Home Assistant YAML Automations

YAML Style Rules

• 2-space indentation (never tabs)
• Lowercase booleans: true / false
• Entity IDs: domain.entity_name (lowercase, underscores)

Automation Template

automation:
  - id: "unique_automation_id"
    alias: "Descriptive Name"
    description: "What this does"
    mode: single  # single | restart | queued | parallel
    trigger:
      - trigger: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.front_door
        to: "on"
    condition:
      - condition: time
        after: "08:00:00"
        before: "22:00:00"
    action:
      - action: light.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: light.hallway
        data:
          brightness_pct: 100

Common Triggers

# State
- trigger: state
  entity_id: sensor.temperature
  above: 25

# Time
- trigger: time
  at: "07:30:00"

# Sun
- trigger: sun
  event: sunset
  offset: "-00:30:00"

# Template
- trigger: template
  value_template: "{{ states('sensor.power') | float > 1000 }}"

# Webhook
- trigger: webhook
  webhook_id: "my_unique_webhook_id"
  allowed_methods: [POST]

Common Conditions

# State
- condition: state
  entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home
  state: "armed_away"

# Numeric
- condition: numeric_state
  entity_id: sensor.temperature
  above: 20
  below: 30

# Time
- condition: time
  after: "08:00:00"
  before: "23:00:00"
  weekday: [mon, tue, wed, thu, fri]

# Template
- condition: template
  value_template: "{{ is_state('person.john', 'home') }}"

# AND/OR
- condition: and
  conditions:
    - condition: state
      entity_id: input_boolean.guest_mode
      state: "off"
    - condition: state
      entity_id: binary_sensor.motion
      state: "on"

Common Actions

# Service call
- action: light.turn_on
  target:
    entity_id: light.living_room
  data:
    brightness_pct: 80

# Delay
- delay:
    seconds: 30

# Wait for trigger
- wait_for_trigger:
    - trigger: state
      entity_id: binary_sensor.motion
      to: "off"
  timeout:
    minutes: 5
  continue_on_timeout: true

# Choose (if/else)
- choose:
    - conditions:
        - condition: state
          entity_id: input_select.mode
          state: "away"
      sequence:
        - action: climate.set_temperature
          target:
            entity_id: climate.thermostat
          data:
            temperature: 18
  default:
    - action: notify.mobile_app
      data:
        message: "Unknown mode"

# Repeat
- repeat:
    count: 3
    sequence:
      - action: light.toggle
        target:
          entity_id: light.alert
      - delay:
          seconds: 1

Key Rules

1. Use action: not service: (modern syntax)
2. Use trigger: as type key (not platform:)
3. Always include alias and description
4. Use target: for entity/area/device targeting
5. Templates use Jinja2: "{{ states('sensor.x') }}"

Related Skills

• Scripts → ha-scripts
• Blueprints → ha-blueprints
• Device triggers → ha-device-triggers