---
layout: page
title: "RESTful Sensor"
description: "Instructions on how to integrate REST sensors into Home Assistant."
date: 2015-09-14 19:10
sidebar: true
comments: false
sharing: true
footer: true
logo: restful.png
ha_category: Sensor
ha_release: 0.7.4
ha_iot_class: "Local Polling"
---


The `rest` sensor platform is consuming a given endpoint which is exposed by a [RESTful API](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer) of a device, an application, or a web service. The sensor has support for GET and POST requests.

To enable this sensor, add the following lines to your `configuration.yaml` file for a GET request:

```yaml
# Example configuration.yaml entry
sensor:
  - platform: rest
    resource: http://IP_ADDRESS/ENDPOINT
```

or for a POST request:

```yaml
# Example configuration.yaml entry
sensor:
  - platform: rest
    resource: http://IP_ADDRESS/ENDPOINT
    method: POST
    payload: '{ "device" : "heater" }'
```

{% configuration %}
resource:
  description: The resource or endpoint that contains the value.
  required: true
  type: string
  default: string
method:
  description: The method of the request.
  required: false
  type: string
  default: GET
name:
  description: Name of the REST sensor.
  required: false
  type: string
  default: REST Sensor
value_template:
  description: "Defines a [template](/docs/configuration/templating/#processing-incoming-data) to extract the value."
  required: false
  type: template
payload:
  description: The payload to send with a POST request. Depends on the service, but usually formed as JSON.
  required: false
  type: string
verify_ssl:
  description: Verify the certification of the endpoint.
  required: false
  type: boolean
  default: True
unit_of_measurement:
  description: Defines the units of measurement of the sensor, if any.
  required: false
  type: string
authentication:
  description:  Type of the HTTP authentication. `basic` or `digest`.
  required: false
  type: string
username:
  description: The username for accessing the REST endpoint.
  required: false
  type: string
password:
  description: The password for accessing the REST endpoint.
  required: false
  type: string
headers:
  description: The headers for the requests.
  required: false
  type: list, string
json_attributes:
  description: A list of keys to extract values from a JSON dictionary result and then set as sensor attributes.
  reqired: false
  type: list, string
force_update:
  description: Sends update events even if the value hasn't changed. Useful if you want to have meaningful value graphs in history.
  reqired: false
  type: boolean
  default: False
{% endconfiguration %}

<p class='note warning'>
Make sure that the URL exactly matches your endpoint or resource.
</p>

`curl` can help you identify the variable you want to display in your Home Assistant frontend. The example below shows the JSON response of a device that is running with [aREST](http://arest.io/).

```bash
$ curl -X GET http://192.168.1.31/temperature/
{"temperature": 77, "id": "sensor02", "name": "livingroom", "connected": true}
```

## {% linkable_title Examples %}

In this section you find some real life examples of how to use this sensor.

### {% linkable_title External IP address %}

You can find your external IP address using the service [JSON Test](http://www.jsontest.com) at their [http://ip.jsontest.com/](http://ip.jsontest.com/) URL.

```yaml
sensor:
  - platform: rest
    resource: http://ip.jsontest.com
    name: External IP
    value_template: '{% raw %}{{ value_json.ip }}{% endraw %}'
```

### {% linkable_title Single value from a local Glances instance %}

The [glances](/components/sensor.glances/) sensor is doing the exact same thing for all exposed values.

```yaml
sensor:
  - platform: rest
    resource: http://IP_ADRRESS:61208/api/2/mem/used
    name: Used mem
    value_template: '{% raw %}{{ value_json.used| multiply(0.000000954) | round(0) }}{% endraw %}'
    unit_of_measurement: MB
```

### {% linkable_title Value from another Home Assistant instance %}

The Home Assistant [API](/developers/rest_api/) exposes the data from your attached sensors. If you are running multiple Home Assistant instances which are not [connected](/developers/architecture/#multiple-connected-instances) you can still get information from them.

If the Home Assistant instance in the resource variable is protected by an API password, you can append `?api_password=YOUR_PASSWORD` to the resource URL to authenticate or use `headers:`.

```yaml
sensor:
  - platform: rest
    resource: http://IP_ADDRESS:8123/api/states/sensor.weather_temperature
    name: Temperature
    value_template: {% raw %}'{{ value_json.state }}'{% endraw %}
    unit_of_measurement: "°C"
```

### {% linkable_title Accessing an HTTP authentication protected endpoint %}

The REST sensor supports HTTP authentication and customized headers.

```yaml
sensor:
  - platform: rest
    resource: http://IP_ADDRESS:5000/sensor
    username: ha1
    password: test1
    authentication: basic
    headers:
      User-Agent: Home Assistant
      Content-Type: application/json
```

The headers will contain all relevant details. This will also give you the ability to access endpoints that are protected by tokens. 

```bash
Content-Length: 1024
Host: IP_ADDRESS1:5000
Authorization: Basic aGExOnRlc3Qx
Accept-Encoding: identity
Content-Type: application/json
User-Agent: Home Assistant
```

### {% linkable_title Use GitHub to get the latest release of Home Assistant %}

This sample is very similar to the [`updater`](/components/updater/) component but the information is received from GitHub.

```yaml
sensor:
  - platform: rest
    resource: https://api.github.com/repos/home-assistant/home-assistant/releases/latest
    username: YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME
    password: YOUR_GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN
    authentication: basic
    value_template: '{% raw %}{{ value_json.tag_name }}{% endraw %}'
    headers:
      Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json
      Content-Type: application/json
      User-Agent: Home Assistant REST sensor
```

### {% linkable_title Fetch multiple JSON values and present them as attributes %}

[JSON Test](http://www.jsontest.com) returns the current time, date and milliseconds since epoch from [http://date.jsontest.com/](http://date.jsontest.com/).

{% raw %}
```yaml
sensor:
  - platform: rest
    name: JSON time
    json_attributes:
      - date
      - milliseconds_since_epoch
    resource: http://date.jsontest.com/
    value_template: '{{ value_json.time }}'
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      date:
        friendly_name: 'Date'
        value_template: '{{ states.sensor.json_time.attributes["date"] }}'
      milliseconds:
        friendly_name: 'milliseconds'
        value_template: '{{ states.sensor.json_time.attributes["milliseconds_since_epoch"] }}'
```
{% endraw %}

This sample fetches a weather report from [OpenWeatherMap](http://openweathermap.org/), maps the resulting data into attributes of the RESTful sensor and then creates a set of [template](/components/sensor.template/) sensors that monitor the attributes and present the values in a usable form.

{% raw %}
```yaml
sensor:
  - platform: rest
    name: OWM_report
    json_attributes: 
      - main
      - weather
    value_template: '{{ value_json["weather"][0]["description"].title() }}'
    resource: http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?zip=80302,us&APPID=VERYSECRETAPIKEY
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      owm_weather:
        value_template: '{{ states.sensor.owm_report.attributes.weather[0]["description"].title() }}'
        icon_template: '{{ "http://openweathermap.org/img/w/"+states.sensor.owm_report.attributes.weather[0]["icon"]+".png" }}'
        entity_id: sensor.owm_report
      owm_temp:
        friendly_name: 'Outside temp'
        value_template: '{{ states.sensor.owm_report.attributes.main["temp"]-273.15 }}'
        unit_of_measurement: "°C"
        entity_id: sensor.owm_report
      owm_pressure:
        friendly_name: 'Outside pressure'
        value_template: '{{ states.sensor.owm_report.attributes.main["pressure"] }}'
        unit_of_measurement: "hP"
        entity_id: sensor.owm_report
      owm_humidity:
        friendly_name: 'Outside humidity'
        value_template: '{{ states.sensor.owm_report.attributes.main["humidity"] }}'
        unit_of_measurement: "%"
        entity_id: sensor.owm_report
```
{% endraw %}
