Why The Heck do blueprints only allow a single automation?

Month of "What the heck?!"
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This is largely captured in this feature request post: Extend Blueprints to include Helpers, multiple Automations/Scripts and Lovelace

For my case: I have several related automations for a reminder/notification system. I needed to duplicate the set of 3 automations, 1 input_boolean, and 1 script with minimal modifications when I wanted to make another similar system for another purpose. If a blueprint could support helpers and multiple automations, I could just configure the inputs and template this system multiple times.

I do currently use packages for this for organization, but that simply organizes the copy-and-paste and doesn’t allow true reuse.

There are workarounds for some cases where you merge many automations into one, combining the triggers and using complex choose actions. That leads to a much less maintainable and readable automation. That also still doesn’t cover the need for intermediate input helpers for storing state between automation runs.

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@corbanmailloux Thank you for the reference to my feature request, much appreciated…

Encapsulation of complex automations through extended blueprints with protected helpers would be a game changer not only for the serious home automater, but the wider HA community who may not have the skills or expertise to stand up all the individual moving parts and wire them together.

After all, the goal is to bring HA to the widest possible base of users as possible and blueprints can play a big part in that.

Cheers,

Roy @Corneloues

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