Home Assistant automation planner
Plan a Home Assistant automation before you buy the devices
Start from an automation goal, then check the required entities, hubs, connection path, feature limits, reliability risks, and Home Assistant YAML starter. Use it before buying Matter, Thread, Zigbee, camera, lock, sensor, or lighting devices.
What it checks
Entities, hubs, limits, reliability, and YAML
Home Assistant can automate many devices, but only if the right entities are exposed and the setup path is reliable enough. This page focuses on the automation path, not generic product specs.
Common Home Assistant automation goals
Start with the outcome
Presence lighting
Choose a presence or motion sensor, verify light entities, add delay-off logic, and generate YAML.
Front door security
Plan door sensor, lock, camera, notification, hub needs, and safe confirmation rules.
Smart lock access
Check Matter over Thread lock paths, door-state sensors, access-code limits, and fallback notifications.
Device health report
Plan low battery, unavailable, unknown, last_seen, and maintenance notifications.
Turn lights on when someone enters a room and turn them off when the room becomes empty.
Devices you already own
Presence & lighting
Presence-based room lighting
Turn lights on when someone enters a room and turn them off when the room becomes empty.
Local risk
high
Security scene
No
Owned matches
0
- Choose a presence or motion sensor that exposes stable entities to Home Assistant.
- Connect lights through a local path when possible, such as Hue Bridge, Matter, Zigbee, or a native integration.
- Generate YAML only after the trigger and light entities are visible.
- Aqara Presence Sensor FP2
- Eve Motion
- Aqara Motion Sensor P1
- Philips Hue Bridge
- Home Assistant
- compatible presence or motion sensor
- light or lighting bridge
- Presence sensors can require vendor app calibration.
- Basic motion sensors may turn lights off while people are still still.
- Cloud-only lights can add delay to automations.
These checks come before copying YAML. They reduce false triggers, stale states, manual-control conflicts, and unsafe security or power actions.
- Use a sensor that exposes a stable occupancy or motion entity before writing YAML.
- Add a cooldown or delay-off period so lights do not flicker when motion briefly clears.
- Keep a manual override path for guests, movie mode, or sleep mode.
- Handle unavailable sensors by leaving lights unchanged instead of forcing them off.
Recommended devices
alias: Turn on light when presence is detected
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.presence_sensor
to: "on"
condition:
- condition: sun
after: sunset
action:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.hallway
mode: singleNeed a final setup and reliability path?
$1.99 setup + reliability report
Send your scene, devices, hubs, and target ecosystem. We will return what to connect, what hub is missing, which features may not work, reliability risks, fallback checks, and what to buy or avoid.
Share or save this result
Copy the current setup URL or a concise diagnosis summary.
FAQ
What is the Home Assistant Automation Planner?
It is a scene-first planning tool for Home Assistant automations. It maps an automation goal to required devices, exposed entities, hubs, compatibility paths, reliability checks, and YAML starters.
Can it tell me which entities I need?
Yes. The planner highlights the trigger and action entities a Home Assistant automation needs, such as motion, presence, contact, lock, light, power, camera event, or notification entities.
Does it check Matter, Thread, Zigbee, and hub requirements?
Yes. It flags missing Matter Controllers, Thread Border Routers, Zigbee coordinators, vendor bridges, Home Assistant controllers, and local or cloud path risks.
Does it generate YAML?
Yes. It links each supported scene to a Home Assistant-compatible YAML starter that uses editable entity placeholders.