# Ha Presence

> Work with Home Assistant presence and organization: people, zones, device trackers, and groups with hass-cli. Use to see who is home, check a person's location/zone, list zones, set a device_tracker's location, and read group membership for presence-based automations.

- Skill: `beclab/ha-presence` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add beclab/ha-presence`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/beclab/ha-presence/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: beclab (https://skillmd.com/u/beclab)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/beclab/ha-presence

---


# ha-presence

People, zones, trackers, groups — the inputs for presence automations.
**Prerequisites:** [`../ha-shared/SKILL.md`](../ha-shared/SKILL.md),
[`../ha-services/SKILL.md`](../ha-services/SKILL.md).

## Who is home

```bash
# person.* state is "home", "not_home", or a zone name
hass-cli state list -o json | rg '"entity_id": "person\.'
hass-cli state get person.alice -o json    # attributes: source, latitude, longitude
```

## Zones

```bash
hass-cli state list -o json | rg '"entity_id": "zone\.'   # zone.home etc.
# Create/manage zone helpers like any helper config via the zone integration UI;
# zone.home is built from the instance's configured location (see `config get`).
```

## Device trackers

```bash
hass-cli state get device_tracker.alice_phone -o json
# Manually set a tracker's location/state (REST state machine write):
hass-cli state set device_tracker.test --state home
hass-cli service call device_tracker.see --data '{"dev_id":"test","location_name":"home"}'
```

## Groups (`group.*`)

```bash
hass-cli state get group.family -o json    # attributes.entity_id lists members
```

## Presence automation tips

- Trigger on `person.*` or `device_tracker.*` state changes (`to: home` /
  `to: not_home`), or on zone enter/leave.
- Combine with an `input_boolean` "guest mode" helper (see ha-helpers) as a
  condition.
- Verify by watching: `hass-cli event watch state_changed` while moving a
  tracker, or inspect history via `hass-cli system history --entities person.alice`.