Using an "alert" with repeat notifications to repeatedly trigger an automation

Configuration
1

I have an existing alert that sends me an actionable notification every X (defined) minutes when my garage door is open. I would like to enhance this by also “triggering” my VPE to start a conversation asking me if I want to close the garage door on the same schedule.

I cannot see any way to trigger an automation from an alert.

Here are my existing alert, notify and automation configs:

alert:
  inner_garage_door:
    name: Inner garage door open
    message: "Door has been open for {{ relative_time(states.cover.garage_door_inner.last_changed) }}"
    entity_id: cover.garage_door_inner
    state: 'open'
    repeat: 
      - 5
      - 10
      - 15
      - 30
      - 60
    can_acknowledge: true
    notifiers:
      - inner_garage_door_open

notify:
  - name: inner_garage_door_open
    platform: group
    services:
      - service: mobile_app_shamuss_iphone
        data:
          title: 'Inner garage door open'
          data:
            tag: "inner_garage_door_open" # used for grouping
            actions:
              - title: "Close garage door"
                action: "CLOSE_INNER_GARAGE_DOOR"
                destructive: true
              - title: "Cancel further alerts"
                action: "CANCEL_INNER_GARAGE_DOOR_ALERT"

automation:
  - alias: iOS app notification inner garage door
    initial_state: True
    trigger:
      platform: event
      event_type: ios.notification_action_fired
      event_data:
        actionName: CLOSE_INNER_GARAGE_DOOR 
    action:
      service: cover.close_cover
      data: {}
      target:
        entity_id: cover.garage_door_inner

  - alias: iOS app cancel inner garage door alert
    trigger:
      platform: event
      event_type: ios.notification_action_fired
      event_data:
        actionName: CANCEL_INNER_GARAGE_DOOR_ALERT 
    action:
      service: alert.turn_off
      target:
        entity_id: alert.inner_garage_door

  - alias: iOS app clear notification inner garage door
    trigger:
      - entity_id: cover.garage_door_inner
        platform: state
        to: 'closed'
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app_shamuss_iphone
        data:
          message: "clear_notification"
          data:
            tag: "inner_garage_door_open"
2

You cannot. This is one of the reasons why alerts are not really favored anymore and no longer in development.

You could replace the Alert in its entirety with an automation.

3

I was not aware of this, thank you! Any chance you can point me to a sample automation that emulates the alert behaviour? I will of course do my own searching on this…

4

You may wish to explore the added functionality provided by the Alert2 integration.

5

This looks very interesting… thank you!

6

You can trigger an automation from the event created by the alert calling a specific notification service.

7

Solved. Complete details can be found here: