Basics of automations and scenes in home assistant

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure that:

• Home Assistant is running on your system.

• You have access to the Home Assistant dashboard.

What are Automations and Scenes?

Automations create rules that trigger specific actions based on certain conditions. For example:

• Turning on lights when motion is detected.

Scenes allow you to set multiple devices to specific states with one command. For example:

• A Cinema Mode for your living room, where the blinds drop and the lights dim.

Creating Automations

Accessing Automations

Building an Automation

1. Choose a Trigger (When)

• Click Add Trigger and select the type of event, such as time, sensor activation, or device updates.

2. Set Conditions (And if) (optional)

• Conditions are optional but allow for more control.
  Example: Only turn off lights if the sun has set.

• Click Add Condition to define these.

3. Define Actions (Then do)

• Click Add Action and choose the desired action, such as turning off a light, sending a notification, or running a custom script.

Creating Scenes

Accessing Scenes

1. From the Home Assistant dashboard, navigate to Settings > Automations & Scenes.

2. Click the + Add Scene button to start a new scene.

Setting Up a Scene

Using Automations and Scenes

Running a Scene Manually

• You can create a card on your dashboard to run a scene manually. When you want to run the scene, simply click Activate on the card.

Scheduling Automations and Scenes

Use time-based triggers to run automations or scenes.

Example: Schedule a "Morning" scene to run every day at 6 AM, turning on lights and opening blinds.

If you found this post helpful you may also be interested in:

• Unlocking your home assistant dashboard