Many of these (and others not listed) are paired, existing to provide stable identifiers in the database and link them to unstable/user-editable identifiers in the front-end.
Home Assistant Glossary
Device ID : A device is a model representing a physical or logical unit that contains entities. Most devices are created automatically by an integration and assigned a Device ID automatically as well. The most common place an average user might encounter Device IDs is in Device triggers or conditions within automations and scripts, but it is not necessary to know the Device ID to use these functions.
Entity ID : An entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An Entity ID is composed of two parts; a domain
such as light
or sensor
and an object_id
which can be any slug like center_living_room_window
or aqara_p1_motion
. Entity IDs can be altered to suit the need and preferences of the user. Most users will interact with Entity IDs far more than any of the other identifiers in this list.
Unique ID : A Unique ID is used to match a config entry to the underlying device, entities, or API. By necessity a Unique ID needs to be stable. Most Unique IDs are assigned by the backend and cannot be changed by the user. Some manually configured entities can be assigned a Unique ID by the user. There are very few circumstances where the average user would need to access the Unique ID.
Friendly Name : The friendly_name
attribute is automatically generated, but can be altered by the user to suit their needs or preferences. It is seen in many dashboard cards and is meant for human-friendly identification.
Name : The name
property of an entity is automatically generated based on the friendly_name
attribute. If an entity does not have a friendly_name
, name
will be assigned the value of the entity_id
.
These are used primarily in automations and scripts.
Alias : The name of a script, automation, or subsection within such as defined in its configuration using the alias
key. The Alias of an automation also acts as the initial source for its Entity ID, though that can be changed at any time by the user.
Description : A user-provided text, often summarizing the triggers and/or actions of a script or automation.
Example of Alias and Description
YAML Configuration
alias: Helper - Trash Holiday Week
description: >-
If trash holiday check is true the automation sets a boolean for other
automations during the week. Resets boolean to "off" at 8pm on Thursday
night.
How it appears in the Automation Editor
Other
Trigger ID : Automation triggers can be assigned an ID to ease comprehension by users and/or simplify automations that use branching logic. If not defined by the user, a trigger’s id is automatically assigned the value of it’s index in the list of triggers.
Area Name : The user-defined name assigned to an Area.
Area ID : Basically the “unique id” of an area. An stable, automatically generated ID used by HA to in the Area registry
“id”, “item_id”
AFAIK, these are not commonly used on their own, though they may be specific to certain integrations.