Is there a proper way to split my automations.yaml file into multiple files? I was able to with Calude’s help, but the problem is that once I do, I can no longer use the GUI to edit them ! I have to keep using text/yaml. This seems like a serious shortcomming if that’s the case as my file is 2000 lines and I’m just getting started now that VSCode and “chat” is helping me churn out all kinds of automations I could only dream of before…
Also, it’s really lame that the dashboards are stored in some kind of database or something (and not another yaml files) because to build them, I must use the built in GUI and claude can only give me snippets of code to copy/paste into them instead of building them all for me as it can with automations and other yaml files…
It is either GUI or YAML with automations, because HA can be configured in so many ways that it would be impossible to take all YAML configurations into account in the GUI.
I do not know what you mean with the dashboards though.
Manual editing is available.
You can edit a single card in YAML or you can edit the entire dashboard by click the three dots in the upper right corner and selecting raw editor.
I think the raw editing is done in JSON though and you have to be really careful, because there is no syntax checks, so all errors will be accepted and might the prevent the viewing of the entire dashboard.
Sure, that’s a hacky “solution”, but I often use VSCode/Chat/Claude to BUILD the initial one, then use the actual Android app (phone/tablet) or web GUI to refine them IRL.
For example, I had it build me a “somebody’s home lighting simulation” for my Airbnb. But that doubles as my Mancave . I recently had claude combine them in that when I enter the mancave, it disables the simulation lighting routine (yeah i could have done it myself, but at this point, why ) Anyways, since I didn’t specify where to put that, Claude plopped them in semi-random. I didn’t think much of it until I actually USED the mancave (enter) routine and found that my normal “turn on the lights” part was now being run over by the simulation (which should have been turned off FIRST in the list). Using the GUI there I just dragged that step up to the proper place.
Point is, it seems to me (as a Sr. Software Engineer myself who works with YAML and JSON daily at my job and other home-lab projects) since all of these are just yaml files, and they’re effectively self contained blocks within one (starting with the id tag) there isn’t a real good reason why the GUI can’t load up that block like any other block and edit the file like it’s the automations.yaml file even if it’s called my_automations.yaml file …
Anyways, hopefully the HA Gods will read this and fix this because one big-ass yaml file is not scalable especially with the features/power that HA keeps adding and the ability that AI gives to building new automations…
You can keep automations in yaml files in tree-like directory structure (packages) and use UI only for testing.
And if all your yaml-files stored automatons have unique ids, you can analyze traces for them in UI (but not edit in UI).
. I recently had claude combine them in that when I enter the mancave, it disables the simulation lighting routine (yeah i could have done it myself, but at this point, why 
) Anyways, since I didn’t specify where to put that, Claude plopped them in semi-random. I didn’t think much of it until I actually USED the mancave (enter) routine and found that my normal “turn on the lights” part was now being run over by the simulation (which should have been turned off FIRST in the list). Using the GUI there I just dragged that step up to the proper place.