Entity attributes question (Blueprint? Helper?)

Hey guys, i’m hoping maybe you could help me understand a little more about Home Assistant. I keep learning but there’s always more to learn

skimming this thread: Help With a Scene Using Ecobee Thermostats In The Heat/Cool (Auto) Mode

it appears @ninicp and @d921 are discussing to actually modify the action of the ecobee from idle to heating to cool etc so i’m using something similar for my learning moment

While I may be interested to do something like that eventually, for now
I’m just wanting to actually look in the history and graph the Attribute hvac_action vs a temperature graph to see when the ecobee is changing modes and so I want to generally learn about making/using data that’s not as obviously available and what some more experienced users recommend

So, what i want to do for my current use case is look at the ecobee attribute “hvac_action” which I see in the Developer Tools → States

but, i cannot see it for example if I go to Settings → Devices → Integrations/Devices/Entities

There’s an entity called “current mode” but that’s not the same as this attribute, it just shows whether the ecobee is in “home” or “sleep” mode for example

or if i go to the Ecobee device and look at the gui that shows Sensors/Controls that attribute isn’t one of the items listed.

So, I’m trying to understand how i might get that specific Attribute into HA in a way I can primarily look at in History on a graph, but idk, potentially also trigger a node-red automation for example to turn on my gas fireplace whenever the ecobee hvac_action: changes from “Idle” to “Heating”

Would I “create a sensor”?
I’m aware of Blueprints and Helpers?
I tried to go add a Helper and attempted a few of them without luck due to lack of understanding of where to start. Some had entities available but no Attribute for example

at a brick wall for the moment. Any ideas?

Even if you’re not familiar with ecobee but know how to extract an Attribute from Developer Tools Entity States, that’s what I really want to understand conceptually and with a few best practices on what to do about using those Attributes.

Create an automation with a State Trigger.

alias: example 
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: climate.your_ecobee_thermostat
    attribute: hvac_action
    from: idle 
    to: heating 
conditions: []
actions:
  ... your action to turn on the fireplace  ...

my current goal is to view the attribute in History compared to temperature

If you are displaying your climate entity with a Thermostat Card, click the small “graph” icon shown in the upper right corner.

The resulting graph shows temperature vs time for two temperature parameters (current/target) and when heating is active (or cooling).


EDIT

If that chart doesn’t meet your requirements, you can create your own with the History Graph Card.

Not really looking to use this for a dashboard card (currently)

I see you responded to a similar inquiry in this thread:

I’m looking to see if i can make this attribute come up in maybe a “synthetic entity” for example that I could then pull up in Node-Red or add to the HA History to compare to other charts

It sounds like you want a Template sensor. Template sensors can be created in the Helpers menu or via YAML configuration. The template to retrieve the value of the hvac_action attribute from a climate entity is as follows:

{{ state_attr('climate.example', 'hvac_action') }}

Just in case it’s not obvious, make sure to use your climate entity’s ID.

You said you wanted to examine the data in a chart. Unless you plan to use an external graphing application, Home Assistant’s History Chart Card is the native solution.

It’s been a long time since I used Node-Red but almost certain it allows you to reference an entity’s state and its attributes.

A climate entity’s hvac_action attribute is already available in a chart. It’s in the one I mentioned in my first post, graphed along with the temperature value you requested.

But if you want to forego all of the available resources then, yes, you can create a Template Sensor.