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

title	description	ha_release	ha_category	ha_quality_scale	ha_codeowners	ha_domain	ha_platforms	ha_integration_type	related
Home Assistant Core Integration	Description of the homeassistant integration.	0.0	Other	internal	@home-assistant/core	homeassistant	scene	system	docs title /docs/configuration/basic/ Basic information docs /docs/configuration/ docs /docs/configuration/customizing-devices/

The Home Assistant Core {% term integration %} provides generic implementations like the generic homeassistant.turn_on action.

Editing the General Settings in YAML

The Home Assistant Core integration is also responsible for the general settings. These settings are defined during onboarding, but you can change them later under {% my general title="Settings > System > General" %}. For the detailed steps, refer to Basic settings.

If you prefer editing in YAML, you can define your general settings in the {% term "configuration.yaml" %} file. Note that for some of the settings, these can't be edited from the UI if they were defined in YAML. They will be grayed out or inaccessible.

Screenshot showing coordinates cannot be edited because they are defined in configuration.yaml file.

To get started with the general settings in YAML, follow these steps:

1. Copy the following information to your {% term "configuration.yaml" %} file.

   homeassistant:
     name: Home
     latitude: 32.87336
     longitude: 117.22743
     elevation: 430
     radius: 100
     unit_system: metric
     currency: USD
     country: US
     time_zone: "America/Los_Angeles"
     allowlist_external_dirs:
       - "/usr/var/dumping-ground"
       - "/tmp"
     allowlist_external_urls:
       - "http://images.com/image1.png"
     media_dirs:
       media: "/media"
       recordings: "/mnt/recordings"
     debug: false
   

2. Edit each entry to fit your home.

{% configuration %} name: description: Name of the location where Home Assistant is running. required: false type: string latitude: description: Latitude of your location required to calculate the time the sun rises and sets. required: false type: float longitude: description: Longitude of your location required to calculate the time the sun rises and sets. required: false type: float elevation: description: Altitude above sea level in meters. Impacts sunrise data. required: false type: integer radius: description: Radius in meters defining your locations area. Impacts location awareness. required: false type: integer unit_system: description: "metric for Metric, us_customary for US Customary. This also sets temperature_unit, Celsius for Metric and Fahrenheit for US Customary" required: false type: string temperature_unit: description: "Override temperature unit set by unit_system. C for Celsius, F for Fahrenheit." required: false type: string time_zone: description: "Pick your time zone from the column TZ of Wikipedia's list of tz database time zones" required: false type: string currency: description: "Pick your currency code from the column Code of Wikipedia's list of ISO 4217 active codes" required: false type: string default: "EUR" external_url: description: "The URL that Home Assistant is available on from the internet. For example: https://example.duckdns.org:8123. Note that this setting may only contain a protocol, hostname and port; using a path is not supported. This can also be configured by navigating to {% my network title="Settings > System > Network" %}." required: false type: string internal_url: description: "The URL that Home Assistant is available on from your local network. For example: http://192.168.0.10:8123. Note that this setting may only contain a protocol, hostname and port; using a path is not supported. This can also be configured by navigating to {% my network title="Settings > System > Network" %}." required: false type: string customize: description: "Customize entities." required: false type: string customize_domain: description: "Customize all entities in a domain." required: false type: string customize_glob: description: "Customize entities matching a pattern." required: false type: string allowlist_external_dirs: description: List of folders that can be used as sources for sending files. required: false type: list allowlist_external_urls: description: List of external URLs that can be fetched. URLs can match specific resources (e.g., http://10.10.10.12/images/image1.jpg) or a relative path that allows access to resources within it (e.g., http://10.10.10.12/images would allow access to anything under that path) required: false type: list media_dirs: description: A mapping of local media sources and their paths on disk. required: false type: map language: description: "Default language used by Home Assistant. This may, for example, influence the language used by voice assistants. The language should be specified as an RFC 5646 language tag, and must be a language which Home Assistant is translated to." required: false type: string default: "en" country: description: "Country in which Home Assistant is running. This may, for example, influence radio settings to comply with local regulations. The country should be specified as an ISO 3166.1 alpha-2 code. Pick your country from the column Code of Wikipedia's list of ISO 31661 alpha-2 officially assigned code codes" required: false type: string debug: description: Enable Home Assistant's built-in debug, which can help locate misbehaving integrations by enabling run-time checks for implementation errors. It can block many unsafe thread operations from crashing the system. Enabling debug has a slight performance impact on the system and is not recommended for long-term use. required: false type: boolean default: false webrtc: description: A custom list of STUN and TURN servers for WebRTC video streaming. required: false type: map {% endconfiguration %}

Editing entity settings in YAML

The Home Assistant Core integration is also responsible for entity settings. By default, all of your devices will be visible and have a default icon determined by their domain. You can customize the look and feel of your front page by altering some of these parameters. This can be done by overriding attributes of specific entities.

Most of these settings can be changed from the UI. For the detailed steps, refer to Customizing entities.

If you prefer editing in YAML, you can define your general settings in the {% term "configuration.yaml" %} file.

Possible values

{% configuration customize %} friendly_name: description: Name of the entity as displayed in the UI. required: false type: string entity_picture: description: URL to use as picture for entity. required: false type: string icon: description: "Any icon from Material Design Icons. Prefix name with mdi:, ie mdi:home. Note: Newer icons may not yet be available in the current Home Assistant release." required: false type: string assumed_state: description: For switches with an assumed state two buttons are shown (turn off, turn on) instead of a switch. By setting assumed_state to false you will get the default switch icon. required: false type: boolean default: true device_class: description: Sets the class of the device, changing the device state and icon that is displayed on the UI (see below). It does not set the unit_of_measurement. required: false type: device_class default: None unit_of_measurement: description: Defines the units of measurement, if any. This will also influence the graphical presentation in the history visualization as continuous value. Sensors with missing unit_of_measurement are showing as discrete values. required: false type: string default: None initial_state: description: Sets the initial state for automations, on or off. required: false type: boolean default: None {% endconfiguration %}

Device class

Devices classes categorize certain entities and influence how these are shown in the dashboard. Some device classes categorize by measurement type, such as sensors or binary sensors. Other device classes categorize into more specific types. For example, a cover can be a blind or a curtain. For a given platform, the device class influences what is shown in the user interface. For example: humidifier has two device classes, humidifier and dehumidifier. If the device class is set to humidifier, the UI shows Humidifying. If it is set to dehumidifier, it shows Drying.

Device class is currently supported by the following platforms:

• Binary sensor
• Button
• Cover
• Event
• Humidifier
• Media player
• Number
• Sensor
• Switch
• Update
• Valve

For a list of the supported device classes, refer to the documentation of the platform.

Manual customization

{% important %} If you implement customize, customize_domain, or customize_glob, in your {% term "configuration.yaml" %} file, you must make sure it is done inside of homeassistant: or it will fail. {% endimportant %}

homeassistant:
  name: Home
  unit_system: metric
  # etc

  customize:
    # Add an entry for each entity that you want to overwrite.
    thermostat.family_room:
      entity_picture: https://example.com/images/nest.jpg
      friendly_name: Nest
    switch.wemo_switch_1:
      friendly_name: Toaster
      entity_picture: /local/toaster.jpg
    switch.wemo_switch_2:
      friendly_name: Kitchen kettle
      icon: mdi:kettle
    switch.rfxtrx_switch:
      assumed_state: false
    media_player.my_media_player:
      source_list:
        - Channel/input from my available sources
  # Customize all entities in a domain
  customize_domain:
    light:
      icon: mdi:home
    automation:
      initial_state: "on"
  # Customize entities matching a pattern
  customize_glob:
    "light.kitchen_*":
      icon: mdi:description
    "scene.month_*_colors":
      icon: mdi:other

Custom STUN and TURN servers

It's possible to override the default list of STUN and TURN servers which are used to initiate WebRTC streaming. Each STUN or TURN server can be configured as described in the table below.

{% configuration webrtc %} ice_servers: description: List of STUN and TURN server configurations required: true type: list keys: url: description: STUN or TURN server URLs. This can either be a single URL or a list of URLs. required: true type: string username: description: Username for TURN server authentication required: false type: string credential: description: Credential for TURN server authentication required: false type: string {% endconfiguration %}

WebRTC configuration example

{% important %} If you implement webrtc in your {% term "configuration.yaml" %} file, you must make sure it is done inside of homeassistant: or it will fail. {% endimportant %}

homeassistant:
  name: Home
  unit_system: metric
  # etc

  webrtc:
    ice_servers:
    # Add an entry for each STUN or TURN server
    - url:
      - "stun:stun.example.com:19302"
      - "stun:stun2.example.com:12345"
    - url: "turn:turn.domain.com"
      username: "username"
      credential: "abc123"

Actions

The homeassistant integration provides actions for controlling Home Assistant itself, as well as generic controls for any entity.

Action homeassistant.check_config

Reads the configuration files and checks them for correctness, but does not load them into Home Assistant. Creates a persistent notification and log entry if errors are found.

Action homeassistant.reload_all

Reload all YAML configuration that can be reloaded without restarting Home Assistant.

It calls the reload action on all domains that have it available. Additionally, it reloads the core configuration (equivalent to calling homeassistant.reload_core_config), themes (frontend.reload_themes), and custom Jinja (homeassistant.reload_custom_templates).

Prior to reloading, a basic configuration check is performed. If that fails, the reload will not be performed and will raise an error.

Action homeassistant.reload_custom_templates

Reload all Jinja templates in the config/custom_templates directory. Changes to these templates will take effect the next time an importing template is rendered.

Action homeassistant.reload_config_entry

Reloads an integration config entry.

Data attribute	Description
entity_id	List of entity ids used to reference a config entry.
area_id	List of area ids used to reference a config entry.
device_id	List of device ids used to reference a config entry.
entry_id	A single config entry id used to reference a config entry.

Action homeassistant.reload_core_config

Reloads the core configuration under homeassistant: and all linked files. Once loaded the new configuration is applied. New customize: information will be applied the next time the state of the entity gets updated.

Action homeassistant.restart

Restarts the Home Assistant instance (also reloading the configuration on start).

This will also do a configuration check before doing a restart. If the configuration check fails then Home Assistant will not be restarted, instead a persistent notification with the ID persistent_notification.homeassistant_check_config will be created. The logs will show details on what failed the configuration check.

Action homeassistant.stop

Stops the Home Assistant instance. Home Assistant must be restarted from the Host device to run again.

Action homeassistant.set_location

Update the location of the Home Assistant default zone (usually "Home").

Data attribute	Optional	Description
latitude	no	Latitude of your location.
longitude	no	Longitude of your location.
elevation	yes	Elevation of your location.

Example

actions:
  - action: homeassistant.set_location
    data:
      latitude: 32.87336
      longitude: 117.22743
      elevation: 120

Action homeassistant.toggle

Generic action to toggle devices on/off. Same usage as the light.toggle, switch.toggle, etc. actions. The difference with this action compared the others, is that is can be used to mix different domains, for example, a light and a switch can be toggled in a single action.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	yes	The entity_id of the device to toggle on/off.

Example

actions:
  - action: homeassistant.toggle
    target:
      entity_id: 
        - light.living_room
        - switch.tv

Action homeassistant.turn_on

Generic action to toggle devices on. Same usage as the light.turn_on, switch.turn_on, etc. actions. The difference with this action compared the others, is that is can be used to mix different domains, for example, a light and a switch can be turned on in a single action.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	yes	The entity_id of the device to turn on.

Example

actions:
  - action: homeassistant.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id:
        - light.living_room
        - switch.tv

Action homeassistant.turn_off

Generic action to toggle devices off. Same usage as the light.turn_off, switch.turn_off, etc. actions. The difference with this action compared the others, is that is can be used to mix different domains, for example, a light and a switch can be turned off in a single action.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	yes	The entity_id of the device to turn off.

Example

actions:
  - action: homeassistant.turn_off
    target:
      entity_id:
        - light.living_room
        - switch.tv

Action homeassistant.update_entity

Force one or more entities to update its data rather than wait for the next scheduled update.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	no	One or multiple entity_ids to update. It can be a list.

Example

actions:
  - action: homeassistant.update_entity
    target:
      entity_id:
      - light.living_room
      - switch.coffe_pot

Action homeassistant.save_persistent_states

Save the persistent states (for entities derived from RestoreEntity) immediately. Maintain the normal periodic saving interval.

Normally these states are saved at startup, every 15 minutes and at shutdown.