Home Assistant can send a doorbell alert to your computer through a registered desktop browser or installed web app. The setup needs three things: a doorbell integration that exposes a ring event, an automation that responds to it, and an HTML5 push notification target registered on the PC. The exact event and entity depend on your doorbell model.
What the PC notification does—and does not—do
Home Assistant’s HTML5 Push Notifications action sends a notification to a browser or installed web app registered to receive push. Its official example, “Send a doorbell-rang notification to my desktop,” pairs a doorbell.rang trigger with a desktop notification target. Home Assistant’s HTML5 Push Notifications documentation shows the pattern.
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This is a different destination from a notification sent through the Home Assistant Companion App. The Companion App’s actionable notification documentation covers iOS and Android; for a PC browser or web app, use the HTML5 route instead. Home Assistant Companion App: Actionable Notifications.
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Check that Home Assistant can detect a ring
Before configuring the PC, check the doorbell integration in Home Assistant. The generic Doorbell rang trigger applies to an event entity with the doorbell device class. Home Assistant says the trigger can be selected in the automation interface; a YAML workflow is not required. See the Doorbell integration documentation and the Doorbell rang trigger documentation.
- Find the doorbell device and its entities in Home Assistant.
- Confirm that it exposes an event entity for a ring and that the entity is usable with the Doorbell rang trigger.
- If you cannot find a suitable event, check the documentation for your specific integration and model. Support varies by hardware; the examples for Reolink, Ring, and UniFi Access do not establish support for every doorbell.
For reference, Home Assistant documents ring-event automations for Ring and UniFi Access, as well as doorbell notification guidance for Reolink. Check the integration page for your own device rather than assuming an ecosystem-wide feature applies to every model.
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Register the PC as an HTML5 notification target
Open Home Assistant on the computer where you want the alert and follow its HTML5 Push Notifications setup to register the browser or installed web app. The registration creates a notification target that you can choose in an automation. Browser and operating-system notification controls differ, so allow notifications for the Home Assistant site or app in the controls your computer presents. If no alert arrives, check both those permissions and the target’s registration.
Create the doorbell automation
- In Home Assistant, create an automation and add the Doorbell rang trigger. Select the event entity exposed by your doorbell integration.
- Add the HTML5 Push Notifications action and select the notification target registered on your PC.
- Set a concise title and message that make sense as a desktop alert. The official example also includes an icon URL, an action button, an interaction requirement, a time-to-live (TTL), and urgency; adjust these options to your needs rather than copying them blindly.
- Save the automation, then test it with a real ring. Confirm that the event fires and that the PC’s browser or operating system is allowed to display the notification.
Use an action button only when its effect is clear. An action that opens a view is different from one that unlocks a door; do not expose a security-sensitive control in a notification unless you have deliberately assessed the access and authentication implications.
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Know the limits before expecting video
If your goal is to decide whether to answer the door, a text alert can tell you someone rang, but it may not provide the video view you want directly on the PC. The HTML5 documentation’s example does not prove live-stream support in a desktop notification. Reolink’s rich-notification notes discuss a phone workflow: they state that rich notifications require the phone to reach Home Assistant, while text notifications can work without remote access and rich notifications work locally when the phone is on the same network. Those phone-specific conditions should not be treated as a guarantee of equivalent desktop image or video behavior.
If you need a camera feed on the computer, verify that the separate camera-view workflow you plan to use works with your integration, network access, and desktop environment. A Home Assistant Community post describes HA Video Toast, a third-party desktop utility that listens for Home Assistant events and can show a camera feed. It is not an official Home Assistant feature; check its current project information and operating-system support before relying on it. Community discussion: Windows PIP RTSP notifications and Community discussion: HA Video Toast.
Do you need extra hardware?
No special PC accessory is part of the documented browser or web-app method. If your existing doorbell integration already exposes a usable ring event, the key work is registering the PC notification target and connecting it to an automation. If it does not, check whether your specific model is supported by a Home Assistant integration before choosing different hardware.
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