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 # see Run Modes below; defaults to single if omitted
    triggers:
      - trigger: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.front_door
        to: 'on'
    conditions:
      - condition: time
        after: '08:00:00'
        before: '22:00:00'
    actions:
      - action: light.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: light.hallway
        data:
          brightness_pct: 100

Run Modes

mode: controls what happens when the automation is triggered again while a previous run is still going. Omitting it defaults to single.

• single — ignore the new trigger; the in-progress run continues uninterrupted (default).
• restart — cancel the running run and start over from the top.
• queued — run sequentially; each new trigger waits in line and runs after the previous one finishes.
• parallel — run concurrently; each trigger starts its own run immediately.

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 the plural block keys triggers: / conditions: / actions: (HA 2024.10+; the singular forms still work as aliases)
2. Within them use - trigger: / - action: item keys (not - platform: / - service:)
3. Always include alias and description
4. Use target: for entity/area/device targeting
5. Templates use Jinja2: "{{ states('sensor.x') }}"

Validate / Troubleshoot

Before deploying, validate the config via Developer Tools → YAML → Check Configuration in the UI, or hass --script check_config on the CLI. Most common YAML failures:

1. Indentation — a tab anywhere (HA requires 2-space indent) or a misaligned list item breaks parsing.
2. Unquoted time strings — at: 07:30:00 parses as a sexagesimal number; always quote them: at: '07:30:00'.
3. Misplaced !input — !input is only valid inside a blueprint; a referenced entity or input that does not exist fails the run at trigger time, not at parse time.

Related Skills

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