Breaking Change UX Fail: Expecting power users to manually open and save hundreds of automations or yaml around?

Hi everyone,

​I’m a paying Nabu Casa subscriber running a massive production system with thousands of entities and automations. This is not a 5-bulb hobby setup.

​The latest repair warning regarding trigger behavior (any \rightarrow each / last \rightarrow all) is an absolute UX nightmare. The system literally tells me to “open every affected automation in the editor and save it again” so Home Assistant can auto-fix it.

​Let's think about this: If the backend code is already smart enough to automatically detect and correct the deprecated option the second I open the UI, the migration logic is obviously already there.

​Why is there no global "Fix all" button? Expecting power users to spend hours manually clicking, opening, and saving hundreds of automations just to trigger an internal rewrite is completely unacceptable.

​Please implement a batch-fix option for migrations where the system already knows exactly what needs to be changed.

​Best regards,
Dirk

I know these kind of changes can be annoying, but come on...

"Power users" probably know how to use ctrl+F in a text editor... and understand that these triggers and conditions were previously marked "experimental" for a reason.

No one forced you to use them.

Power User wasn't referring to YAML gurus, but rather those who manage large-scale installations that you can't even begin to imagine.

These now-defunct automations weren't "YaMLed in," by the way, but were created some time ago via the regular UI and had been running for up to two years.

What was supposed to be experimental about that?

If you spent as much time on a property of that size as I do, you might also understand why I work almost exclusively on a lightweight Android tablet instead of using a bulky and relatively heavy laptop. Unfortunately, your Ctrl+F shortcut doesn't exist on tablets.

Yes, of course, nobody forced me to use Home Assistant, and nobody is forcing me to pay for Nabu Casa either.

Up until now, updates have always worked flawlessly.

Now, regarding the update to version 2.7.1 (translated from German):

"An automation, script, or template entity is using the any behavior option for triggers, which has been renamed to each. The old value will still work for now, but support for it will be removed in a future version.

To resolve this issue, open each affected automation or script in the editor and save it again. Home Assistant will automatically detect and update the deprecated option. Alternatively, you can directly edit your configuration files (e.g., automations.yaml) and change behavior: any to behavior: each.

Then restart Home Assistant."

The same applies to changing behavior: any to behavior: each.

Since the system automatically repairs automations as soon as you open them, they could have offered a "Fix all" button instead of expecting paying users with large installations to spend 1-2 days manually opening one automation after another so the system can update them individually, or struggling with YAML.

I simply expect user-friendly solutions like "Fix all" to be offered, because it's completely unacceptable that my smart home keeps me busy instead of providing convenience.

I'm now simply going to revert to the last backup to be able to use the automations again, because I don't have time to spend two days clicking through all the automations, especially since the "great update" isn't even able to tell me exactly which automations are affected.

I will definitely not update again until a corresponding "Fix all" option is available. Without it, my installation will remain at a version < 2.7.1, which also means that it makes no sense for me to continue financing the further development of the project with my paid subscription, in which I can no longer participate.

Shutdown HA, grab the automation.yaml file, do the global search and replace, copy it back in and your done.

It's unlikely it will ever be added because, as a general rule since the very beginning of Home Assistant, new versions (during the upgrade process) do not alter the contents of YAML files. That's why the instructions explain you must (manually) change any to each.

How you choose to perform that task (or not) is your decision.

Not to mention that there are many of us that have some or most of our automations in files other than the automations.yaml file because we use the Packages feature of Home Assistant to organize them.

And Drew has been around quite a long time. I'm pretty sure he can imagine a lot...

FWIW, I use Visual Studio Code to create/modify my YAML configurations (automations, scripts, Template entities, etc). Edit -> Replace in Files allows you to perform a search and replace across multiple files in one operation. Easy-peasy.

For detailed instructions, google visual studio code replace in files.

As I remember it these experimental features was added just a few months ago.
It can't be that many automations you have used these features on, and certainly not two years ago.