Automations.yaml format when edited via WEB

Configuration
1

Hello,

a typical yaml automation obj would look like

- alias: on entrance when motion detected
  id: '1573155948223'
  description: 'etc etc'
  ...

when saving it automation via WEB it looks like

- id: '1573155948223'
  alias: on entrance when motion detected
  description: 'etc etc'
  ...

the problem I’m having is that when opening the automation file with an editor and folding all the nodes (can be many many many of them) you will see just IDS which is not very human friendly. Instead folding the first version you would see all the aliases…

any hint where saving automations.yaml is implemented ?

thanks

2

Do you mean the automation editor?
This is the standard behaviour for the automation editor, you can’t change this unless you change core modules, which will be overwritten when you update HA the next time.
You could make a feature request for this, however I have a feeling that there’s no high demand for it. I assume most people using the UI to create automations will also use the UI to edit them and in the UI you see a friendly name and not the id. And most people writing their own automations don’t use the automation editor at all.

1 Like
3

The automations.yaml file should be found in the config folder, just in the same place as configuration.yaml.

If you manually edit the yaml file - it will save it as you enter it.

If you use the automations editor, I agree that it looks a lot less readable. Works the same. I recommend manually editing the file.

4

The ID just has to be unique. You don’t need to use the one the automation editor assigns.

I either create them with a “friendly” ID in a text editor outside HA, or rename them that way after the automation editor creates them. It won’t rename them back, or at least it didn’t the last time I did that.

2 Likes
5

yes, that’s a good simple workaround. Thanks !