Update README.md

birdnet-go/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
- 
+ - MQTT auto-config now also enables BirdNET-Go's native Home Assistant MQTT auto-discovery: detection sensors appear in Home Assistant automatically with no manual YAML (existing UI/config.yaml edits are preserved)
+- MQTT auto-config seeds `realtime.mqtt.retain: true` (only when unset) so sensor states survive Home Assistant restarts
+- Added supervisor watchdog (tcp://[HOST]:[PORT:8080]) so the add-on is automatically restarted if BirdNET-Go stops responding
+- Added backup_exclude for rotated logs, making Home Assistant backups smaller (SQLite journals are kept so hot backups stay consistent)
+
 ## nightly-20260615 (2026-06-17)
 - Update to latest version from tphakala/birdnet-go (changelog : https://github.com/tphakala/birdnet-go/releases)
 ## nightly-20260601-2 (03-06-2026)

birdnet-go/HAINTEGRATION.md

@@ -2,6 +2,15 @@
 
 BirdNET-Go can be integrated with Home Assistant using a MQTT Broker.
 
+> **💡 Easiest path — automatic discovery.** If you run the Home Assistant
+> Mosquitto (MQTT) addon, just set `mqtt_auto_config: true` in this add-on's
+> options. The add-on then wires in the broker credentials **and** enables
+> BirdNET-Go's native Home Assistant MQTT auto-discovery, so the detection
+> sensors appear in Home Assistant automatically with **no manual YAML at
+> all**. The manual sensor/template/card configuration below is only needed if
+> you want to build your own custom entities instead of (or in addition to) the
+> auto-discovered ones.
+
 ## MQTT Configuration
 
 Your Home Assistant must be setup with MQTT and BirdNET-Go MQTT integration must be enabled. Modify the BirdNET-Go config.yaml file to enable MQTT. If you are using the Mosquitto Broker addon, you will see a log message during the BirdNET-Go startup showing the internal MQTT server details needed for configuration similar to below.

birdnet-go/README.md

@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ Additional environment variables can be configured there
 
 ### MQTT and MariaDB auto-configuration (opt-in)
 
-If the Home Assistant **MQTT** addon is installed and running and you set `mqtt_auto_config: true` in the addon options, the addon writes the HA Mosquitto credentials directly into BirdNET-Go's `config.yaml` on every startup: `realtime.mqtt.enabled`, `broker`, `username`, and `password` are populated, and the topic defaults to `birdnet`. When the option is `false` (the default), the addon still logs the broker details and reminds you about the option whenever Mosquitto is detected — nothing is written.
+If the Home Assistant **MQTT** addon is installed and running and you set `mqtt_auto_config: true` in the addon options, the addon writes the HA Mosquitto credentials directly into BirdNET-Go's `config.yaml` on every startup: `realtime.mqtt.enabled`, `broker`, `username`, and `password` are populated, and the topic defaults to `birdnet`. In addition, it enables BirdNET-Go's **native Home Assistant MQTT auto-discovery** (`realtime.mqtt.homeassistant.enabled`), so the detection sensors show up in Home Assistant automatically — **no manual MQTT sensor YAML required** (the hand-written sensors in [HAINTEGRATION.md](./HAINTEGRATION.md) remain available if you prefer to build your own). Messages are also retained (`realtime.mqtt.retain: true`) so sensor states survive Home Assistant restarts. When the option is `false` (the default), the addon still logs the broker details and reminds you about the option whenever Mosquitto is detected — nothing is written.
 
 If the Home Assistant **MariaDB** addon is installed and running and you set `mariadb_auto_config: true`, the addon writes the HA credentials into `output.mysql.*` and sets `output.sqlite.enabled` to `false` (database name `birdnet`, created on first connect). When the option is `false` (the default), the addon only logs the credentials so you can configure them manually.
 

birdnet-go/config.yaml

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ arch:
   - aarch64
   - amd64
 audio: true
+backup_exclude:
+  - logs/**
 description: Realtime BirdNET and Battybirdnet soundscape analyzer
 devices:
   - /dev/dri
@@ -127,3 +129,4 @@ udev: true
 url: https://github.com/alexbelgium/hassio-addons/tree/master/birdnet-go
 usb: true
 version: "nightly-20260615"
+watchdog: tcp://[HOST]:[PORT:8080]

birdnet-go/rootfs/etc/cont-init.d/33-mqtt.sh

@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ set -e
 # way to auto-configure them. The behaviour is opt-in via the
 # mqtt_auto_config addon option. When the option is off but Mosquitto is
 # detected, we log a one-shot hint pointing users at the option.
+#
+# In addition to the broker credentials we enable BirdNET-Go's native Home
+# Assistant MQTT auto-discovery (realtime.mqtt.homeassistant.*). This makes
+# the detection sensors appear in Home Assistant automatically, so users no
+# longer have to hand-write the MQTT sensor YAML from HAINTEGRATION.md.
 
 CONFIG_LOCATION="/config/config.yaml"
 
@@ -23,7 +28,7 @@ MQTT_BROKER="tcp://${MQTT_HOST}:${MQTT_PORT}"
 
 if ! bashio::config.true 'mqtt_auto_config'; then
     bashio::log.green "---"
-    bashio::log.yellow "Home Assistant MQTT addon detected. Set 'mqtt_auto_config: true' in the addon options to wire it into BirdNET-Go automatically. Connection details:"
+    bashio::log.yellow "Home Assistant MQTT addon detected. Set 'mqtt_auto_config: true' in the addon options to wire it into BirdNET-Go automatically AND enable Home Assistant auto-discovery (sensors appear in HA with no manual YAML). Connection details:"
     bashio::log.blue "MQTT user    : ${MQTT_USER}"
     bashio::log.blue "MQTT password: ${MQTT_PASS}"
     bashio::log.blue "MQTT broker  : ${MQTT_BROKER}"
@@ -40,10 +45,21 @@ bashio::log.green "---"
 bashio::log.blue "mqtt_auto_config enabled; writing Home Assistant MQTT credentials into BirdNET-Go config"
 bashio::log.blue "Broker: ${MQTT_BROKER}"
 bashio::log.blue "User:   ${MQTT_USER}"
+bashio::log.blue "Home Assistant auto-discovery: enabled (sensors appear in HA automatically)"
 bashio::log.green "---"
 
 # $broker / $user / $pass / "birdnet" are jq/yq variables and literals,
 # not shell expansions, so the single quotes are intentional.
+#
+# Connection fields (enabled/broker/username/password) are force-set on every
+# start so they track the HA MQTT addon's rotating credentials. Topic and the
+# homeassistant.* discovery knobs use "//=" so they are only seeded when
+# missing. retain is seeded via an explicit has() check rather than "//=",
+# because jq treats a user-set "retain: false" as falsy and "//=" would wrongly
+# flip it back to true; has() seeds the default only when the key is truly
+# absent. Any value the user later changes in the BirdNET-Go UI or config.yaml
+# therefore survives restarts. homeassistant.enabled is force-set to true
+# because turning on discovery is the whole point of the auto-config option.
 # shellcheck disable=SC2016
 yq -i -y \
     --arg broker "$MQTT_BROKER" \
@@ -53,5 +69,9 @@ yq -i -y \
      | .realtime.mqtt.broker = $broker
      | .realtime.mqtt.username = $user
      | .realtime.mqtt.password = $pass
-     | .realtime.mqtt.topic //= "birdnet"' \
+     | .realtime.mqtt.topic //= "birdnet"
+     | (if (.realtime.mqtt | has("retain")) then . else .realtime.mqtt.retain = true end)
+     | .realtime.mqtt.homeassistant.enabled = true
+     | .realtime.mqtt.homeassistant.discovery_prefix //= "homeassistant"
+     | .realtime.mqtt.homeassistant.device_name //= "BirdNET-Go"' \
     "$CONFIG_LOCATION"