Onboarding

After installation, Smart Panel needs an admin account before you can start managing devices. The onboarding process creates your first user and walks you through initial setup.

Admin Interface Onboarding (Recommended)

The easiest way to onboard — open the admin UI in your browser and follow the guided wizard.

Open the Admin Interface

Navigate to your Smart Panel in a browser:


http://smart-panel.local:3000

Or use the device’s IP address: http://<device-ip>:3000

Welcome Screen

On first visit, the onboarding wizard appears automatically.

Onboarding welcome

Create Your Admin Account

Enter your admin credentials:

Username — your admin login name
Password — a secure password (minimum 8 characters)
Email — for account recovery (optional)

Create admin account

Set Your Location

Configure your location for weather and timezone settings.

Set location

Choose Integrations

Connect your smart home platforms (Home Assistant, Shelly, Zigbee2MQTT, etc.)

Select integrations

Integrations selected

Organize Spaces

Create rooms and areas to organize your devices.

Spaces overview

Create a space

You can skip any step and configure it later from the admin interface.

Done

After onboarding, you’re taken to the admin dashboard where you can manage devices, create scenes, customize displays, and more.

Onboarding completed

CLI Onboarding (Alternative)

If you prefer the command line, or need to create the admin account before accessing the web interface:

Install Script / npm


sudo smart-panel-service onboarding yourusername yourpassword

Replace yourusername and yourpassword with your actual credentials. Use a strong password.

After creating the account, open the admin interface to continue setup.

Display Pairing

The panel display app connects to the backend automatically:

Pre-built images (AIO) — the display is already paired with the local backend
Separate display devices — on first launch, the display discovers the server via mDNS or prompts you to enter the server URL manually

No manual pairing steps are required — the display fetches its configuration from the backend and starts showing the dashboard.

What’s Next?

Your Smart Panel is ready. Head over to Admin & Management to start adding devices, creating scenes, and customizing your dashboard.