Running groups of actions in Parallel

Configuration
1

I understand that the “Run in Parallel” option in automations allows me to run 2 or more actions at the same time. How do I run groups of actions at the same time?

For example, I would like to have my Alexas tell me my tasks, news, alarm settings, etc… while HA is turning off lights, locking doors, and setting alarms.

What I have been doing is to run all these actions sequentially. However now that I am discovering that communication between Alexa and HA is questionable at times, I have also discovered that when this communication is not working, my automation just stops. I would like to continue shutting down the house even if Alexa communication is not working. I was thinking that running the Alexa group of actions in parallel with the HA group of actions, I could accomplish this.

How do I set up my automation to run groups of actions in parallel? Please explain throuh the visual editor since my YAML is very poor.

2

As shown in the second example in Script syntax - Parallelizing Actions, you can use the sequence key in a parallel action to have sequences that are independent, but start at the same time. While the example only shows it being used once, you can set up multiple sequence keys.

triggers: 
   #your triggers
conditons: []
actions:
  - parallel:
      - alias: News, Tasks
        sequence:
          - action: notify.send_message
            data:
              message: "Today's top news story is..."
            target:
              entity_id: notify.kitchen_echo_announce
         ....
      - alias: Lights, Locks, Alarms
        sequence:
          - action: light.turn_off
            target:
              area_id: downstairs
          - action: lock.lock
            target:
              entity_id: 
                - lock.front
                - lock.back

Or, you could move the actions to individual scripts then call those scripts inside parallel.

You may also want to consider adding continue_on_error to actions that are prone to failure if you want other actions in the sequence to still be performed.

1 Like
3

@Didgeridrew

Brilliant! The sequence option was exactly what I was asking for. The Continue_on_error is interesting but would have to be placed in YAML and before every action.

Thank you so much!