Home Assistant Clock Card: 4 Ways to Add a Digital Clock

Updated November 2026 for Home Assistant 2026.10 and 2026.11. Older versions of this guide used a custom card from HACS. Today Home Assistant has its own clock card, so most people do not need anything extra.

A Home Assistant clock on your dashboard sounds like a small thing, but it is one of the most useful cards on a wall tablet or a kitchen screen. This guide shows four ways to add one, from the simplest to the most flexible:

1. The built-in Clock card (digital or analog, set up in a few clicks).
2. The Time & Date integration, which gives you time and date sensors.
3. A Markdown card with a template, for your own text and format.
4. Community cards from HACS, such as a clock combined with the weather.

Option 1: The built-in Home Assistant clock card

A card is one box on your dashboard, like a light button or a graph. Home Assistant now ships a Clock card, so you can add a digital clock without installing anything. It follows the time zone and time format from your user profile unless you change them on the card.

How to add the clock card

1. Open your dashboard and select the pencil (edit) icon in the top right. If it is the first time you edit this dashboard, Home Assistant asks you to take control. Open the three dots menu in that dialog and select Take control.
2. Select the + button inside a section (sections view) or Add card in the bottom right (older masonry views).
3. On the By card tab, search for Clock and select it.
4. Choose the clock style (digital or analog), the size, and whether to show seconds. Every option is available in the visual editor.
5. Select Save, then Done.

That is all you need for a basic clock. If you want to copy the setup between dashboards, select Show code editor to see the YAML. YAML is the plain text format Home Assistant uses for settings.

Clock card YAML examples

The smallest possible version:

type: clock

A large digital clock for a wall tablet, in 24 hour format:

type: clock
clock_style: digital
clock_size: large
time_format: "24"
no_background: true

A second clock for another city, with a title:

type: clock
title: New York
clock_size: medium
time_zone: America/New_York
time_format: "12"

An analog clock with minute ticks and seconds:

type: clock
clock_style: analog
clock_size: medium
show_seconds: true
analog_options:
  border: true
  ticks: minute

Clock card options

The full list is on the official Clock card documentation. If you want a big clock with a few buttons under it, put the clock card and the buttons in a vertical stack card so they stay together.

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Option 2: Time and date sensors with the Time & Date integration

The clock card only draws a clock on the screen. Sometimes you want the time as a sensor instead. A sensor is an entity (one thing Home Assistant tracks) that holds a value, like a temperature. A time sensor is handy in templates, in a tile card, or on screens that only show entities.

An integration is a piece of Home Assistant that adds a service or device. Time & Date is built in and is set up from the UI:

1. Go to Settings > Devices & services.
2. Select Add integration and search for Time & Date.
3. Pick the type of sensor you want, for example Time or Date. Each setup creates one sensor, so run it again for each type.

The available types are Time, Date, Date & Time, Date & Time (UTC), Date & Time (ISO), Time & Date and Time (UTC). The entity IDs follow the name, so a Time sensor is usually sensor.time and a Date sensor sensor.date. Check the exact name on the integration page after setup.

Two details worth knowing. The time sensors update once a minute, and the date sensor updates at midnight. Both use the time zone set under Settings > System > General, so if your clock is an hour off, check that setting first.

To show it on the dashboard, a tile card is enough:

type: tile
entity: sensor.time
name: Time

See the Time & Date integration page for the full list of formats.

Option 3: A custom clock with a Markdown card

The Markdown card shows text, and it understands templates. A template is a small piece of code inside {{ }} that Home Assistant fills in, so it can print the current time in any format you like. Templates that use now() refresh at the start of every minute.

type: markdown
content: |
  # {{ now().strftime('%H:%M') }}
  ### {{ now().strftime('%A, %d %B %Y') }}

Use | after content:, not >, so each line stays on its own line. This prints a big time line (for example 14:30) and a smaller date line under it (Tuesday, 10 November 2026). The codes inside strftime() set the format:

• %H:%M is 24 hour time, %I:%M %p is 12 hour time with AM or PM.
• %A is the weekday name, %a the short name.
• %d is the day, %B the month name, %Y the year.

Day and month names come out in English. If you want them in another language, the built-in clock card or a HACS card is the easier route, since those follow your profile language.

You can mix in other information, which is where the Markdown card beats the clock card:

type: markdown
content: |
  # {{ now().strftime('%H:%M') }}
  Outside: {{ states('sensor.outdoor_temperature') }} {{ state_attr('sensor.outdoor_temperature', 'unit_of_measurement') }}

  Lights on: {{ states.light | selectattr('state', 'eq', 'on') | list | count }}

Replace the sensor names with your own. If you want to reuse the same formatted text in several places, turn it into a template sensor instead of repeating the template on every card.

Option 4: HACS clock cards

HACS (Home Assistant Community Store) is a free add-on store for cards and integrations made by the community. If you do not have it yet, follow our HACS install guide. Community cards are optional and maintained by volunteers, so check that a card is still updated before you rely on it.

A popular choice is clock-weather-card, which shows a large clock next to the current weather and a short forecast. To install it:

1. Open HACS from the sidebar and search for clock weather card.
2. Open it and select Download. Reload the browser when asked.
3. Edit your dashboard, add a card, and search for Clock Weather. If it does not show up in the list, add a Manual card and paste the YAML below.

type: custom:clock-weather-card
entity: weather.home

Replace weather.home with your own weather entity. The card’s GitHub page lists options for the forecast length, the date format and the language.

The custom digital-clock card from earlier versions of this guide also lives in HACS. Since the built-in card now covers the same basics, we suggest starting with the built-in one and only adding a custom card if you need a look it cannot do.

Which clock should you use?

For a dedicated wall screen, a large clock card with no_background: true at the top of the view works well. Our guide to Home Assistant wall panels has more ideas for that kind of setup, and if you are just starting out, the Raspberry Pi install guide gets Home Assistant running first.

Troubleshooting

• The time is wrong by one or more hours. Check the time zone under Settings > System > General, and the time zone setting in your user profile.
• The clock shows 12 hour time but you want 24 hour. Set time_format: "24" on the card, or change the time format in your profile.
• The Clock card is missing from the card list. Your Home Assistant is too old. Update to a current release.
• A HACS card shows “Custom element doesn’t exist”. Reload the browser and clear its cache. On the phone app, use the reload option in the app settings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Home Assistant have a built-in clock card?

Yes. Current versions include a Clock card. Edit your dashboard, add a card, search for Clock, and choose digital or analog style, the size, seconds and an optional time zone. No HACS install is needed.

How do I get sensor.time in Home Assistant?

Add the Time and Date integration under Settings, Devices and services, Add integration, and pick the Time type. It creates a time sensor that updates every minute. Add it again with the Date type for a date sensor.

Can I show the date on a Home Assistant clock card?

The simplest way to show a date with your own format is a Markdown card with a template like now().strftime with the weekday, day and month codes, or a Date sensor from the Time and Date integration placed next to the clock card.

How do I show a clock for another city?

Add a second Clock card and set its time zone option, for example America/New_York. Give it a title with the city name so it is clear which clock is which.