home-assistant.io/source/_integrations/counter.markdown

title, description, ha_category, ha_release, ha_quality_scale, ha_codeowners, ha_domain, ha_integration_type

title	description	ha_category	ha_release	ha_quality_scale	ha_codeowners	ha_domain	ha_integration_type
Counter	Instructions on how to integrate counters into Home Assistant.	Automation Helper	0.53	internal	@fabaff	counter	helper

The Counter integration allows one to count occurrences fired by automations.

Configuration

The preferred way to configure counter helpers is via the user interface. To add one, go to {% my helpers title="Settings > Devices & Services > Helpers" %} and click the add button; next choose the {% my config_flow_start domain=page.ha_domain title=page.title %} option.

To be able to add Helpers via the user interface you should have default_config: in your {% term "configuration.yaml" %}, it should already be there by default unless you removed it. If you removed default_config: from your configuration, you must add counter: to your {% term "configuration.yaml" %} first, then you can use the UI.

Counters can also be configured via {% term "configuration.yaml" %}:

# Example configuration.yaml entry
counter:
  my_custom_counter:
    initial: 30
    step: 1

{% configuration %} "[alias]": description: Alias for the counter. Multiple entries are allowed. alias should be replaced by the user for their actual value. required: true type: map keys: name: description: Friendly name of the counter. required: false type: string initial: description: Initial value (0 or positive integer) when Home Assistant starts or the counter is reset. required: false type: integer default: 0 restore: description: Try to restore the last known value when Home Assistant starts. required: false type: boolean default: true step: description: Incremental/step value for the counter. required: false type: integer default: 1 minimum: description: Minimum value the counter will have required: false type: integer maximum: description: Maximum value the counter will have required: false type: integer icon: description: Icon to display for the counter. required: false type: icon {% endconfiguration %}

Pick an icon that from Material Design Icons to use for your input and prefix the name with mdi:. For example mdi:car, mdi:ambulance or mdi:motorbike.

Restore state

This integration will automatically restore the state it had prior to Home Assistant stopping as long as your entity has restore set to true, which is the default. To disable this feature, set restore to false.

If restore is set to true, the initial value will only be used when no previous state is found or when the counter is reset.

Actions

Available actions: increment, decrement, reset, and set_value.

Action counter.increment

Increments the counter with 1 or the given value for the steps.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	no	Name of the entity to take action, e.g., counter.my_custom_counter.

Action counter.decrement

Decrements the counter with 1 or the given value for the steps.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	no	Name of the entity to take action, e.g., counter.my_custom_counter.

Action counter.reset

With this action the counter is reset to its initial value.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	no	Name of the entity to take action, e.g., counter.my_custom_counter.

Action counter.set_value

This action allows setting the counter to a specific value.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	no	Name of the entity to take action, e.g., counter.my_custom_counter.
value	yes	Set the counter to the given value.

Use the action

Select the Actions tab from within Developer Tools. Choose counter from the list of Domains, select the Actions, enter something like the sample below into the data field, and select Perform action.

{
  "entity_id": "counter.my_custom_counter"
}

Examples

Counting Home Assistant errors

To use a counter to count errors as caught by Home Assistant, you need to add fire_event: true to your {% term "configuration.yaml" %}, like so:

# Example configuration.yaml entry
system_log:
  fire_event: true

Error counting - example configuration

# Example configuration.yaml entry
automation:
- alias: "Error Counting Automation"
  triggers:
    - trigger: event
      event_type: system_log_event
      event_data:
        level: ERROR
  actions:
    - action: counter.increment
      target:
        entity_id: counter.error_counter
    
counter:
  error_counter:
    name: Errors
    icon: mdi:alert