Can Homeassistant do something different if an automation is restarted?

Archive Month of "What the heck?!" 2022
1

I’m sure this could be put together with existing various features, but this could be made into something more straightforward and easy to understand. Perhaps as a condition that would be used in a choose action.

Example: An automation sends a notification on button press, then has a delay of 5 minutes.

First press: Trigger automation - Send a notification that says, “can you help me out?”

Second press: Automation is triggered and restart count is 1 - Send a notification: “I need your help!”

Third press: Automation is triggered and restart count is 2 - Send a notification as a critical alert: “SOS EMERGENCY!” Blink all lights, play a sound.

2

You are looking for the Wait For Trigger action.

First press triggers the automation, which then waits in the actions for the second (or subsequent) press(es).

It has a timeout too.