Help with button card tap action- data needs to be an int

Configuration Frontend
1

Apparently, this line:
valve: '{{ states(''input_number.sprinkler_valve_number'') | int }}'
does not return an int?

When I press the button, I get this error:
Failed to call service … expected int for dictionary value @ data[‘valve’]

Any hints would be appreciated.
Here is the button card configuration:

show_name: true
show_icon: true
type: button
tap_action:
  action: call-service
  service: esphome.sprinkler_controller_1_start_single_valve
  service_data:
    valve: '{{ states(''input_number.sprinkler_valve_number'') | int }}'
  target: {}
name: Start valve
2

It’s not possible to use templates for actions. You could call a script instead that has the templated value.

3

Thanks for the link to the docs.

4

If you don’t mind custom components, “Lovelace Card Templater” is on HACS and allows you to template service values and anything else.