I’m facing a strange problem with Assist and intent_script. No matter what I do, my Assistant always replies with “Sorry, I don’t understand that” (I’m using Slovak, so it says “Prepáč, tomuto povelu nerozumiem”) for any custom command, even simple text inputs.
I’ve been debugging this for a while, and here’s what I’ve found:
The Root Cause: The conversation integration is completely missing from my “Devices & Services” list.
Failed Fix: I tried to fix this by manually adding conversation: to my configuration.yaml.
The Mystery: Even after adding conversation: and restarting, the integration still does not load, and it’s not listed in “Devices & Services”.
No Errors: My Home Assistant logs are completely clean during startup. There are no errors or warnings related to conversation or intent_script. It seems to be failing silently.
config.yaml is being read: I know my configuration.yaml is being loaded correctly, because my template: sensors (like sensor.zajtrajsia_pred_senzor) are created and working fine.
Test Code: My configuration.yaml syntax is valid (checked via “Check Configuration”). Here is the simple test configuration that is being ignored:
`YAML# configuration.yaml
# This part loads correctly:
template:
- sensor:
- name: Zajtrajsia Predpoved Senzor
unique_id: zajtrajsia_pred_senzor
state: "test"
# This part is added to manually load the integration
conversation:
# This entire block is ignored by Home Assistant
intent_script:
TestovaciPrikaz:
speech:
text: "Test finally works!"
trigger:
- platform: conversation
command: "test system"
action:
- service: logbook.log
name: "Test Intent"
message: "Test intent was successfully triggered."`
When I type test system into Assist, it just replies “Sorry, I don’t understand that”.
It feels like something core in my HA installation is broken, preventing the conversation integration from loading, which in turn breaks all intent_script functionality.
Has anyone seen this before? How can I force the conversation integration to load or find out why it’s silently failing when there are no logs?
Well for starters, trigger is not valid in an intent_script.
Not sure where your syntax came from? Llm?
Read how to use intent_script here then go back and reformat.
Specific the part about custom sentences.
Also, while you’re at it look up a sentence trigger in automation. It’ll work basically the same way and be 1000x easier to debug because you can use the i builtin trace tools whereas for intent_script you cannot.
However, the trigger: key is valid in intent_script:, it’s the very first example in the documentation you linked. My syntax appears to be correct.
I have since discovered that the real problem is that my conversation integration is failing to load silently. It is missing from ‘Devices & Services’, even when I manually add conversation: to my configuration.yaml, and I get zero errors in my startup logs.
This seems to be the core issue. The intent_script: (and your automation suggestion) is failing because the underlying conversation platform isn’t running at all."
That’s normal. Many of the integrations handled by default_config don’t show up in the Integrations tab of “Devices & Services”.
As Nathan has shown, trigger is not a valid configuration variable in an intent script. In order to trigger an intent you need to set up a custom sentence:
You are actually the second person to claim trigger: is invalid, but I must respectfully disagree. If you look at the official documentation for intent_script: (the feature I am using: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/intent_script/), the very first example uses the trigger: key with platform: conversation.
The link you provided is for custom_sentences:, which is a different feature. My syntax seems to be 100% correct according to the documentation for intent_script:.
My core problem remains: My logs are clean, my template: sensors (in the same file) load perfectly, but the intent_script: block is completely ignored by the conversation engine. I know the engine is running (because it returns no_intent_match), but it’s just not loading my intents.
This still seems to be a silent failure in Home Assistant, not a syntax error in my code.
Show me where it’s documented (and I mean a screenshot not a vague reference to first example because the screenshot and link above is the authoritative source and trigger is not on that page)
For intents to work you must use intent script. I you are using voice without llm you must use a sentence trigger (custom sentence) if you use an LLM you can omit the sentence.
Thats how it works there is no trigger:
In HA docs when you need to know if something is allowed then you look at the page in the dictionary structure. If it’s not there it is NOT supported.
Now intent_scripts fail silently if they’re not formatted correctly and can’t be called. (sound familiar? You are describing the exact thing that happens when you have a badly formated intent_script ) so… I get that YOU THINK it’s supported can it be possible you’re wrong and the guy who does LLMs ansld one of the best template code users on the site both tell you to try something different?
The following is a screen shot from the address you state you are using, which includes the “first example” you state contains the configuration variable “trigger”. It contains no such configuration variable, and please note the page search results at the bottom show that the phrase “platform: conversation” is not found anywhere on the page:
This second screenshot from the same address is of the only other example on the page, note that the page search results at the bottom show that the word “trigger” is not found anywhere on the page:
At this point, between Nathan and I, screenshots have been posted that cover the entire page you claim as your reference. The word “trigger” is demonstrably not found on the page.
Scripts in HA do not have triggers, that includes Intent Scripts.
Please note, there is a Sentence/Conversation trigger which is available in Automations and Trigger-based template entities… it’s just not valid in Intent Scripts.
