--- title: "Automation YAML" description: "How to use the automation integration with YAML." --- Automations are created in Home Assistant via the UI, but are stored in a YAML format. If you want to edit the YAML of an automation, go to edit the automation, click on the menu button in the top right and turn on YAML mode. The UI will write your automations to `automations.yaml`. This file is managed by the UI and should not be edited manually. It is also possible to write your automations directly inside `configuration.yaml` or other YAML files. You can do this by adding a labeled `automation` block to your `configuration.yaml`: ```yaml # The configuration required for the UI to work automation: !include automations.yaml # Labeled automation block automation kitchen: - trigger: - platform: ... ``` You can add as many labeled `automation` blocks as you want. {% configuration %} alias: description: Friendly name for the automation. required: false type: string id: description: A unique id for your automation, will allow you to make changes to the name and entity_id in the UI, and will enable debug traces. required: false type: string description: description: A description of the automation. required: false default: '' type: string initial_state: description: Used to define the state of your automation at startup. When not set, the state will be restored from the last run. See [Automation initial state](#automation-initial-state). required: false type: boolean default: Restored from last run trace: description: "Configuration values for the traces stored, currently only `stored_traces` can be configured." required: false default: {} type: map keys: stored_traces: description: "The number of traces which will be stored. See [Number of debug traces stored](#number-of-debug-traces-stored)." type: integer default: 5 required: false variables: description: "Variables that will be available inside your templates, both in `condition` and `action`." required: false default: {} type: map keys: PARAMETER_NAME: description: "The value of the variable. Any YAML is valid. Templates can also be used to pass a value to the variable." type: any trigger_variables: description: "Variables that will be available inside your [templates triggers](/docs/automation/trigger/#template-trigger)." required: false default: {} type: map keys: PARAMETER_NAME: description: "The value of the variable. Any YAML is valid. Only [limited templates](/docs/configuration/templating/#limited-templates) can be used." type: any mode: description: "Controls what happens when the automation is invoked while it is still running from one or more previous invocations. See [Automation Modes](#automation-modes)." required: false type: string default: single max: description: "Controls maximum number of runs executing and/or queued up to run at a time. Only valid with modes `queued` and `parallel`." required: false type: integer default: 10 max_exceeded: description: "When `max` is exceeded (which is effectively 1 for `single` mode) a log message will be emitted to indicate this has happened. This option controls the severity level of that log message. See [Log Levels](/integrations/logger/#log-levels) for a list of valid options. Or `silent` may be specified to suppress the message from being emitted." required: false type: string default: warning trigger: description: "The trigger(s) which will start the automation. Multiple triggers can be added and the automation will start when any of these triggers trigger." required: true type: list keys: id: description: "An ID that can be used in the automation to determine which trigger caused the automation to start." type: string required: false variables: description: "Variables that will be available in the conditions and action sequence." required: false default: {} type: map keys: PARAMETER_NAME: description: "The value of the variable. Any YAML is valid. Templates can also be used to pass a value to the variable." type: any condition: description: Conditions that have to be `true` to start the automation. By default all conditions listed have to be `true`, you can use [logical conditions](/docs/scripts/conditions/#logical-conditions) to change this default behavior. required: false type: list action: description: "The sequence of actions to be performed in the script." required: true type: list {% endconfiguration %} ### Automation Modes Mode | Description -|- `single` | Do not start a new run. Issue a warning. `restart` | Start a new run after first stopping previous run. `queued` | Start a new run after all previous runs complete. Runs are guaranteed to execute in the order they were queued. `parallel` | Start a new, independent run in parallel with previous runs.

## YAML Example Example of a YAML based automation that you can add to `configuration.yaml`. {% raw %} ```yaml # Example of entry in configuration.yaml automation my_lights: # Turns on lights 1 hour before sunset if people are home # and if people get home between 16:00-23:00 - alias: "Rule 1 Light on in the evening" trigger: # Prefix the first line of each trigger configuration # with a '-' to enter multiple - platform: sun event: sunset offset: "-01:00:00" - platform: state entity_id: all to: "home" condition: # Prefix the first line of each condition configuration # with a '-'' to enter multiple - condition: state entity_id: all state: "home" - condition: time after: "16:00:00" before: "23:00:00" action: # With a single service call, we don't need a '-' before service - though you can if you want to - service: homeassistant.turn_on target: entity_id: group.living_room # Turn off lights when everybody leaves the house - alias: "Rule 2 - Away Mode" trigger: - platform: state entity_id: all to: "not_home" action: - service: light.turn_off target: entity_id: all # Notify when Paulus leaves the house in the evening - alias: "Leave Home notification" trigger: - platform: zone event: leave zone: zone.home entity_id: device_tracker.paulus condition: - condition: time after: "20:00" action: - service: notify.notify data: message: "Paulus left the house" # Send a notification via Pushover with the event of a Xiaomi cube. Custom event from the Xiaomi component. - alias: "Xiaomi Cube Action" initial_state: false trigger: - platform: event event_type: cube_action event_data: entity_id: binary_sensor.cube_158d000103a3de action: - service: notify.pushover data: title: "Cube event detected" message: "Cube has triggered this event: {{ trigger.event }}" ``` {% endraw %} ## Extra options When writing automations directly in YAML, you will have access to advanced options that are not available in the user interface. ### Automation initial state At startup, automations by default restore their last state of when Home Assistant ran. This can be controlled with the `initial_state` option. Set it to `false` or `true` to force initial state to be off or on. ```yaml automation: - alias: "Automation Name" initial_state: false trigger: - platform: ... ``` ### Number of debug traces stored When using YAML you can configure the number of debugging traces stored for an automation. This is controlled with the `stored_traces` option under `trace`. Set `stored_traces` to the number of traces you wish to store for the particular automation. If not specified the default value of 5 will be used. ```yaml automation: - alias: "Automation Name" trace: stored_traces: 10 trigger: - platform: ... ``` ## Migrating your YAML automations to `automations.yaml` If you want to migrate your manual automations to use the editor, you'll have to copy them to `automations.yaml`. Make sure that `automations.yaml` remains a list! For each automation that you copy over, you'll have to add an `id`. This can be any string as long as it's unique. {% raw %} ```yaml # Example automations.yaml entry. Note, automations.yaml is always a list! - id: my_unique_id # <-- Required for editor to work, for automations created with the editor the id will be automatically generated. alias: "Hello world" trigger: - platform: state entity_id: sun.sun from: below_horizon to: above_horizon condition: - condition: numeric_state entity_id: sensor.temperature above: 17 below: 25 value_template: "{{ float(state.state) + 2 }}" action: - service: light.turn_on ``` {% endraw %} ### Deleting Automations When automations remain visible in the Home Assistant Dashboard, even after having deleted in the YAML file, you have to delete them in the UI. To delete them completely, go to UI **{% my entities title="Settings -> Devices & Services -> Entities" %}** and find the automation in the search field or by scrolling down. Check the square box aside of the automation you wish to delete and from the top-right of your screen, select 'REMOVE SELECTED'.