Add connection state (online/offline) to every z2m device (or other MQTT device)

studioIngrid · January 28, 2026, 1:43pm

Hi all,

Some time ago I published this thread: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/add-network-state-online-offline-to-every-z2m-device-in-3-easy-steps. In that post, I explained how to add a connection state sensor using templates. While it worked, everything had to be maintained by hand — and as soon as something changed, things would break .

So I set out to make a custom component that has all the features that I was missing. This new custom integration can:

Discover MQTT devices with connection topics
Auto-update when device information or topics change
Raise Repair issues when a device becomes orphaned
Use actions for bulk setup in new installs
Easily trigger notification automations using events

I’d love to hear your feedback, ideas, or bug reports

Check it out here:

Kind regards,
- Ingrid

Edits

Moderator move to custom_components (Thanks!)
Added new feature: Events
Take it out of beta.

webmediart-github · January 28, 2026, 6:59pm

Ingrid, you are amazing! I was just revisiting your original concept, since I added a few new devices to my network. Usually I stay away from betas, but I will give it a try and report any issues on the repo - if any
Thanks so much for your work! Hope this may be adopted some time into the core or z2m

Am I correct to first delete the manual yaml to avoid any collisions?

studioIngrid · January 28, 2026, 7:16pm

Hi,

The old template sensors were named “network state”, so existing entity IDs will look like binary_sensor.bathroom_network_state.
In the new integration, entities are named “connection” — which I think better reflects their actual purpose — and will use the entity ID binary_sensor.bathroom_connection_state.
The integration also checks whether binary_sensor.bathroom_connection_state already exists. If it does, it will automatically create binary_sensor.bathroom_connection_state_2.

This makes the risk of entity ID collisions minimal. That said, you will need to update your automations to use the new entity IDs.

Kind regards,
- Ingrid

studioIngrid · January 29, 2026, 10:37pm

I just released version beta-0.3.0, the last one for now. I’ve added “events” that can be used to trigger automations:

Example automation:

alias: "Notify conecction state offline"
description: "Using the mqtt_conecction_state events for monitoring"
mode: parallel
max: 50
trace:
  stored_traces: 50
triggers:
  - trigger: event
    event_type: mqtt_connection_state_changed
    event_data:
      state: offline
conditions:
  - condition: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.zigbee2mqtt_bridge_connection_state
    state: "on"
    for:
      minutes: 1
actions:
  - alias: Report offline devices in HA notifications
    action: persistent_notification.create
    data:
      title: Device offline
      message: >-
        {{ trigger.event.data.device_name }} went offline</br></br>
        <small><a href="/config/devices/device/{{ trigger.event.data.device_id }}">Device</a></small></br>
        <small>{{ now()  | as_timestamp | timestamp_custom('%H:%M') }}</small>
  - alias: If important device send notification to phone
    if:
      - condition: template
        value_template: >-
          {% set important_devices = [
            'binary_sensor.livingroom_motion_connection_state',
            'binary_sensor.livingroom_climate_connection_state'
          ] %}
          {{ trigger.event.data.entity_id in important_devices }}
    then:
      - action: notify.mobile_app_iphone
        data:
          title: Device offline
          message: "{{ trigger.event.data.device_name }} went offline"

All features I wanted to add in the beta are now live. So please update to beta-0.3.0 and test the automation.

If I have enough feedback from people using it, without any bugs, I will take it out of beta.

Kind regards,
- Ingrid

jonnybergdahl · January 30, 2026, 1:41pm

Seems to work just fine for me.

I do have other mqtt integrations though (like HASS.Agent), and they all say Disconnected.

Btw; added a PR with the swedish translation to Github.

studioIngrid · January 30, 2026, 2:31pm

Thanks for your reply, I have only tested a few other MQTT integrations. I will look at HASS.Agent.
I merged your translation into the beta-0.3.1, which will release around next week.

EDIT: HASS.Agent published availability data in a different format, quick fix . Will also go live in next release.

Kind regards,
- Ingrid

jonnybergdahl · January 31, 2026, 2:25pm

OK, seems to be the same problem with my own firmwares. What did you need to change?

studioIngrid · January 31, 2026, 7:13pm

Hi Jonny,

Thank you for providing feedback!

I just did a prerelease; that should resolve the error.
HACS > mqtt_connection state > three dots menu > redownload > different version > beta-0.3.1pre > restart.

You will get an alert that there is a new version available; this always triggers if the version you installed (beta-0.3.1pre) does not match the last release (beta-0.3.0). Just ignore it.

If the error is still there, can you please send me your debug log?
Settings > Integrations > mqtt_connection_state > three dots menu > enable debug logging.

Do a restart, wait for the sensor to say “Disconnected”, then click Disable, and a log will be downloaded. Please send me that file, so I can evaluate the messages received.

Kind regards,
- Ingrid

studioIngrid · February 1, 2026, 1:39pm

I did some rewrites and bug fixes. And I’m happy to say I took the integration out of beta and just did the first stable release.

Kind regards,
- Ingrid

roma_pop · February 10, 2026, 7:56am

Hello Ingrid.
After removing the Integration log continuously displays error:

Logger: homeassistant.components.websocket_api.commands
Source: components/websocket_api/commands.py:670
integration: Home Assistant WebSocket API (documentation, issues)
First occurred: 11:23:32 (6 occurrences)
Last logged: 11:51:11

Unable to get manifest for integration mqtt_connection_state: Integration 'mqtt_connection_state' not found.

Started digging inside , .storage/core.entity_registry has left followed lines for entities:
{“aliases”:,“area_id”:null,“categories”:{},“config_entry_id”:“xxxxxxxxx”,“config_subentry_id”:null,“created_at”:“2026-02-06T07:37:28.628116+00:00”,“device_class”:null,“disabled_by”:null,“disabled_by_undefined”:false,“entity_id”:“update.mqtt_connection_state_update”,“hidden_by”:null,“hidden_by_undefined”:false,“icon”:null,“id”:“xxxxxx”,“labels”:,“modified_at”:“2026-02-08T08:34:02.569841+00:00”,“name”:null,“options”:{“conversation”:{“should_expose”:false}},“options_undefined”:false,“orphaned_timestamp”:null,“platform”:“hacs”,“unique_id”:“xxxxxx”},

Looks like it’s not the best approach of implementation. Besides the reason I started to remove the integration was that something is blocking Home Assistant from wrapping up the startup phase.

Pressed to clean up manually:

config/.storage/core.config_entries
config/.storage/core.entity_registry

But any way,

Ingrid many thanks for your efforts!!!

studioIngrid · February 10, 2026, 11:01am

Hi Roma,

The first error should be resolved after you have force removed the config_entries and entity_registry.
I did extensive adding and removing tests, and I did not encouter this error.

Please send the whole debug log, so I can debug what happend that caused this error.
It would be even better if you can find the log from before the remove, than I can debug what was causing the block in the startup fase.

Kind regards,
- Ingrid