Home Assistant has so many features that you’re bound to have missed a few. Though you can get by with the basics, some of the things you never touch can make your server more efficient and your smart home even smarter.
Some of these aren’t even that well hidden, but they are easy to ignore until you finally take the plunge.
Labels
You can assign labels to just about everything in Home Assistant, including areas, devices, automations, and individual entities. It’s an easy way to group things, regardless of what they do and where they are.
Labels can make automations and scripts more efficient. For example, you can build automations that use labels and then assign these labels to the devices you want to target. This means you don’t have to call out specific devices in automations; you can just add or remove a label any time you want to change how a rule works.
The same is true for excluding devices from routines. In another example, you can issue a command to turn every light in the house off except for devices with the “keep on” label. Even basic organization can work with labels, allowing you to label devices based on which battery type they require, or whether they’re rechargeable, can be a great help.
You can add labels by editing any device, entity, area, and so on. You can also use the “Enter selection mode” button in certain views (like Devices or Automations lists), then check the items you want to label and click “Add label” at the top of the screen.
https://www.howtogeek.com/clever-ways-to-use-labels-in-home-assistant/
Helpers
A helper is the Home Assistant term for a tool that simplifies common tasks to enable broader functionality and more complex scripts or automations. Head to Settings > Devices & services and click on the “Helpers” tab, and you’ll see the “+ Create helper” button at the bottom of the screen.
For example, you’ll need to use a helper if you want to fix a thermostat that is off by a couple of degrees or work out the average temperature in your home using more than one sensor. Both of these operations use the “Template” helper, creating a new virtual device that you can display on your dashboard or use in your automations.
Another example of a helper is a simple thermostat that can make any old heater smarter. You can also use this to create device groups, which are similar to labels but only apply to a single class of device. Use this to group several smart bulbs into a single light group entity, for example.
You don’t know you need a helper till you’re faced with a problem that can’t be solved without one, so it’s good to be aware of what these tools can do.
5 Home Assistant helpers you’re not using (but should be)
Get by with a little help from these helpers.
Calendars
I only just started using Home Assistant’s calendar myself, and I’m glad I did. I’m using a calendar event to trigger a signal light every other Monday so I remember to put the recycling out, but the possibilities are vast.
Automations can use a specific calendar’s event start or event end as a trigger for automations. To limit your trigger to a specific event (for example, an event named Meeting) you’ll need to add a rule using the “Template” condition and specify the event name using the following line:
{{ 'Meeting' in trigger.calendar_event.summary }}
You can even add your Google, iCloud, or Outlook calendars and use them in automations. It’s great for events that are dependent on dates, or that you might want to move around, and it makes a great alternative to rigid hardcoded schedules in Home Assistant.
Actionable notifications
It’s a good idea to keep smart home notifications to a minimum, so the ones you receive should at least be useful. Actionable notifications let you perform actions directly after receiving a notification, and you can customize them to do whatever you want.
They work with both iOS and Android, and can even be combined with critical alerts to perform vital actions at the tap of a button. You can set rules that might lead to an actionable notification, while also deciding what actions will appear on screen when you tap on it.
For example, you could create an automation that sends you an actionable notification whenever your home is left unlocked when nobody is home. If you have a smart lock, you could lock the door by tapping an action. Another example is a shortcut that takes you to a specific camera that has spotted something of interest.
Use Home Assistant notifications? You should be using these tricks
Notifications can do a lot more than you think.
Webhooks
A webhook is another type of automation trigger that uses a web address “endpoint” to perform an action on your Home Assistant server. Just add it to your automation using the “Webhook” action (alongside any other triggers you might want) and then copy the webhook ID. The URL will look something like: http://your-server/api/webhook/ID
The your-server part of the URL will be replaced with either the local I.P. address of your Home Assistant instance (for devices on the local server) or the remotely accessible address for a Home Assistant server.
Home Assistant automatically generates complex and lengthy webhook IDs, but you can change these to whatever you want. With your webhook in hand, you can do things like use QR codes to trigger events, design iPhone shortcuts that trigger automations remotely, use external services to trigger things, build an Android TV quick menu, and more.
Wondering what other Home Assistant functionality you’re missing out on? Check out these integrations that you’re probably not using.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
