Automation is being fired, but actions aren’t working

1

When I look at the log, I can see this automation trigger is being “caught”, however
the service actions aren’t being called. The auto_lock_disble timer is still running instead of restarting as I want it too.

- id: disable_autolock
  alias: Disable Auto-Lock
  trigger:
    entity_id: input_boolean.disable_autolock
    platform: state
    to: 'on'
  action:
    service: timer.cancel
    entity_id: timer.garage_door
    service: timer.cancel
    entity_id: timer.front_door
    service: timer.cancel
    entity_id: timer.auto_lock_disable
    service: timer.start
    entity_id: timer.auto_lock_disable
2

You need to make your action a list by putting dashes in front of each service:

  action:
    - service: timer.cancel
      entity_id: timer.garage_door
    - service: timer.cancel
      entity_id: timer.front_door
    - service: timer.cancel
      entity_id: timer.auto_lock_disable
    - service: timer.start
      entity_id: timer.auto_lock_disable

EDIT: BTW, for the three timers you’re canceling, you can use one service call and list all three timers:

  action:
    - service: timer.cancel
      entity_id:
        - timer.garage_door
        - timer.front_door
        - timer.auto_lock_disable
    - service: timer.start
      entity_id: timer.auto_lock_disable

EDIT2: Oh, and BTW again, if you’re starting timer.auto_lock_disable you don’t have to cancel it first. When you start it, if it was already running, it will simply be restarted. So:

  action:
    - service: timer.cancel
      entity_id:
        - timer.garage_door
        - timer.front_door
    - service: timer.start
      entity_id: timer.auto_lock_disable
3

Thanks! I though the dashes were just optional for alignment purposes. YAML is kinda annoying at times

4

Yes, but you get used to it. :slight_smile:

The dashes mean this line starts a new list item. They are definitely important. For an automation or script, the action/sequence can consist of a single “step”, in which case the dash is optional. But if you have more than one step, it must be a list. In that case, the dash for each step is required.