Home Assistant Helper

Overview

This skill provides tools and workflows for working with Home Assistant installations. It enables querying the live HA instance for entities, services, and configuration data, debugging automations, and generating YAML configurations for automations and dashboards.

Key Capabilities:

• Query entities, states, and services from the live HA installation
• Search for similar entities to use as examples
• Check automation states and execution history
• Generate YAML configurations for copy/paste into HA
• Find real examples from the user's setup to inform new configurations

Core Workflow

When helping with Home Assistant tasks, follow this general approach:

1. Understand the requirement - What is the user trying to accomplish?
2. Discover existing entities - Use scripts to find relevant entities in their setup
3. Find similar examples - Search for existing automations or entities that do something similar
4. Generate YAML - Create well-formed YAML that can be copied directly into HA
5. Explain the configuration - Describe what the YAML does and how to install it

Available Scripts

All scripts require the HA_TOKEN environment variable to be set, which contains the Home Assistant long-lived access token. The HA instance is available at https://ha.cullen.rocks.

Entity Discovery

ha_get_entities.py [domain]

Retrieve all entities, optionally filtered by domain.

Usage:

python3 scripts/ha_get_entities.py           # All entities
python3 scripts/ha_get_entities.py light     # Just lights
python3 scripts/ha_get_entities.py sensor    # Just sensors

When to use: To discover what entities are available, especially when building new automations.

ha_get_state.py <entity_id>

Get the current state and attributes of a specific entity.

Usage:

python3 scripts/ha_get_state.py light.living_room

When to use: To check current state, available attributes, or confirm an entity exists.

ha_search_similar_entities.py <pattern>

Search for entities matching a pattern in their entity_id or friendly_name.

Usage:

python3 scripts/ha_search_similar_entities.py "bedroom"
python3 scripts/ha_search_similar_entities.py "motion"
python3 scripts/ha_search_similar_entities.py "temperature"

When to use: To find entities related to what the user wants to automate. This is especially useful for finding examples before creating new automations.

Automation Management

ha_get_automations.py [search_term]

Retrieve all automations, optionally filtered by search term.

Usage:

python3 scripts/ha_get_automations.py              # All automations
python3 scripts/ha_get_automations.py motion       # Automations with 'motion'
python3 scripts/ha_get_automations.py light        # Automations with 'light'

When to use: To find existing automations that are similar to what the user wants to create. Use these as templates.

Service Discovery

ha_get_services.py [domain]

Get all available services with descriptions and field information.

Usage:

python3 scripts/ha_get_services.py              # All services
python3 scripts/ha_get_services.py light        # Just light services
python3 scripts/ha_get_services.py climate      # Just climate services

When to use: To discover what services are available and what parameters they accept.

Configuration

ha_get_config.py

Get Home Assistant configuration including version, location, and components.

Usage:

python3 scripts/ha_get_config.py

When to use: To understand the HA setup, available integrations, or system information.

ha_get_config_entries.py [domain]

Get Home Assistant config entries, optionally filtered by domain. This is essential for services that require a config_entry_id, such as telegram_bot.send_message.

Usage:

python3 scripts/ha_get_config_entries.py              # All config entries
python3 scripts/ha_get_config_entries.py telegram_bot # Just Telegram bots
python3 scripts/ha_get_config_entries.py mqtt         # Just MQTT entries

When to use: When you need to get config_entry_id for services like Telegram notifications, or to discover what integrations are configured.

Service Calling

ha_call_service.py <domain> <service> <json_data>

Call a Home Assistant service (use with caution).

Usage:

python3 scripts/ha_call_service.py light turn_on '{"entity_id": "light.living_room"}'

When to use: Rarely. Generally only for testing or when the user explicitly asks to control something.

Typical Workflows

Creating a New Automation

1. Understand the goal - Ask clarifying questions about triggers, conditions, and actions
2. Find similar entities - Use ha_search_similar_entities.py to find relevant entities
3. Search for similar automations - Use ha_get_automations.py with search terms to find examples
4. Review existing automation - If a similar one exists, examine its structure
5. Generate YAML - Create well-formatted YAML with:
   • Descriptive alias
   • Clear description
   • Appropriate triggers
   • Relevant conditions
   • Necessary actions
   • Proper mode (single, restart, queued, parallel)
6. Provide copy-paste YAML - Format for easy copying into HA configuration
7. Explain - Describe what the automation does and how to add it to HA

Debugging an Automation

1. Get the automation state - Use ha_get_state.py automation.automation_name to check:
   • Current state (on/off)
   • Last triggered time
   • Current execution count
   • Automation mode
2. Check related entities - Use ha_get_state.py to verify trigger entities are in expected states
3. Review the automation configuration - Use ha_get_automations.py to see the full automation details
4. Test trigger conditions - Manually verify that:
   • Trigger entities exist and are accessible
   • Conditions would evaluate correctly
   • Target entities for actions exist
5. Identify the issue - Based on state data and configuration review
6. Suggest fix - Provide corrected YAML or configuration changes

Note: For detailed execution traces, use the Home Assistant web UI (Settings → Automations & Scenes → select automation → traces)

Modifying a Dashboard

1. Understand desired changes - What should the dashboard show?
2. Find relevant entities - Use entity discovery scripts
3. Generate Lovelace YAML - Create dashboard card configuration
4. Provide copy-paste YAML - User will manually add to their dashboard
5. Explain card configuration - Describe options and customization

Exploring Entity States

1. Use search or domain filtering - Find entities of interest
2. Check specific states - Get detailed state information
3. Report findings - Present relevant information clearly

Sending Telegram Notifications

Telegram notifications require using the telegram_bot.send_message service with a config_entry_id parameter (not the notify service pattern).

Workflow:

1. Get the Telegram bot config_entry_id - Use ha_get_config_entries.py telegram_bot to find the config entry ID
2. Use the telegram_bot.send_message service - Include the config_entry_id in the action data

Example Automation with Telegram Notification:

alias: Example Telegram Alert
description: Send a Telegram notification when something happens
triggers:
  - entity_id: binary_sensor.front_door
    to: "on"
    trigger: state
conditions: []
actions:
  - action: telegram_bot.send_message
    data:
      message: "Front door opened at {{ now().strftime('%I:%M %p') }}"
      config_entry_id: 01JZE11D7Y6B7C3WCARWVZRYNH  # Get this from ha_get_config_entries.py
mode: single

Note: The config_entry_id is specific to your Telegram bot configuration. Always use ha_get_config_entries.py telegram_bot to get the correct ID for your setup.

Important Notes

YAML Output Format

When generating YAML configurations, always:

• Use proper YAML formatting with 2-space indentation
• Include helpful comments where appropriate
• Provide descriptive aliases and descriptions
• Use appropriate trigger platforms (state, time, numeric_state, etc.)
• Include mode settings (single, restart, queued, parallel)
• Format for easy copy-paste into HA

Manual Installation Required

The user must manually copy/paste generated YAML into Home Assistant. Make this clear and provide instructions:

• For automations: Configuration → Automations & Scenes → Add Automation → Edit in YAML
• For dashboards: Dashboard → Edit Dashboard → Raw Configuration Editor
• For configuration.yaml additions: Edit the file and restart HA

Browser Automation for Screenshots

If the user asks for screenshots of dashboards or wants to see the current UI state, the Playwright browser automation tools can be used to navigate to the HA instance and capture screenshots. The user will need to handle authentication.

Service Calls

Be cautious about calling services that change state. Generally only do this when explicitly requested by the user or for testing purposes.

Entity Naming

All entities follow the pattern domain.object_id where common domains include:

• light - Lights
• switch - Switches
• sensor - Sensors (read-only)
• binary_sensor - Binary sensors (on/off)
• climate - Thermostats
• automation - Automations
• script - Scripts
• input_boolean, input_number, input_select, input_text, input_datetime - Helper entities
• person - People
• device_tracker - Device tracking
• camera - Cameras
• media_player - Media players
• cover - Covers (blinds, garage doors)
• fan - Fans
• lock - Locks

Common Trigger Platforms

• state - Entity state changes
• numeric_state - Numeric value crosses threshold
• sun - Sunrise/sunset
• time - Specific time
• time_pattern - Time pattern (every N minutes)
• event - HA event fired
• webhook - Webhook trigger
• zone - Enter/leave zone
• device - Device-specific trigger

Common Condition Platforms

• state - Entity state equals value
• numeric_state - Numeric comparison
• time - Time window
• sun - Before/after sunrise/sunset
• zone - Person in zone
• template - Template evaluation

Automation Modes

• single - Don't start new run if already running
• restart - Restart automation if triggered while running
• queued - Queue runs if already running
• parallel - Allow multiple simultaneous runs