WTH are there no Variable Entities in HA?

[CentralCommand (Mike)]

@FPro

A separate entity that I can easily create from the UI as a helper.

Sure ok, can’t do this with trigger template entities right now. Although technically this solution @TheFes made qualifies. No yaml changes are required to add new variables.

@FPro

This entity (and possibly attributes) can be easily set from the UI with a custom state

see my solution or fes’s, both do this.

@FPro

The state survises a restart. Template sensors restore its state after the template renders which takes some time so their state is inconsistent in the recorder

As has been said multiple times in this thread trigger template entities absolutely survive a restart. Template entities without a trigger work as you describe, trigger template entities do not. Directly from the doc:

The state, including attributes, of trigger-based sensors and binary sensors is restored when Home Assistant is restarted. The state of other trigger-based template entities is not restored.

@FPro

The entity behaves in dashboards like a sensor (read only)

(for both mine and fes’s)

@FPro

The entity can be customized like a sensor (e.g. unit of measurment)

(for mine, fes’s would have an issue with this since it’s actually using attributes)

@FPro

I want a streamline of the experience and am perfectly aware that there are workarounds to partially achieve this

ok. Well I mostly wanted to make sure everyone was aware that all the technical requirements can be satisfied currently. Including the restore state one that keeps getting incorrectly assumed to be unsatisfiable.