Reliable Youtube music playlists via Google Assistant

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Hi all,
Not sure where best place for this is but here goes.

Since Google have stuffed up my multi room audio setup with Spotify, Chromecast audios and google home minis at the start of the year, I’ve been trying to find a solution. I moved to YouTube music and although works fine (not loving it ) but now works with voice via google mini, asking it to play songs to CCA devices. I wanted buttons like I had before to play certain playlists in rooms or random playlists etc… I tried Music assistant but the YTM integration would stop every couple of days, and need a new token.

I spent most of today trying to find and solution from IFTTT to push bullet and tasker to run a routines or custom commands on google assistant from HA. didn’t have much luck.

TLDR - I was able to trigger a routine from any switch or trigger exposed via HA to google assistant and run command like play a playlist.

Below are some steps created by chatgpt as it was helping get advice.

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## :loud_sound: How to Trigger a Google Assistant Routine from Home Assistant to Play a YouTube Music Playlist (2025 Method)

After a ton of testing, I finally got this working using a combination of:

:white_check_mark: Home Assistant - With web access GA integration / Nabu etc…
:white_check_mark: Google Home Playground ( or use HA)
:white_check_mark: Google Home Script Editor
:white_check_mark: YouTube Music
:white_check_mark: A uniquely named playlist (key detail!)

Here’s how I did it:

:wrench: Step 1 HA way - (Need google assistant integration)

  1. Create a input Boolean, dummy light or anything that has a state you can trigger from in HA
  2. expose new created via Nabu case / Google assistant
  3. sync devices with google
  4. In google home app add newly exposed device to you home and assign to a room.

:wrench: Step 1 (alternative way): Create a Virtual Device in Google Home Playground

  1. Go to Google Home Playground. login and follow steps to add integration via google home app
  2. Sign in and click “Add device”.
  3. Create a new device:
  • Type: light
  • Name: light2 (or anything you want)
  1. Save and sync to your home setup.

:brain: This virtual device will be the “trigger” for your routine.

:card_index_dividers: Step 2: Create a Google Home Script That Listens for the Virtual Light

  1. Go to Google Home Script Editor.
  2. Create a new script with the following YAML:
metadata:
  name: Bathroom on
  description: Turn on bathroom speaker when light turns on
automations:
  - starters:
      - type: device.state.OnOff
        device: light2 - Playground1
        state: on
        is: true
    actions:
      - type: assistant.command.OkGoogle
        devices:
          - Bathroom Mini - Bathroom
        okGoogle: shuffle my playlist called jody215 on bathroom speaker

:key: NOTE: The playlist name must be uniquely named and created by you in YouTube Music. Mine was jody215 — nothing else worked!

:bulb: Step 3: Trigger That Virtual Light from Home Assistant

In Home Assistant:

  1. Add a script or automation that calls the light2 device via Google Home.
  • If using Nabu Casa, expose a helper/input_boolean to Google Home.
  • Otherwise, just use an automation that toggles a real or dummy switch tied to the virtual light.
  1. Example automation YAML:
  2. I use node red so just did it that way, with my input Boolean i made it turn off again after 5 seconds.
alias: Play Bathroom Music
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: input_boolean.bathroom_music
    to: "on"
action:
  - service: light.turn_on
    data:
      entity_id: light.light2
mode: single

:bulb: Replace light.light2 with the actual entity name that represents the Playground light in HA.

:white_check_mark: Done! When the boolean turns on → HA triggers light2 → Script runs → Assistant says the command → Playlist plays!

:eyes: Tips

  • Playlist recognition is super picky — names like bath mix or my bathroom playlist didn’t work. jody215 did.
  • Test your commands by speaking them aloud to your Assistant before writing them in the script.
  • The shuffle keyword works when you use the full phrase:

shuffle my playlist called jody215 on bathroom speaker

now this is just one use case but I can see this could work for a lot of google assistant devices that maybe dont play nice with HA…

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