I’m pretty sure a lot of us can relate!
Have to admit I never use the UI. I edit the YAML files directly. The UI interface was good to get started, but I quickly moved to direct YAML editing, including the lovelace files.
here is the code, removed some personal info…
- id: '1609617372924'
alias: Turn on Alarm when Craig Leaves
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: zone
entity_id: person.craig
zone: zone.home
event: leave
condition: []
action:
- service: alarm_control_panel.alarm_arm_home
data: {}
entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home_alarm
- service: notify.mobile_app_craigs_s20_mobile_app
data:
title: Notification
message: Alarm is Now On
mode: single
- id: '1609618911422'
alias: Turn off Alarm when Craig Arrives
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: zone
entity_id: person.craig
zone: zone.home
event: enter
condition: []
action:
- service: alarm_control_panel.alarm_disarm
data: {}
entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home_alarm
- service: notify.mobile_app_craigs_s20_mobile_app
data:
title: Notification
message: Alarm is OFF
mode: single
- id: '1609619013116'
alias: Coffee Machine On Weekdays 6 AM
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: time
at: '6:00:00'
condition:
- condition: time
weekday:
- mon
- tue
- wed
- thu
- fri
action:
- type: turn_on
device_id: ebfd43d57a492a3df2b06e2ca55b2a19
entity_id: switch.coffee_machine
domain: switch
mode: single
- id: '1609619243384'
alias: Coffee Machine On Weekends 8 AM
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: time
at: '8:00:00'
condition:
- condition: time
weekday:
- sat
- sun
action:
- type: turn_on
device_id: ebfd43d57a492a3df2b06e2ca55b2a19
entity_id: switch.coffee_machine
domain: switch
mode: single
- id: '1609620474852'
alias: Turn off Alarm Richelle Arrives
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: zone
entity_id: person.richelle
zone: zone.home
event: enter
condition: []
action:
- service: alarm_control_panel.alarm_disarm
data: {}
entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home_alarm
- service: light.turn_on
data: {}
entity_id: light.exterior_back_yard_lights
- service: light.turn_on
entity_id: light.exterior_front_door_lights
mode: single
- id: '1609653705623'
alias: Alarm On Nightly 11:30 PM
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: time
at: '23:30:00'
condition: []
action:
- service: alarm_control_panel.alarm_arm_night
data: {}
entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home_alarm
mode: single
- id: '1609666069205'
alias: Alarm Off 5 AM
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: time
at: '5:00:00'
condition: []
action:
- service: alarm_control_panel.alarm_disarm
data: {}
entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home_alarm
mode: single
- id: '1609724097915'
alias: Brayden Lights off at 12:30
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: time
at: 00:30:00
condition:
- condition: time
weekday:
- mon
- tue
- wed
- thu
- sun
action:
- type: turn_off
device_id: 9e071faf21145fcb246a611811a5be81
entity_id: light.braydens_light
domain: light
- service: notify.mobile_app_craigs_s20_mobile_app
data:
title: Notification
message: Braydens Lights are OFF
mode: single
- id: '1609734649963'
alias: Jord gets to Centennial Notification
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: zone
entity_id: person.jordyn
zone: zone.centennial
event: enter
condition: []
action:
- service: notify.mobile_app_craigs_s20_mobile_app
data:
title: Notification
message: Jord has Arrived at Centennial
mode: single
alias:
trigger:
- platform: zone
entity_id:
- person.jordyn
- person.brayden
- person.richelle
- person.craig
zone: zone.home
event: enter
- platform: zone
entity_id:
- person.jordyn
- person.brayden
- person.richelle
zone: zone.home
event: leave
- platform: zone
entity_id:
- person.jordyn
- person.brayden
- person.richelle
zone: zone.centennial
event: enter
- platform: zone
entity_id:
- person.jordyn
- person.brayden
- person.richelle
zone: zone.centennial
event: leave
action:
- service: notify.family_devices
data:
message: >
{% if trigger.event == "leave" %}
{{ trigger.from_state.attributes.friendly_name }} left {{ trigger.zone.attributes.friendly_name }}
{% else %}
{{ trigger.from_state.attributes.friendly_name }} entered {{ trigger.zone.attributes.friendly_name }}
{% endif %}
You are missing a dash in front of alias in the last automation.
1 Like
added a dash, then gave it a name, no errors and config passed check, will see what happens when my kids leave school… thanks guys!
1 Like
hey guys, i did get a couple notifications, going to keep testing… quick question on syntax. i am trying to add another zone but it is work richelle and it didn’t like that. should i rename the zone to a single word?
If it’s “work richelle” it won’t work. Just make it “work_richelle”
They have to be one contiguous name - using underscores, not hyphens.
Glad it’s starting to work right!
ok thanks bro. I made them like that so the button on the app if I look at my wife’s status says work but on the map we can distinguish between my work and my wifes work. thanks again KSC.
No problem! I actually gleaned some ideas on how to better use tracking. I haven’t messed with that part of my automation for a long time, and it’s out of date. You’ve given me some thoughts on how to improve my own!
1 Like
that is great to hear.
tried it yesterday and today… anything i added doesn’t work, probably some syntax. for the most part it’s working. One thing that was weird i was watching the app while my parents drove the kids to school… both turned to the school zone at the same time but i only got a notification for one of them. Will have to keep doing some testing.
If you can post what doesn’t work, we can try to find the problem - more eyes, the better!
That may be because the automation was already running - a relatively recent automation feature (and a very welcome one) is the mode option - it can be used to prevent this. Just add the following before the action: line (and with the exact same indenting):
mode: queued
Then the one that tried to trigger the automation a half a second later will be queued to run after the first one finishes (here’s the doc on that: Automation Modes - Home Assistant (home-assistant.io). Note that single is the default. Assuming there’s an error in the logs stating the automation is “already running.”
thanks KSC you’re a rock star… i will see what happens today to make sure i get notifications for my son and repost, hopefully this will help someone down the road… happy Friday sir!
HaHa - I’m not sure my wife agrees when she can’t get a light to turn on 
Happy Friday to you, too, sir!!
1 Like
hey Kirby, can you just confirm about adding before the action line? i looked through the automations file and a bunch of my automations have mode: single as the last line in the automation. want to get this right the first time so i can trigger with the kids coming from school, lol…
this is what i have right now… it’s weird i didn’t notice that id: on the last line, not sure if HA added that. this is the config that i got no notifications when my wife got to work. All the shit you did worked fine, lol.
- alias: Zone Notification
trigger:
- platform: zone
entity_id:
- person.jordyn
- person.brayden
- person.richelle
- person.craig
zone: zone.home
event: enter
- platform: zone
entity_id:
- person.jordyn
- person.brayden
- person.richelle
- person.craig
zone: zone.home
event: leave
- platform: zone
entity_id:
- person.jordyn
- person.brayden
zone: zone.centennial
event: enter
- platform: zone
entity_id:
- person.jordyn
- person.brayden
zone: zone.centennial
event: leave
- platform: zone
entity_id:
- person.richelle
zone: zone.richelles_work
event: enter
- platform: zone
entity_id:
- person.richelle
zone: zone.richelles_work
event: leave
mode: queued
action:
- service: notify.family_devices
data:
message: "{% if trigger.event == \"leave\" %}\n {{ trigger.from_state.attributes.friendly_name\
\ }} left {{ trigger.zone.attributes.friendly_name }}\n{% else %}\n {{ trigger.from_state.attributes.friendly_name\
\ }} arrived {{ trigger.zone.attributes.friendly_name }}\n{% endif %}\n"
id: ceb4d7d59a904f2bacd48a31fd646442
2 Likes
It can pretty much go anywhere as long as it’s at the same indent level as the action, alias, and condition statements (not the condition statement that might be inside the action statement). Apparently the UI automation editor places it at the end. Hope it works well!
The id with a unique but seemingly random number is needed for the UI editor to work. If you just edit the yaml file, you don’t need those. HA does add it if you ever use the UI editor. I think I’ve deleted most of the lines as I do all my editing now directly in the yaml file. The earlier versions of the UI editor were not feature-rich, but the folks have really ramped it up now so it has a lot more features. If you do delete those lines then you can’t edit the automation inside the UI editor, which is no big deal to me - I tend to use a lot of templates…
And hey, this is fun! 
1 Like
thanks Kirby, will update on how it works… thanks again!! makes my head hurt, you guys are so smart, lol…
works perfect, thanks. when we all leave in the car together I get 4 notifications a few seconds apart. thanks.