md %}

```yaml
# Example configuration.yaml entry
sensor:
  - platform: tcp
    host: IP_ADDRESS
    port: PORT
    payload: PAYLOAD
```

{% configuration %}
name:
  description: The name you'd like to give the sensor in Home Assistant.
  required: false
  type: string
host:
  description: The hostname/IP address to connect to.
  required: true
  type: string
port:
  description: The port to connect to the host on.
  required: true
  type: integer
payload:
  description: What to send to the host in order to get the response we're interested in.
  required: true
  type: string
timeout:
  description: How long in seconds to wait for a response from the service before giving up and disconnecting.
  required: false
  default: 10
  type: integer
value_template:
  description: Defines a [template](/docs/configuration/templating/#processing-incoming-data) to extract the value. By default it's assumed that the entire response is the value.
  required: false
  type: template
unit_of_measurement:
  description: The unit of measurement to use for the value.
  required: false
  type: string
buffer_size:
  description: The size of the receive buffer in bytes. Set this to a larger value if you expect to receive a response larger than the default.
  required: false
  default: "`1024`"
  type: integer
ssl:
  description: If `true`, use SSL/TLS.
  required: false
  default: false
  type: boolean
verify_ssl:
  description: Set this to `false` if the server is using a self-signed certificate.
  required: false
  default: true
  type: boolean
{% endconfiguration %}

### Examples

In this section you find some real-life examples of how to use this sensor.

#### EBUSd

The [EBUSd](https://github.com/john30/ebusd/wiki) service enables connection to an EBUS serial bus on some home heating/cooling systems. Using this service it is possible to extract various metrics which may be useful to have within Home Assistant. In order to use EBUSd, you connect to it using a TCP socket and send it a command. The service will respond with the value it has received from EBUS. On the command line, this would look something like:

```bash
$ echo "r WaterPressure" | nc 10.0.0.127 8888
0.903;ok
```

You will notice that the output from the service is not just a single value (it contains ";ok" as well). To grab the value we're interested in, we can use a Jinja2 template. The response received is injected into the template as the `value` variable. To use this value within Home Assistant, use the following configuration:

{% raw %}

```yaml
sensor:
# Example configuration.yaml entry
  - platform: tcp
    name: Central Heating Pressure
    host: 10.0.0.127
    port: 8888
    timeout: 5
    payload: "r WaterPressure\n"
    value_template: "{{ value.split(';')[0] }}"
    unit_of_measurement: Bar
```

{% endraw %}

#### hddtemp

The tool `hddtemp` collects the temperature of your hard disks.

```bash
$ hddtemp
/dev/sda: SAMSUNG MZMTE256HMHP-000L1: 39°C
```

With `hddtemp -d` you can run the tool in TCP/IP daemon mode on port 7634 which enables you to get the data across the network.

```bash
$ telnet localhost 7634
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
|/dev/sda|SAMSUNG MZMTE256HMHP-000L1|38|C|Connection closed by foreign host.
```

The entry for the `configuration.yaml` file for a `hddtemp` sensor could look like the example below.

{% raw %}

```yaml
sensor:
# Example configuration.yaml entry
  - platform: tcp
    name: HDD temperature
    host: 127.0.0.1
    port: 7634
    timeout: 5
    payload: "\n"
    value_template: "{{ value.split('|')[3] }}"
    unit_of_measurement: "°C"
```

{% endraw %}


## Binary sensor

The TCP Binary Sensor is a type of [TCP Sensor](#sensor) which is either "off" or "on". In order to use this sensor type, in addition to the configuration for the TCP Sensor, you must supply a `value_on` value to represent what is returned when the device is turned on.

To enable this sensor, add the following lines to your `configuration.yaml`:

```yaml
# Example configuration.yaml entry
binary_sensor:
  - platform: tcp
    host: IP_ADDRESS
    port: PORT
    payload: PAYLOAD
    value_on: 1
```

{% configuration %}
name:
  description: The name you'd like to give the sensor in Home Assistant.
  required: false
  type: string
  default: TCP Sensor
host:
  description: The hostname/IP address to connect to.
  required: true
  type: string
port:
  description: The port to connect to the host on.
  required: true
  type: integer
payload:
  description: What to send to the host in order to get the response we're interested in.
  required: true
  type: string
value_on:
  description: The value returned when the device is "on".
  required: true
  type: string
value_template:
  description: Defines a [template](/docs/configuration/templating/#processing-incoming-data) to extract the value.
  required: false
  type: template
  default: entire response is the value
buffer_size:
  description: The size of the receive buffer in bytes. Set this to a larger value if you expect to receive a response larger than the default.
  required: false
  type: integer
  default: 1024
timeout:
  description: How long in seconds to wait for a response from the service before giving up and disconnecting.
  required: false
  type: integer
  default: 10
ssl:
  description: If `true`, use SSL/TLS.
  required: false
  default: false
  type: boolean
verify_ssl:
  description: Set this to `false` if the server is using a self-signed certificate.
  required: false
  default: true
  type: boolean
{% endconfiguration %}