Home Assistant Knowledge Patch

Home Assistant Knowledge Patch

Use this skill for Home Assistant configuration, automations, templates, Assist, dashboards, backups, integrations, installation, and custom-integration work.

Start with the task index. When a task touches an existing configuration, entity, action, state comparison, unit comparison, or integration requirement, also read the migrations reference before proposing changes.

Reference index

Working method

1. Identify whether the request is about a new configuration, an upgrade, existing behavior, or custom-integration development.
2. Open the matching topic reference from the index.
3. For upgrades and exact comparisons, cross-check the migrations reference.
4. Preserve the precise machine value, key name, action name, unit, minimum version, and conditional wording given in the reference.
5. Do not invent a replacement when an entry only states that behavior changed or an interface was removed.

Breaking changes first

Supported installation methods

Home Assistant Core and Supervised installations and the i386, armhf, and armv7 architectures no longer receive updates, including security updates. Migrate affected systems to a supported installation method and architecture.

Container images use zstd compression. Updating requires Docker 23.0.0 or newer or containerd 1.5.0 or newer, unless the older runtime otherwise supports zstd images.

See Backups, System Operations, and Installation.

Purpose-specific automation keys

Purpose-specific triggers and conditions are the automation editor's default starting point. Existing automations, generic building blocks, templates, and YAML continue to work without migration.

Old preview keys that were renamed no longer work. Reselect and save affected blocks in the editor or replace the YAML keys, including:

battery.low                 -> battery.became_low
battery.not_low             -> battery.no_longer_low
lawn_mower.docked           -> lawn_mower.returned_to_dock
schedule.turned_off         -> schedule.block_ended
schedule.turned_on          -> schedule.block_started
timer.time_remaining        -> timer.remaining_time_reached
update.update_became_available -> update.became_available
vacuum.docked               -> vacuum.returned_to_dock
climate.target_humidity     -> climate.is_target_humidity
climate.target_temperature  -> climate.is_target_temperature

See Automations, Templates, Assist, and AI.

Kelvin-only light color temperature

Light actions no longer accept the mired-based color_temp. The color_temp, kelvin, min_mireds, and max_mireds state attributes are removed. Use color_temp_kelvin, min_color_temp_kelvin, and max_color_temp_kelvin instead.

LIFX action data likewise uses color_temp_kelvin rather than color_temp or kelvin:

color_temp_kelvin: 3000

See Migrations and Breaking Changes.

Modern template configuration

Legacy template entities under the individual alarm_control_panel, binary_sensor, cover, fan, light, lock, sensor, switch, vacuum, and weather platform keys are removed. Migrate them under modern template: configuration.

A template binary sensor whose state template returns None becomes unknown, not off; return False explicitly for off. A template fan state template returning None also produces unknown, while a syntax error makes the fan unavailable.

See Automations, Templates, Assist, and AI and Migrations and Breaking Changes.

Device and entity targeting

A physical device merged across multiple integrations is split into one device entry per integration, with entities reassigned. Review device-ID-based automations when a Repair appears. Custom integrations should migrate away from associating a device with multiple config entries.

Reolink Duo PoE and Duo WiFi cameras create one sub-device per lens. Existing entity IDs and custom names remain, but device-targeted automations must target the new lens sub-device.

See Migrations and Breaking Changes and Integrations, Devices, and Services.

Removed battery properties

Many vacuum integrations remove the vacuum battery_level property in favor of a dedicated battery sensor. This includes Ecovacs, Matter, Miele, Roborock, Tuya, SwitchBot Bluetooth, LG ThinQ, Neato, Romy, Shark IQ, SwitchBot Cloud, Template, TP-Link, and Xiaomi Miio. Update cards, templates, scripts, and automations to use the dedicated sensor.

iCloud, StarLine, and Tractive device trackers also remove their battery_level attribute in favor of dedicated battery sensors.

See Migrations and Breaking Changes.

Failure and validation behavior

Supervisor actions such as hassio.addon_start, hassio.backup_partial, and hassio.host_reboot raise on failure and stop scripts and automations by default. Add continue_on_error: true only when continuation is required.

Webhook local_only accepts only the booleans true and false; replace truthy values such as 1 or "yes". Telegram bot actions reject undefined or unused parameters.

See Migrations and Breaking Changes and Backups, System Operations, and Installation.

Service and server requirements

Check the migration reference before upgrading Z-Wave JS, UniFi Protect, Paperless-ngx, BSB-LAN, pyLoad, Sentry, Zabbix, Mealie, or other version-gated integrations. Notable current requirements in the reference include:

• Z-Wave JS uses zwave-js-server 3.9.0 or newer with schema 49.
• UniFi Protect requires version 7.1 or newer and uses its Public API.
• Paperless-ngx requires server version 2.19 or newer.
• BSB-LAN devices must use firmware supporting the version 2 API.
• pyLoad requires pyLoad-ng 0.5.0 or newer.

See Migrations and Breaking Changes.

High-value features

Backups and restore

Backups use AES-128 encryption by default with a mandatory generated key. The key can be saved in an emergency kit and is required for restoration. Every installation method can restore local, Cloud, or integration-provided backups.

Locations can have separate encryption and retention policies, except Cloud is always encrypted. Downloads through the Home Assistant interface are delivered unencrypted. Automatic schedules can select times and weekdays, and update dialogs can create automatic backups before Core, Operating System, or App updates as described in the reference.

The backup page distinguishes creation from upload and can show upload progress per supported location.

See Backups, System Operations, and Installation.

Ask Question and AI Task

assist_satellite.ask_question lets an automation ask a question, define local sentence patterns, and receive the matched answer ID and slots in a response variable. Optional preannounce and preannounce_media_id fields can precede the question.

ai_task.generate_data can send files or camera images to a provider and return text or selector-defined structured data. Capable AI Task entities can also call ai_task.generate_image; its response variable exposes the generated asset through url.

See Automations, Templates, Assist, and AI.

Area-aware cleaning and access control

vacuum.clean_area sends supported Matter, Ecovacs, and Roborock vacuums to Home Assistant areas after map segments are associated with those areas. Voice control can invoke the same mapped-area cleaning capability.

Matter lock pages provide Manage lock for users and PINs, including one-time access. Z-Wave lock pages provide Manage access for users and credentials. Both expose corresponding automation actions described in the integration reference.

See Integrations, Devices, and Services.

Infrared, radio, and serial proxies

Infrared and Radio frequency entity platforms let device integrations select a transmitter. ESPHome supplies infrared transmitters and receivers and can proxy common RF bands; Broadlink RF support is limited to 433 MHz RM4 Pro. An ESPHome serial_proxy exposes a wired UART over the network and appears in the live serial selector beside local USB ports.

See Integrations, Devices, and Services.

Dashboards, Activity, and Energy

Overview is the default Home dashboard for new installations. Activity presents Logbook data as a day-grouped timeline and can export CSV or clear and reset its data. Built-in Maintenance and Security dashboards provide battery and security views described in the dashboard reference.

Energy configuration accepts cumulative energy and live power sensors, supports signed or paired positive grid and battery flows, and can weight combined battery state of charge by assigned capacities. Gas, water, and electricity views include live flow information where configured.

See Dashboards, Cards, and Energy.

YAML and template authoring

UI code editors provide YAML and Jinja autocomplete, signatures, argument placeholders, ID suggestions, hover details, and inline syntax and indentation errors. UI YAML and template editors can also expand to full screen.

See Automations, Templates, Assist, and AI.

Custom integration checks

For custom integration changes, read the developer reference before changing discovery imports, config flows, device associations, entity services, units, frontend components, storage serialization, or platform APIs.

Pay particular attention to these migrations:

• DHCP, SSDP, USB, and zeroconf ServiceInfo models moved.
• UnitSystem is frozen and must be treated as immutable.
• The FlowResult typed dictionary no longer has a result attribute.
• The legacy device-tracker platform API is deprecated.
• Entity IDs whose domains do not match their platforms are deprecated.
• Serial-based custom integrations must migrate from pyserial to the async serialx driver.
• Devices are being restricted to one config entry and at most one subentry.

See Custom Integration Development.