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Home Assistant

Home Assistant is an open-source home automation platform.

Colota has a dedicated Home Assistant integration that receives location updates via webhook and creates device_tracker entities. The integration source code is available on GitHub.

Setup​

1. Install the Colota integration​

Via HACS (recommended):

  1. Open HACS in Home Assistant
  2. Go to Integrations
  3. Click the three dots menu and select Custom repositories
  4. Add https://github.com/dietrichmax/colota-home-assistant as an Integration
  5. Search for Colota and install it
  6. Restart Home Assistant

Manual:

  1. Copy the custom_components/colota folder to your Home Assistant config/custom_components/ directory
  2. Restart Home Assistant

2. Add the integration​

  1. Go to Settings > Devices & Services > Add Integration
  2. Search for Colota and add it
  3. Copy the webhook URL shown after setup

3. Configure the Colota app​

  1. Go to Settings > API Settings
  2. Paste the webhook URL as the endpoint
  3. No authentication is needed - the webhook URL acts as the secret

The integration works with the default API format out of the box. To distinguish multiple devices, add a custom field tid with a unique value per device (e.g. colota-phone, colota-tablet).

Your device will appear as a device_tracker entity in Home Assistant that you can use for automations, zones and the map.

Payload​

Colota sends the following payload:

{
  "lat": 51.5074,
  "lon": -0.1278,
  "acc": 15,
  "alt": 20,
  "vel": 1.5,
  "batt": 85,
  "bs": 2,
  "bear": 180,
  "tid": "colota",
  "tst": 1704067200
}

The tid field is used as the device identifier in Home Assistant. You can customize it in the custom fields settings to distinguish multiple devices.

Notes​

  • If you use Nabu Casa, the integration will automatically generate a cloud webhook URL for external access
  • The integration supports multiple devices - each unique tid value creates a separate device_tracker entity

Alternative: OwnTracks integration​

If you prefer not to install a custom integration, you can use Home Assistant's built-in OwnTracks integration instead:

  1. Add the OwnTracks integration in Home Assistant and note the webhook URL

  2. In the Colota app, select the OwnTracks template and set the endpoint to the webhook URL

  3. Add the following custom headers:

    HeaderValueDescription
    X-Limit-Ue.g. johnYour username - used as part of the entity ID
    X-Limit-De.g. phoneYour device ID - used as part of the entity ID

    Without these headers, Home Assistant will not create a device tracker entity.