Today I had an amazing dream. I was sitting in front of my Home Assistant, adding a new integration, when suddenly I noticed something new in the interface. It was the magical feature we all dreamed about but were afraid to ask for - intelligent entity name templates!
The Heart of the Matter
In my dream, everything worked perfectly. Instead of spending endless hours manually naming each entity (because we all want everything to be neat and uniform), all I had to do was define one elegant template. The system used intuitive tags: (room) transformed into “Living Room”, (domain) into “Climate”, (manufacturer) into the manufacturer’s name, (device_type) into the specific device type like “Motion Sensor”, and [number] automatically numbered consecutive devices in a room.
For example, the template “(room) - (domain) - (device_type) - (manufacturer) - (number)” magically created beautiful, organized names like “Living Room - Climate - Thermostat - Netatmo - 1”. No more manual typing, no more endless Copy-Paste! Just like custom URL templates in WordPress.
Awesome Features
The system was brilliant in its simplicity:
- It showed a live preview of generated names - I could immediately see what the result would look like
- It allowed manufacturer name mapping - I could transform the cumbersome “Koninklijke Philips N.V.” into simple “Philips”
- It had global configuration options for all integrations and individual customization for each one
- It even allowed overriding the template for specific devices when the standard pattern didn’t meet specific needs
Update Magic
And what about hundreds of existing entities? The system could scan the entire installation and update names according to the new template. You could choose between automatic updates for everything or manual approval of changes - for those who prefer full control.
Examples
Adding new devices was like a dream - you configured the template once, and all new entities automatically received perfect names. And when a device needed a special name? No problem - overriding the template for a single case took just a moment.
Want to change your naming convention? Sure thing! The system updated all names automatically, without hours of manual work.
Brutal Awakening
…and then the alarm clock rang. I woke up and sadly realized that my Home Assistant still requires manual naming of each entity. That I still have to spend hours maintaining order in names. That still… well, you know.
But maybe this dream doesn’t have to remain just a dream? After all, the Home Assistant community has the power to turn dreams into reality!
PS: By the way - am I the only one having dreams about Home Assistant? 
This proposal will not only streamline the process of managing entities in Home Assistant but will also improve the user experience for everyone - from beginners to advanced users. It’s another step towards making Home Assistant an even more friendly and professional home automation system.
Who’s raising their hand for YES? 