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