Hello, The current “Run in parallel” action in the automation editor, only enable to run single actions in parallel, when sometimes one might want to run in parallel several sequences.
I would propose to add an “Run in sequence” action, that can possibly be used in the “Run in parallel” action to gather several actions to be run sequentially, in parallel of one of several others…
That is what scripts do normally, so by not selecting “Run in parallel” it will “Run in Sequence”.
I sounds like you need to make another layer of scripts to handle the sequences and then use the automation to call those layers in parallel.
Hello Wallyr,
exactly, i want to avoid scripts, to avoid having to split my automation in numerous areas, and avoid yaml…
I think it would much easier to do this all in the same automation with a"run in sequence" 
Yeah, it might be easier for you, but it will be yet another thing for the developers to maintain, and it will just be a feature that can already be made with the already available ones.
The current setup is the one that allows the biggest flexibility compared to the burden of maintenance.
If you want to avoid YAML, then maybe look into Node Red also.
Node Red can run in parallel with HA, so you gain the benefit of both.
I think the feature request is for something like this:
- parallel:
- serial:
- task 1
- task 2
- serial:
- task 3
- task 4
- task 5
- task 6
I was addressing the false statement made in the OP’s first sentence.
Couldn’t this be done in the current automation logic using a choose action based on the instance count of the running automation?
Maybe, but the complexity would probably be huge and far supersede just splitting them up in scripts or switch to Node Red.
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Wonderful, and thanks so much to ask contributors!! This is exactly what I was missing, and have already used it a could of times!
Thanks!!!
You’ve misunderstood what was added. It changes nothing regarding how non-parallelized actions have always been executed (namely in sequence). The new feature is meant as a convenience for visual mode in the Automation Editor, to be able to expand/collapse multiple actions.
Grouping actions in a sequence can be useful when you want to be able to collapse related groups in the user interface for organizational purposes.
As was originally explained, multiple actions listed under parallel are started at the same time (like it says in the documentation).