You’re standing in your kitchen, tablet mounted on the wall, staring at a dashboard cluttered with disconnected calendars. Work meetings buried under school events, personal reminders blinking silently in the background. It’s not supposed to be this hard. You set up Home Assistant to simplify life, not add another layer of confusion. What you really need is one clean, unified view of the week-something that adapts to your screen, pulls from all your sources, and actually helps you move through your days. That’s where the week planner card comes in.
Technical specifications and compatibility table
At its core, the week planner card is a frontend component built for Home Assistant, designed to pull calendar data from multiple sources and display it in a clean, responsive grid. Unlike generic calendar cards, this tool excels at integrating both internal Home Assistant calendar entities and external ICS feeds-think Google Calendar, Outlook, or even shared family schedules. It renders in real time, with updates typically syncing within a few minutes, depending on your source configuration.
What sets it apart isn’t just functionality, but flexibility. The card is compatible with most modern browsers and scales seamlessly across devices, from mobile phones to wall-mounted tablets. It supports HACS (Home Assistant Community Store), making installation straightforward for users familiar with community add-ons. For those looking to explore more advanced data visualization methods, one can check inst-aero-spatial.org.
| Feature | Standard Version | Week Planner Card Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Responsive Design | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| HACS Support | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Multiple Calendar Sources | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Navigation Support | ❌ | ✔️ |
The table highlights a key decision point: while the standard version offers solid performance for basic use, the “Plus” fork extends functionality with navigation and enhanced UI controls-ideal for households using a dashboard as a central planning hub.
Mastering the layout for a family dashboard
Configuring the responsive grid
The card’s layout adapts based on screen size, but you control how many days appear at once. Using the days parameter in your YAML configuration, you can set it to display anywhere from a single day to a full week. On smaller screens like smartphones, a 3-5 day view prevents overcrowding. On larger displays, such as a 10-inch tablet, you can comfortably show all seven days without sacrificing readability.
This responsiveness isn’t automatic-you define the breakpoints manually. In the YAML editor, you might set days: 3 for mobile views and switch to days: 7 in a dedicated dashboard for wall mounts. Alternatively, you can use the UI editor to preview changes in real time, adjusting until the spacing feels balanced. The goal is visual hierarchy: critical events should stand out, not drown in a sea of text.
Integrating multiple calendar entities
One of the most powerful features is its ability to merge calendars from different sources into a single timeline. You can pull in your work calendar via Google, your child’s school events from an ICS link, and personal reminders from a local Home Assistant entity-all in one place. Each source can be assigned a unique color, making it easy to distinguish at a glance whether a block is work, family, or personal time.
To set this up, you define each calendar as an entity in the configuration. For example:
entity: calendar.work_schedule→ color: blueentity: calendar.school_events→ color: orangeentity: calendar.personal_reminders→ color: green
This creates a color-coded system that’s intuitive for everyone in the household, even kids who can’t read full event titles yet.
Enabling navigation and event details
Earlier versions of the card were static-great for viewing, but not for interacting. The latest updates, especially in the “Plus” fork, introduce navigation support, allowing users to click through days, expand events, and even move between weeks directly from the card. This transforms it from a passive display into an active planning tool.
When enabled, clicking an event opens a small overlay with details like start time, duration, and description. You can also add navigation arrows to flip between weeks, which is particularly useful for anticipating upcoming appointments. This level of interactivity makes the card feel more like a native app than a dashboard widget-bringing real-time synchronization and usability together.
Essential features for daily task tracking
Customizing the look with CSS and themes
While the default styling works well, the card truly shines when tailored to your dashboard’s aesthetic. Using card-mod or built-in theme variables, you can adjust font sizes, background colors, and header alignment to match your overall design. For instance, setting a darker background for events improves contrast in low-light environments, while increasing font size ensures legibility from across the room.
- Use meaningful entity names-avoid generic labels like “Calendar 1”
- Set a clear “no events” message to avoid blank spaces
- Enable the hide_past_events flag to keep mornings clutter-free
- Test the card in both dark and light modes for consistency
- Keep the event limit per day reasonable-too many entries overwhelm the view
These small tweaks make a big difference in daily usability. A well-configured card doesn’t just show your schedule-it supports your rhythm.
Commonly asked questions
Why are my calendar events not appearing on the card?
This is usually due to incorrect entity naming or sync delays. Double-check that the calendar entities listed in your YAML configuration match exactly what appears in Home Assistant’s calendar list. Also, verify that external ICS feeds are still active and haven’t expired or changed URLs. Some calendars only refresh every 15-30 minutes, so wait a bit before troubleshooting further.
Should I use the standard version or the ‘Plus’ fork?
Choose the standard version if you need a simple, reliable weekly view with basic calendar integration. Opt for the ‘Plus’ fork if you want navigation between weeks, event details on click, or plan to use the card as a central family hub. The extra features come with slightly more complex setup, but offer greater long-term flexibility.
How often should I update the card via HACS?
Update when new features or fixes are relevant to your setup, but not automatically. Major updates can sometimes introduce breaking changes in configuration. It’s best to review the release notes first, test in a non-critical dashboard, and keep a backup of your YAML before applying updates.