update.dd_container entitites in HA not updated by MQTT+HASS

[seebats]

Drydock version

1.5.0, 1.5.1-rc6

What happened?

update.dd_container_local_(installed containers) returns "Unknown" in Home Assistant using MQTT HASS, while all the sensor.dd_container entities (e.g. "total container count" or "Watcher local running status" ) all return values thus work correctly.

Main attributes that show "unkown":

• Installed version
• Newest version

attributes that are working:

• Release URL
• Entity picture
• Busy
• auto update
• Icon
• Friendly name

What did you expect?

update.dd_container_local_(any installed container) entities should include these attributes so it returns a value if the container is "up-to-date" or "updates available"

Steps to reproduce

2. Start Drydock, check logs for confirmation of mqtt trigger.
3. Check MQTT in HA

Relevant configuration

environments:
  - DD_ACTION_MQTT_MOSQUITTO_URL=mqtt://mosquitto:1883 #DD_NOTIFICATION doesn't work for all env
  - DD_ACTION_MQTT_MOSQUITTO_HASS_ENABLED=true
  - DD_ACTION_MQTT_MOSQUITTO_HASS_DISCOVERY=true
  - DD_ACTION_MQTT_MOSQUITTO_HASS_ATTRIBUTES=full #tested both full and short
  - DD_WATCHER_LOCAL_WATCHALL=true
  - DD_SERVER_CORS_ORIGIN=*
  - DD_SERVER_CORS_ENABLED=true

Logs

SYSTEM LOG TRIGGER.MQTT
1[21:41:33.158]infotrigger.mqtt.mosquittoRegister with configuration {"hass":{"enabled":true,"attributes":"full","discovery":true,"prefix":"homeassistant","agenttopicsegment":false,"filter":{"include":"","exclude":""}},"user":"[REDACTED]","password":"[REDACTED]","url":"[REDACTED]","topic":"dd/container","clientid":"dd_9cf8e5b5","exclude":"","tls":{"rejectunauthorized":true},"auto":"all","order":100,"threshold":"all","mode":"simple","once":true,"digestcron":"0 8 * * *","simpletitle":"${isDigestUpdate ? container.notificationAgentPrefix + \"New image available for container \" + container.name + container.notificationWatcherSuffix + \" (tag \" + currentTag + \")\" : container.notificationAgentPrefix + \"New \" + container.updateKind.kind + \" found for container \" + container.name + container.notificationWatcherSuffix}","simplebody":"${isDigestUpdate ? container.notificationAgentPrefix + \"Container \" + container.name + container.notificationWatcherSuffix + \" running tag \" + currentTag + \" has a newer image available\" : container.notificationAgentPrefix + \"Container \" + container.name + container.notificationWatcherSuffix + \" running with \" + container.updateKind.kind + \" \" + container.updateKind.localValue + \" can be updated to \" + container.updateKind.kind + \" \" + container.updateKind.remoteValue}${container.result && container.result.link ? \"\\n\" + container.result.link : \"\"}","batchtitle":"${containers.length} updates available","resolvenotifications":false,"securitymode":"simple"}
2[21:41:33.387]infotrigger.mqtt.mosquittoRegistering for auto execution (all watched containers)
13[21:41:42.958]infotrigger.mqtt.mosquittoAdd hass container update sensor [dd/container/local/homeassistant]


MQTT transmitted message of HA container:

drydock Home Assistant (update.dd_container_local_homeassistant)
MQTT discovery data:
    Topic: homeassistant/update/dd_container_local_homeassistant/config
    Payload
    unique_id: dd_container_local_homeassistant
    default_entity_id: update.dd_container_local_homeassistant
    device:
      identifiers:
        - drydock
      manufacturer: drydock
      model: drydock
      sw_version: 1.5.1-rc.6
      name: drydock
    icon: mdi:docker
    entity_picture: >-
      https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CodesWhat/drydock/main/docs/assets/whale-logo.png
    state_topic: dd/container/local/homeassistant
    force_update: true
    value_template: '{{ value_json.image_tag_value }}'
    latest_version_topic: dd/container/local/homeassistant
    latest_version_template: >-
      {% if value_json.update_kind_kind == "digest" %}{{
      value_json.result_digest[:15] }}{% else %}{{ value_json.result_tag }}{% endif
      %}
    release_url: https://github.com/home-assistant/core/releases/tag/2026.7.1
    json_attributes_topic: dd/container/local/homeassistant
    name: Home Assistant

Subscribed topics:
    dd/container/local/homeassistant
    0 most recent received messages

Installation method

Docker Compose

Docker version

29.6.1

OS / Architecture

Ubuntu 24.04 AMD64

[scttbnsn]

Thanks for the detailed log, that payload dump made this easy to pin down.

There's a real bug in the HASS latest_version template and I've got a fix up in #492. When a container is up to date it has no result, so the payload has no result_tag/result_digest and the template rendered an empty string. HA throws away an empty "Newest version" render, and once either version is missing it blanks the whole update.* entity, which is why you get Unknown instead of "up to date". The fix falls back to the installed tag so latest == installed for up-to-date containers. It'll ride in the next release (RC or GA).

One thing your log points at that the template fix alone won't explain: the state topic dd/container/local/homeassistant shows 0 most recent received messages. Both "Installed version" and "Newest version" read from that state payload, so if nothing's landing there they'd both be Unknown regardless of the template. On my side the code publishes a retained state message to that topic for every watched container, up-to-date or not, so I can't reproduce the empty topic from the config you posted.

If you can, bump the log level to debug (DD_LOG_LEVEL=debug) and restart, then look for a line like Publish container result to dd/container/local/homeassistant. And if you've got mosquitto_sub handy, mosquitto_sub -t 'dd/container/local/#' -v will show whether the retained state message is actually on the broker. That'll tell us whether this is purely the template bug or if there's a second thing keeping the state off the topic in your setup.

[scttbnsn]

Quick update: v1.5.1 went GA today. I listed this in the release notes as a known issue rather than hold the release for it, since it turned out to be long-standing and not something 1.5.1 introduced.

The latest_version template fix is already on the v1.6 branch. It falls back to the installed tag when there's no pending update, so the entity reports up to date instead of blanking out to Unknown. That ships with 1.6.

Still curious about the other half of your report though. The 0 most recent received messages on dd/container/local/homeassistant doesn't follow from the template bug, and I can't reproduce it from the source. If you get a chance, the debug line and the mosquitto output from my last comment would help rule out a delivery problem separate from this.