Home Assistant Automations

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when... Use ha-configuration instead when...

Creating automation rules Editing configuration.yaml

Writing triggers/conditions/actions Setting up integrations

Working with scripts and scenes Managing secrets

Using blueprints Organizing packages

Device trigger setup General YAML configuration

Automation Structure

automation:

• id: "unique_automation_id" alias: "Descriptive Name" description: "What this automation does" mode: single # single, restart, queued, parallel

  trigger:

  • platform: state entity_id: binary_sensor.motion to: "on"

  condition:

  • condition: time after: "08:00:00" before: "22:00:00"

  action:

  • service: light.turn_on target: entity_id: light.living_room

Trigger Types

State Triggers

trigger:

Basic state change

• platform: state entity_id: binary_sensor.door to: "on" from: "off"

With duration

• platform: state entity_id: binary_sensor.motion to: "off" for: minutes: 5

Attribute change

• platform: state entity_id: climate.thermostat attribute: current_temperature

Time Triggers

trigger:

Specific time

• platform: time at: "07:00:00"

Input datetime

• platform: time at: input_datetime.alarm_time

Time pattern (every hour)

• platform: time_pattern hours: "*" minutes: 0 seconds: 0

Every 15 minutes

• platform: time_pattern minutes: "/15"

Other trigger types (numeric state, sun, device, event, webhook, template, zone) are documented in REFERENCE.md.

Condition Types

State Conditions

condition:

Single entity

• condition: state entity_id: binary_sensor.door state: "off"

Multiple states allowed

• condition: state entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home state:
  • armed_home
  • armed_away

Check for duration

• condition: state entity_id: binary_sensor.motion state: "off" for: minutes: 10

Time Conditions

condition:

Time range

• condition: time after: "08:00:00" before: "22:00:00"

Weekdays only

• condition: time weekday:
  • mon
  • tue
  • wed
  • thu
  • fri

Combined

• condition: time after: "09:00:00" before: "17:00:00" weekday:
  • mon
  • tue
  • wed
  • thu
  • fri

Other condition types (numeric state, sun, template, zone, logical, shorthand) are documented in REFERENCE.md.

Action Types

Service Calls

action:

Basic service call

• service: light.turn_on target: entity_id: light.living_room data: brightness_pct: 80 color_temp: 350

Multiple targets

• service: light.turn_off target: entity_id: - light.bedroom - light.bathroom area_id: upstairs

Delays and Waits

action:

• service: light.turn_on target: entity_id: light.living_room

Fixed delay

• delay: seconds: 30

Wait for trigger

• wait_for_trigger:
  • platform: state entity_id: binary_sensor.motion to: "off" timeout: minutes: 5 continue_on_timeout: true

Wait for template

• wait_template: "{{ is_state('light.bedroom', 'off') }}" timeout: "00:05:00"

If/Then/Else (Modern)

action:

• if:
  • condition: state entity_id: binary_sensor.motion state: "on" then:
  • service: light.turn_on target: entity_id: light.hallway else:
  • service: light.turn_off target: entity_id: light.hallway

For advanced action patterns (choose, repeat, variables, parallel execution), scripts, scenes, and common automation patterns, see REFERENCE.md.

Automation Modes

Mode Behavior

single

Ignore new triggers while running

restart

Stop current run, start new

queued

Queue up to max runs

parallel

Run up to max in parallel

automation:

• alias: "Motion Light" mode: restart max: 10 # For queued/parallel max_exceeded: silent # silent, warning, error

Agentic Optimizations

Context Command

Find automation grep -r "alias:" config/automations.yaml

Find triggers grep -r "platform: state" config/ --include="*.yaml"

List scripts grep -r "^ [a-z_]*:" config/scripts.yaml

Find scenes grep -r "^ - name:" config/scenes.yaml

Check automation IDs grep -r "^ - id:" config/automations.yaml