diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/home-assistant.nix b/nixos/modules/services/misc/home-assistant.nix
index ac37c11106e..07b14bb6764 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/misc/home-assistant.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/home-assistant.nix
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ with lib;
 let
   cfg = config.services.home-assistant;
 
-  configFile = pkgs.writeText "configuration.yaml" (builtins.toJSON cfg.config);
+  configFile = pkgs.writeText "configuration.json" (builtins.toJSON (if cfg.applyDefaultConfig
+    then (lib.recursiveUpdate defaultConfig (if (isNull cfg.config) then {} else cfg.config))
+    else cfg.config));
 
   availableComponents = pkgs.home-assistant.availableComponents;
 
@@ -38,6 +40,12 @@ let
     then (cfg.package.override { inherit extraComponents; })
     else cfg.package;
 
+  # If you are changing this, please update the description in applyDefaultConfig
+  defaultConfig = {
+    homeassistant.time_zone = config.time.timeZone;
+    http.server_port = (toString cfg.port);
+  };
+
 in {
   meta.maintainers = with maintainers; [ dotlambda ];
 
@@ -50,6 +58,26 @@ in {
       description = "The config directory, where your <filename>configuration.yaml</filename> is located.";
     };
 
+    port = mkOption {
+      default = 8123;
+      type = types.int;
+      description = "The port on which to listen.";
+    };
+
+    applyDefaultConfig = mkOption {
+      default = true;
+      type = types.bool;
+      description = ''
+        Setting this option enables a few configuration options for HA based on NixOS configuration (such as time zone) to avoid having to manually specify configuration we already have.
+        </para>
+        <para>
+        Currently one side effect of enabling this is that the <literal>http</literal> component will be enabled.
+        </para>
+        <para>
+        This only takes effect if <literal>config != null</literal> in order to ensure that a manually managed <filename>configuration.yaml</filename> is not overwritten.
+      '';
+    };
+
     config = mkOption {
       default = null;
       type = with types; nullOr attrs;
@@ -110,15 +138,14 @@ in {
         ln -s ${configFile} ${cfg.configDir}/configuration.yaml
       '';
       serviceConfig = {
-        ExecStart = ''
-          ${package}/bin/hass --config "${cfg.configDir}"
-        '';
+        ExecStart = "${package}/bin/hass --config '${cfg.configDir}'";
         User = "hass";
         Group = "hass";
         Restart = "on-failure";
         ProtectSystem = "strict";
         ReadWritePaths = "${cfg.configDir}";
         PrivateTmp = true;
+        RemoveIPC = true;
       };
       path = [
         "/run/wrappers" # needed for ping