All of my automations have stopped working since late April and I can’t figure out why. I know it must be something basic but I can’t spot it. Please help.
I’ve even tried making the most simple automation and it doesn’t work:
- alias: 'Living room playing - Subwoofer On'
trigger:
platform: state
entity_id: input_boolean.media_player_living_room
to: 'on'
action:
service: homeassistant.turn_on
entity_id: switch.subwoofer
But when I manually toggle input_boolean.media_player_living_room nothing happens. Full config below - thanks in advance for any help:
homeassistant:
name: Home
latitude: !secret latitude
longitude: !secret longitude
# Impacts weather/sunrise data (altitude above sea level in meters)
elevation: 155
unit_system: metric
time_zone: Europe/London
customize: !include customize.yaml
frontend:
javascript_version: latest
config:
http:
api_password: !secret http_password
# Uncomment this if you are using SSL/TLS, running in Docker container, etc.
base_url: !secret base_url
# trusted_networks:
#- 172.30.12.0/24
#- 192.168.10.0/24
#- 192.168.20.0/24
#- 192.168.30.0/24
#- 192.168.50.0/24
# Checks for available updates
# Note: This component will send some information about your system to
# the developers to assist with development of Home Assistant.
# For more information, please see:
# https://home-assistant.io/blog/2016/10/25/explaining-the-updater/
updater:
# Optional, allows Home Assistant developers to focus on popular components.
# include_used_components: true
discovery:
ignore:
- roku
conversation:
# Allows you to issue voice commands from the frontend in enabled browsers
history:
# View all events in a logbook
logbook:
map:
sun:
sensor weather:
- platform: yr
forecast: 24
name: Weather
monitored_conditions:
- temperature
- symbol
- precipitation
- windSpeed
- pressure
- windDirection
- humidity
- fog
- cloudiness
- lowClouds
- mediumClouds
- highClouds
- dewpointTemperature
tts:
- platform: google_translate
service_name: google_say
group: !include groups.yaml
#automation: !include automations.yaml
automation: !include_dir_merge_list automation/
script: !include scripts.yaml
zone: !include zones.yaml
alarm_control_panel: !include alarm.yaml
panel_custom: !include panel_custom.yaml
############## Trackers ################################
device_tracker:
- platform: unifi
username: !secret unifi_username
password: !secret unifi_password
host: 172.30.12.97
verify_ssl: false
track_new_devices: no
######################## 3RD PARTY #################################
ifttt:
key: !secret ifttt_key
google_assistant:
project_id: !secret project_id
api_key: !secret api_key
expose_by_default: false
exposed_domains:
- switch
- light
- media_player
- climate
entity_config:
script.alarm_arm:
name: Alarm Arm
aliases:
- Alarm Arm
room: Hallway
script.alarm_disarm:
name: Alarm Disarm
aliases:
- Alarm Disarm
room: Hallway
media_player.chrome_9:
expose: false
media_player.kitchen_tv:
expose: false
media_player.plex_fire_tv_molly:
expose: false
media_player.yamaha_zone_2:
expose: false
media_player.max_google_mini:
expose: false
media_player.plex_web_chrome_4:
expose: false
climate.hot_water:
room: Hallway
climate.heating:
room: Hallway
media_player.yamaha:
name: Living Room Speakers
aliases:
- Yamaha
room: Living Room
switch.alarm_siren:
name: Alarm Siren
aliases:
- Alarm
room: Hallway
switch.living_room_tv:
name: Living Room TV
aliases:
- Living Room TV
- Front Room TV
room: Living Room
switch.clear_lamp:
name: Clear Lamp
room: Living Room
switch.silver_lamp:
name: Silver Lamp
aliases:
- Window Lamp
room: Living Room
switch.playroom_tv:
name: Playroom TV
aliases:
- Playroom TV
- Kids TV
room: Play Room
switch.molly_tv:
name: Molly TV Plug
aliases:
- Molly TV
room: Molly Bedroom
switch.subwoofer:
name: Subwoofer
aliases:
- Subwoofer
- Sub
room: Living Room
light.landing_lamp:
name: Landing Lamp
aliases:
- upstairs lamp
room: Upstairs
light.hallway_middle:
name: Hallway Middle Light
room: Hallway
light.hallway_stairs:
name: Hallway Middle Light
room: Hallway
light.hallway_entrance:
name: Hallway Entrance Light
room: Hallway
switch.wardrobe_lamp:
name: Wardrobe Lamp
aliases:
- Wardrobe Lamp
- Daddy's Light
- Guest Light
room: Upstairs
hive:
username: !secret hive_username
password: !secret hive_password
############## NOTIFICATION ################################
notify:
- name: pushover
platform: pushover
api_key: !secret pushover_api_key
user_key: !secret pushover_user_key
- name: html5
platform: html5
gcm_api_key: !secret gcm_api_key
gcm_sender_id: !secret gcm_sender_id
- platform: nfandroidtv
name: nfandroidtv_mibox3
host: 192.168.30.21
duration: 10
interrupt: 2
- name: !secret my_devices
platform: group
services:
- service: html5_unnamed_device_11
- service: html5_unnamed_device_9
- service: html5_unnamed_device_2
- name: Kids Devices
platform: group
services:
- service: nfandroidtv_mibox3
data:
duration: 10
intterupt: 2
- service: nfandroidtv_playroomtv
data:
duration: 10
intterupt: 2
############## MEDIA PLAYERS ################################
media_player:
- platform: plex
entity_namespace: 'plexserver'
include_non_clients: true
scan_interval: 5
show_all_controls: false
use_custom_entity_ids: true
use_episode_art: true
remove_unavailable_clients: true
client_remove_interval: 600
- platform: yamaha
name: Yamaha
host: 192.168.30.7
source_names:
AV1: "Android TV"
AV2: "HDMI Cable"
########################### SENSORS #############################
sensor:
- platform: darksky
api_key: !secret darksky
monitored_conditions:
- summary
- icon
- nearest_storm_distance
########################### Input Booleans #############################
input_boolean:
yamaha:
name: 'Living Room speakers'
initial: off
media_player_living_room:
name: 'Living Room Media Activity'
initial: off
media_player_play_room:
name: 'Play Room Media Activity'
initial: off
guests_visiting:
name: 'Guests Visiting'
initial: off
molly_max_manual:
name: 'Molly & Max (Manual)'
initial: off
home_occupied:
name: 'Home Occupied'
initial: on
disable_alarm:
name: 'Disable Alarm'
initial: off
########################### Alerts #############################
#alert:
# garage_door:
#name: "Front Door is open"
#done_message: "Front door is closed"
#entity_id: binary_sensor.front_door_open
#state: 'on'
#repeat: 5
#can_acknowledge: True
#skip_first: True
#notifiers:
#- html5
#- pushover
initial_state is probably the most misunderstood and misused option in Home Assistant.
It is NOT mandatory. It is optional. (I don’t use it, at all).
If you discover your automations are all off, go to the Services page and turn them on. The service is automation.turn_on and the service data is all.
Many versions ago, Home Assistant’s restore feature was upgraded. After performing that upgrade, all automations were set to off. All one needed to do was turn them on. However, someone suggested using initial_state: true and then that bad advice became the most popular way to fix the “problem”. Why? Because it’s easy to say “add initial_state: true” without understanding what it does, what it suppresses, and what you lose in the bargain. It’s a ‘stick a penny in the fuse box’ remedy (for those old enough to know what’s a fuse box).
What it does is it overrides Home Assistant’s restore feature. It also resets an automation’s last_triggered attribute after each restart (you lose the record of the last time the automation was triggered).
If your automations periodically get turned off after a restart, that’s a symptom of an underlying problem with your system. If Home Assistant’s startup is interrupted, it may cause the restore feature to be interrupted and so it cannot restore various entities to their previous state. Therefore they, including automations, are set to off. So if automations are not restored to their previous state, that’s a sign your startup failed. You need to fix that and not simply mask its effects by adding initial_state: true to every automation.
I use initial_state for one automation that I always want enabled - my ‘home assistant has started’ automation.
Some of my other automations are set to enabled or disabled by this start up automation depending on an ‘automation mode’ (home, away, guests, party, etc) input select.
I did this as restore once failed after a power outage that lasted longer than my UPS could provide power for.
Hard coding the initial state has it’s uses but as someone who has been guilty of blindly recommending initial state as a solution I agree with your arguments and have bookmarked it for future use
I started seeing that bad advice pop up after that change was made and tried to fight it every time I saw it.
I even went as far as to put in a change to the documentation to clarify the situation. It was accepted and implemented but I went back and looked recently and my changes were removed and replaced again with different ones. I personally don’t think the docs are as specific as they need to be given all of the persistent confusion on the topic.
When you create a new automation, it will be disabled (and therefore won’t trigger) unless you explicitly add initial_state: true to it or turn it on manually via UI/another automation/developer tools.
That statement is demonstrably false. I use VS Code and have created dozens of new automations that are all enabled by default; I never use initial_state: true.
The only possible way it’s true is if the built-in Automation Editor works like that. I never use it so I can’t confirm.
I appended a comment to the PR recommending the documentation revisions it made should be reversed.
I read the GitHub comments and I’m surprised that anyone there is surprised about this behavior. Defaulting to off has been known since the revised restore feature was introduced (I believe it was in version 0.84).
If the restore feature is unable to execute during startup then automations default to off. When they introduced the revised restore feature (which changed from saving the automation’s state in the recorder’s database to a separate JSON store) they even explained that after performing the software upgrade, all automations would be off and that this could happen again if the startup process is botched.
I pointed out that mistake on the documentation discord ages ago and asked if I should submit a PR to fix it. ‘Sound of crickets’ ensused. It was completely ignored.
It would appear the author of the PR has dug their heels in and refused to budge. Moreover, they’ve made this preposterous observation:
You are referring to your personal experience. That’s great, but not enough to prove the fact I’m afraid.
Further more, they took umbrage to my rhetorical question about how did this completely incorrect PR ever get through the vetting process.
And using sentences like “How did such an utterly invalid statement every pass the vetting process?” is a bit offensive of be honest.
No, offensive would be to say “This is total bull$hit.” It’s completely valid to question a vetting process that allowed the misinformation blatantly false information to pass.
It’s quite clear the author is more concerned about appearances than correcting falsehoods that are misleading the user community. I’ll be creating a PR to correct the documentation.
Not that you needed my validation to tell you what you already know but as another point of data…
I just created a new automation using Notepad++ and upon reloading my automations the automation has defaulted to ‘on’ without specifying the “initial_state:” option.
- alias: New Test
#initial_state: 'on'
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- switch.camping_room_light
- switch.yard_sale_room_light
to: 'on'
for:
minutes: 2
action:
- service: homeassistant.turn_off
data_template:
entity_id: "{{ trigger.entity_id }}"
So that is another point of verification that the “default” state for an automation is “on”.
I know it used to be that way (default = on) before the change in the recording method and I thought that the default had been changed to “off” after that based on a few threads that I was involved in on the subject. Either I was wrongly convinced of that by those threads (likely…) or it has been changed back to “on” at some point since then.
This is such a ridiculously basic functionality to have so much confusion promulgated over.
Ok, I’ve learnt something here…
And to show that I am not being difficult on the basis of this I fully intend to remove comment out* all my initial_state: off
But,
A while ago, possibly as much as a year, I do remember there being some issue (misunderstanding?) over this and some inconsistency with the way HA (appeared) to work. At the time some automations seemed to be initially on or off at random after restart. I used to have an automation that ran on HA start to set all my automations to on in order to stop this. And just because I think he might be interested, because for some reason I remember him being involved in at least one thread on this, I am tagging @anon43302295.
But thanks for the clarification on how things work (now?).
I use initial_state because I expect all my automations to be on when homeassistant starts, and it covers the potential that someone has accidentally switched one/some off.
In fact, I would feel like I had failed if I had to remember the state of the automations, as it would mean that I am switching automations on and off for different circumstances, and that’s rubbish. All automations should be on always, and if you don’t want them to fire in certain circumstances you should use conditions. Turning automations on and off, then remembering the state, then hoping that the state shouldn’t have changed whilst the system was off is poor skills IMO.
PS - I didn’t read the thread before I replied to @klogg, so I don’t know whether what I’m saying is relevant to the discussion really, but a quick browse up and AFAIK initial_state behaviour has always been ‘on’ = automation on at start, ‘off’ = automation off at start, ommited from config = remember the previous state. It’s just that the latter used to balls up a lot.
That’s not always true. I use some automations on certain occasions. For instance my automation to speak the daily weather forecast and daily news triggers with motion at the front door. And I want to hear that message only once. So when it triggers, it turns itself off. And turns it back on at 4 am next morning. In the weekends another message automation is triggered. Some automations also need to override others. For instance someone has entered home is overriden if that someone is me. The system takes its time to understand it is me who entered the house so the other automations is temporarly disabled to not be triggered by the door etc. I am sure there are other ways to get the sam functionality but it is working fine for me.
Before this thread veers too far off course, the initial_state option definitely has a useful purpose except it has been overly recommended as a remedy for the “my automations are off” affliction. This folk remedy comes with no warnings about its side-effects:
If you temporarily turn off an automation, “temporarily” translates into the “until the next restart”. That might be perfectly fine for some users but for others “temporarily” ends when they choose to end it and not when Home Assistant restarts.
Your automation loses its last_triggered value upon startup. Maybe you don’t care about this attribute now but you will if you ever need a reliable record of the last time the automation was executed.
Nausea, dry mouth, disorientation, vomiting, spasms, and rectal bleeding.
The documentation does everyone a disservice by making the false claim that all new automations are disabled by default and you have to use initial_state: true. That’s bull$hit.
If you don’t trust the restore feature and want to ensure your automations are always turned on at startup, yes, you can add initial_state: true to all of them with the understanding you will be giving up the two things mentioned above.
Alternately, if you don’t trust the restore feature but also don’t want your automations to have their last_triggered attribute erased on startup, use a ‘startup automation’ like this:
- alias: 'Start All Automations'
initial_state: true
trigger:
- platform: homeassistant
event: start
action:
- service: automation.turn_on
entity_id: all
Remove initial_state: true from all other automations except the one above. Now your automations will be always be turned on at startup but won’t lose their last_triggered value.
The following draft documentation is no longer needed. It is left here for no other reason than to prevent breaking the thread’s continuity.
If nothing else, it served to start a discussion that resulted in a significant bug fix in version 0.94.1 and another fix (breaking change) that will come in version 0.95. In addition, documentation errors concerning the initial_state option have been corrected by frenck.
Here’s my first draft of the new documentation for Automation Initial State. I invite the community to review it before I submit it as a PR.
Automation initial state
During startup, Home Assistant attempts to restore an automation’s last recorded state (on or off). This restoration feature works like this:
If the automation was on it will be restored to on.
If it was off it will be restored to off.
You can optionally override the restoration feature by adding the initial_state option to an automation.
The option can be set to one of two states:
Use true or 'on' to always set the automation to on at startup.
Use false or 'off' to always set the automation to off at startup.
Examples:
initial_state: 'on' will set the automation to on at startup.
initial_state: false will set the automation to off at startup.
Be advised that this option currently has two drawbacks:
Upon startup, the automation’s last_triggered attribute is reset (set to None). Therefore it loses its previous datetime value.
If you temporarily turn off an automation (via the Services page or the Lovelace UI) it will automatically be turned back on at startup. Effectively, you lose the ability to temporarily turn off an automation for a period longer than the next restart.
There is a way to mitigate the first drawback. Create the following automation:
- alias: 'Start All Automations'
initial_state: true
trigger:
- platform: homeassistant
event: start
action:
- service: automation.turn_on
entity_id: all
This will be the only automation that requires initial_state: true. Exclude the option from all your other automations.
Now when Home Assistant starts, it will trigger automation.start_all_automations and set all automations to on no matter what the state was prior to start-up. Each automation’s last_triggered attribute will not be reset and its previous value (if any) will be preserved.
Me too but I wonder if you need to add another advisory that by using that automation you lose the ability to have individual automations set to off at startup.
I know it seems obvious but it is kind of the the corollary to
