home-assistant.io/source/_data/glossary.yml

- topic: Action
  description: "An [Action](/docs/automation/action/) is an event that can be fired as a response to a trigger,  once all conditions have been met."
- topic: Add-on
  description: "Add-ons provide additional, standalone, applications that can run beside Home Assistant. Most of these, add-on provided, applications can be integrated into Home Assistant using integrations. Examples of add-ons are: an MQTT broker, database service or a file server."
- topic: Automation
  description: "[Automations](/docs/automation/) offer the capability to call a service based on a simple or complex trigger. Automation allows a condition such as a sunset to cause an event, such as a light turning on."
- topic: Binary sensor
  description: "A [binary sensor](/integrations/binary_sensor) returns information about things that only have two states - such as on or off."
- topic: Component
  description: "Integrations (see below) used to be known as components."
- topic: Condition
  description: "[Conditions](/docs/scripts/conditions/) are an optional part of an automation that will prevent an action from firing if they are not met."
- topic: Cookbook
  description: "The [Cookbook](/cookbook/) contains a set of configuration examples of Home Assistant from the community."
- topic: Cover
  description: "[Covers](/integrations/cover) are devices such as blinds, garage doors, etc that can be opened and closed and optionally set to a specific position."
- topic: Customize
  description: "[Customization](/docs/configuration/customizing-devices/) allows you to overwrite the default parameters of your devices in the configuration."
- topic: Device
  description: "A device is usually a physical unit which can do or observe something."
- topic: Device tracker
  description: "[Device trackers](/integrations/device_tracker) are used to track the presence, or location, of a device."
- topic: Discovery
  description: "[Discovery](/integrations/discovery/) is the automatic setup of zeroconf/mDNS and uPnP devices after they are discovered."
- topic: Domain
  description: "Entities and services belong to a domain, which is the first part of the entity or service, before the `.`. For example `light.kitchen` is an entity in the `light` domain, while `homeassistant.turn_on` is the `turn_on` service for the `homeassistant` domain."
- topic: Entity
  description: "An [entity](/docs/configuration/platform_options/) is the representation of a function of a single device, unit, or web service. There may be multiple entities for a single device, unit, or web service, or there may be only one."
- topic: Event
  description: "An [event](/docs/configuration/events/) is when something happens."
- topic: Frontend
  description: "The [frontend](/integrations/frontend/) is a necessary component for the UI, it is also where you can define your themes."
- topic: Group
  description: "[Groups](/integrations/group/) are a way to organize your entities into a single unit."
- topic: HASS
  description: "HASS or [hass](/docs/tools/hass/) is often used as an abbreviation for Home Assistant. It is also the command-line tool."
- topic: HassOS
  description: "Another name for Home Assistant Operating System"  
- topic: Home Assistant Core
  description: Home Assistant Core is a Python program. It can be run on various operating systems and is the basis for Home Assistant. When people are talking about Home Assistant Core they usually refer to a standalone installation method that can be installed using a Virtual Environment or Docker. Home Assistant Core does not use the Home Assistant Supervisor.
- topic: Home Assistant Supervised (Previously Hass.io)
  description: "[Home Assistant](/hassio/) is a full UI managed home automation ecosystem that runs Home Assistant, the Home Assistant Supervisor and add-ons. It comes pre-installed on Home Assistant OS, but can be installed on any Linux system. It leverages Docker, which is managed by the Home Assistant Supervisor."
- topic: Home Assistant Supervisor
  description: "The Home Assistant Supervisor is a program that manages a Home Assistant installation, taking care of installing and updating Home Assistant, add-ons, itself and, if used, updating the Home Assistant Operating System."
- topic: Home Assistant Operating System
  description: "Home Assistant OS, the Home Assistant Operating System, is an embedded, minimalistic, operating system designed to run the Home Assistant ecosystem on single board computers (like the Raspberry Pi) or Virtual Machines. The Home Assistant Supervisor can keep it up to date, removing the need for you to manage an operating system."
- topic: Integration
  description: "[Integrations](/integrations/) provide the core logic for the functionality in Home Assistant. Like `notify` provides sending notifications."
- topic: Lovelace
  description: "[Lovelace](/lovelace/) is the name of the current frontend."
- topic: Light
  description: "A [light](/integrations/light) has a brightness you can control, and optionally color temperature or RGB color control."
- topic: Notification
  description: "You can use [notifications](/integrations/#notifications) to send messages, pictures, and more, to devices."
- topic: Packages
  description: "[Packages](/docs/configuration/packages/) allow you to bundle different component configurations together."
- topic: Platform
  description: "[Platforms](/docs/configuration/platform_options/) make the connection to a specific software or hardware platform. For example, the `pushbullet` platform works with the service pushbullet.com to send notifications."
- topic: Scene
  description: "[Scenes](/integrations/scene/) capture the states you want certain entities to be. For example, a scene can specify that light A should be turned on and light B should be bright red."
- topic: Script
  description: "[Scripts](/docs/scripts/) are components that allow users to specify a sequence of actions to be executed by Home Assistant when turned on."
- topic: Sensor
  description: "[Sensors](/integrations/sensor) return information about a thing, for instance the level of water in a tank."
- topic: Service
  description: "[Services](/docs/scripts/service-calls/) are called to perform actions."
- topic: Switch
  description: "[Switches](/integrations/switch) are things that have two states you can select between, such as turning on or off a socket."
- topic: Template
  description: "A [template](/docs/automation/templating/) is an automation definition that can include variables for the service or data from the trigger values. This allows automations to generate dynamic actions."
- topic: Trigger
  description: "A [trigger](/docs/automation/trigger/) is a set of values or conditions of a platform that are defined to cause an automation to run."
- topic: TTS
  description: "TTS ([text to speech](/integrations/tts)) allows Home Assistant to talk to you."
- topic: Zone
  description: "[Zones](/integrations/zone/) are areas that can be used for presence detection."