2024.7.1

2024.7: Time to resize your cards!

Franck Nijhof Comments

Home Assistant 2024.7! 🎉

Get ready for a really nice release with something interesting for everyone! 🤗

And not just that, I bring you these release notes from our refreshed website 🤩 that Madelena and yours truly have been spontaneously working on over the past few days. We hope you like it! ❤️

Some fantastic additions to Assist: Timers! and the ability to expose your scripts to LLMs. In case you missed it, it has been covered and demonstrated live in our recent Voice - Chapter 7 livestream! which you definitely should watch. 📺

The sections view becomes more feature-rich with every release, and this time, the ability to resize cards is added. Absolutely the highlight of the release for me!

My second favorite highlight for this release is the ability to take control of blueprint-based automations. There are so many amazing blueprints out there, and many are perfect, but sometimes they fit 90% of what you need. Being able to take control of that last 10% is just amazing!

Enjoy the release!

../Frenck

Don’t forget to join our release party live stream on YouTube 3 July 2024, at 20:00 GMT / 12:00 PST / 21:00 CEST!

Resize the cards on your dashboard

As part of our roadmap, we’re continuing to make dashboard organization and customization easier and more intuitive. This month, we add the ability to resize the cards on your dashboard!

Screenshot showing several cards at different sizes.

Resizing is done with a very nice slider interface, found in the card editing menu under the new Layout tab, where you can preview your changes. Make small 1x1 buttons or give a map the space it needs. This is only available on our experimental sections view, which was recently released with drag-and-drop.

Screenshot showing the card edit diaglog, with the new layout tag and its card resize capabilities.

It works with every card, which gives users a lot of freedom. Most cards have been given a built-in minimum and maximum size, to make it easier to get your layouts just right. If you mess up the look of a card, luckily we have included a revert button in the top left corner 😉.

Data tables improvements

Like the last release and release before that, we keep improving our data tables. We use data tables to organize information in our settings pages, including our devices and automations pages.

With this release, we add the final big piece of the puzzle: The ability to customize the columns shown! 😎

Screenshot showing the dialog that allow customizing the order and visibility of data table columns available on the device page.

By selecting the cog in the top right, you can not only customize the columns shown by toggling visibility , but you can also change the order of the columns by dragging them around. Making it even easier to show the data you want, in the order you want it.

Your customized columns and view are stored in your browser, so you only have to set them up once. They will be remembered the next time you visit the page.

Voice & Assist

This month, we’re thrilled to bring more enhancements to Assist’s out-of-the-box capabilities. We’ve added support for timers ⏲️ — our third most requested feature for voice control — and the powerful ability to expose your scriptsScripts are components that allow users to specify a sequence of actions to be executed by Home Assistant when turned on. [Learn more] to LLMs (like ChatGPT and Google Gemini) as well! 💪

If you missed it, be sure to check out our recent Voice - Chapter 7 livestream from June 26th, where we showcased all these exciting developments. You can read more in our blog post here and watch the full livestream on YouTube. 🎙️

Timers are here!

You asked, and we listened! As of this release, timers are available. This feature allows you to create, cancel, pause, resume, and adjust timers using your voice, making everyday tasks like cooking much easier. And yes, you can set multiple timers at once! 🎉

Read more about timers in the Chapter 7 blog post.

Timers running on an S3 Box, with countdown text and a loading bar!

Note

Timers are available today on ESPHome and Wyoming voice satellites. To take advantage of this new feature, update these devices to the latest version.

Expand an LLM using your scripts

You can now expand LLM capabilities by allowing them access to (your choice) of your scriptsScripts are components that allow users to specify a sequence of actions to be executed by Home Assistant when turned on. [Learn more]. This feature lets you precisely control what the LLM does in specific situations, while still benefiting from the flexibility and natural language processing that AIs excel at.

For example, you can create a “leaving home” script that performs the actions you want and expose it to Assist. This ensures that commands like “I’m heading out for a couple of minutes” will run your predefined script, such as locking the door without turning off the air conditioning.

Read more about expanding LLMs with script in the Chapter 7 blog post.

Take control of blueprint-based automations

BlueprintsA blueprint is a script or automation configuration with certain parts marked as configurable. This allows users to create multiple scripts or automations based on the same blueprint, with each having its own configuration-specific settings.[Learn more] are amazing; they allow you to use automationsAutomations in Home Assistant allow you to automatically respond to things that happen in and around your home.[Learn more] and scriptsScripts are components that allow users to specify a sequence of actions to be executed by Home Assistant when turned on. [Learn more] created and shared by other awesome Home Assistant users. Most are easy to use and set up, but what if that great blueprint you’ve been using just needs a little tweak? Just that tiny change to make it perfect for your home?

Well, now you can! 🎉

Screenshot showing a blueprint-based automation that can be taken of using the "Take control" option in the three-dotted menu.

You can now take full control over the automations created from a blueprint. By taking control , Home Assistant will convert the blueprint automation into a regular, stand-alone, automation. This allows you to make any tweak you want, without having to re-invent the wheel.

Screenshot showing a preview of how a converted blueprint automation would look like before you take control.

The cool thing is that it shows you a preview of how the converted automation would look like before you take over. This way, you can see what you are getting into before you actually do it.

Tip

Looking for some inspiration for your next automation?
Check out the Blueprint exchange on the Home Assistant Community Forum.

Integrations

Thanks to our community for keeping pace with the new integrationsIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] and improvements to existing ones! You’re all awesome 🥰

New integrations

We welcome the following new integrations in this release:

  • Aquacell, added by @Jordi1990
    Monitor your AquaCell water-softener from Home Assistant.
  • ista EcoTrend, added by @tr4nt0r
    The ista EcoTrend integration allows you to import your monthly heating, hot water, and water consumption and costs from the ista EcoTrend service.
  • Mealie, added by @joostlek
    Mealie is a self-hosted recipe manager and meal planner. This integration will pull in your meal plan as calendars in Home Assistant.
  • Knocki, added by @joostlek
    Knocki is a smart device that turns any surface into a remote control, which you can now use in Home Assistant to trigger automationsAutomations in Home Assistant allow you to automatically respond to things that happen in and around your home.[Learn more].

Noteworthy improvements to existing integrations

It is not just new integrationsIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] that have been added; existing integrations are also being constantly improved. Here are some of the noteworthy changes to existing integrations:

  • The Matter integration now provides number entities that allow you to configure the behavior of your Matter lights, thanks @jvmahon!
  • The TP-Link Smart Home integration has been fully modernized by @rytilahti, @sdb9696, and @bdraco! It adds support for many new devices (like hubs) and unlocks many new features in Home Assistant, including light effects and presets, firmware updates, and so much more!
  • @tronikos has added support for integrating the camera from the tablet running Fully Kiosk Browser. Furthermore, there’s now an image entity for taking screenshots, the ability to send notifications and text-to-speech messages to the tablet, and the media player can now play videos! Nice!
  • The Android TV Remote integration now supports browsing your apps directly from the media browser, thanks @tronikos!
  • We’ve seen a lot of improvements to the UniFi Protect integration, thanks to @bdraco. @wfltaylor chipped in as well, adding support for animal detection sensors. 🐶🐱🐰
  • The Android Debug Bridge integration now supports remote entities, allowing you to remotely control your Android TV. Thanks @ollo69!
  • The Reolink integration has seen a lot of improvements, thanks to @starkillerOG. Added support for manual recording, software updates for more cameras, playback of the auto track lens, and support for their battery-powered cameras through the Reolink Home Hub. 🎥
  • The Bang & Olufsen integration now supports announcements, and support for Tidal has been added too! Nice work @mj23000!
  • @joostlek added the event entity to the Nanoleaf integration, allowing you to trigger automations when you touch your Nanoleaf panels. Nice!
  • If you have a Roborock Dyad vacuum, you are in luck as they are now supported by the Roborock integration. Awesome @Lash-L!
  • The SwitchBot integration added support for the SwitchBot Lock Pro. Good work @szclsya!

Integrations reaching platinum quality level

The following integrationsIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] have reached the platinum 🏆 level on our integration quality scale. These integrations are the best of the best and give you an excellent out-of-the-box experience.

Congratulations to all the developers who worked on these integrations!

Now available to set up from the UI

While most integrationsIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] can be set up directly from the Home Assistant user interface, some were only available using YAML configuration. We keep moving more integrations to the UI, making them more accessible for everyone to set up and use.

The following integrations are now available via the Home Assistant UI:

Farewell to the following

The following integrationsIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] are no longer available as of this release:

  • Aladdin Connect has been removed, as Home Assistant cannot use the upstream library at this time.
  • Unify Circuit was deprecated in Home Assistant 2024.5 and has now been removed.

ESPHome update entities for ready-made projects

Our sister project, ESPHome received a brand new logo this month! 🎉

Logo of ESPHome

Looks familiar, right? 😃 That is because ESPHome has been donated to the Open Home Foundation by Nabu Casa. The same foundation that the Home Assistant project is part of.

Besides the new logo, ESPHome has added a new feature that works with this release of Home Assistant: The ability for makers of ready-made devices or projects running on ESPHome, to provide updates for their devices directly to Home Assistant.

This means that if you have a device that is powered-by or Made for ESPHome, and the maker of that device provides updates for it, you can now update that device directly from Home Assistant; without the need for you to build, adopt, or set up the ESPHome software yourself! 😎

These two new features—updating from Home Assistant, and the ESPHome integration reaching the platinum quality level 🏆—make it easier for new users and creators to use this powerful platform to build a more Open Home.

Other noteworthy changes

There are many more improvements in this release; here are some of the other noteworthy changes this release:

Link your template entity to an existing device

Template entities are an advanced and powerful way to create your own entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] in Home Assistant based on any calculation or logic you can imagine.

One of the most requested features for templateA template is an automation definition that can include variables for the service or data from the trigger values. This allows automations to generate dynamic actions.[Learn more] entities is the ability to assign and link them to an existing deviceA device is a model representing a physical or logical unit that contains entities. . Thanks to @dougiteixeira, you can now do just that! 🎉

Screenshot showing you can select a device the template can be linked to, when adding a new template helper.

Assigning a template entity to an existing device can be very useful if you have a template that calculates an additional sensor value for a device. For example, in the screenshot above, a template helper calculates the sum of two sensors and is linked to the device that has those sensors.

Note

This feature is only available for template entities that are created from the UI.

Change the radius of your home zone

ZonesZones are areas that can be used for presence detection.[Learn more] in Home Assistant are a great way to define locations on your map, such as your work, and trigger automations based on your location. The most powerful zone is undoubtedly the home zone, which you can use to determine if someone is home, coming home, or leaving.

Until now, the radius of the home zone was fixed at 100 meters, which was not always ideal for everyone. Although it could be changed using YAML, as of this release, you can now change the radius of your home zone directly from the Home Assistant user interface!

Screenrecording of how you can now change the radius of the home zone.

Important

If you have currently configured and overridden your home zone using YAML configuration, this new feature will not be available to you. You can remove the YAML configuration and restart Home Assistant to enable UI control.

Patch releases

We will also release patch releases for Home Assistant 2024.7 in July. These patch releases only contain bug fixes. Our goal is to release a patch release every Friday.

2024.7.1 - July 5

Need help? Join the community!

Home Assistant has a great community of users who are all more than willing to help each other out. So, join us!

Our very active Discord chat server is an excellent place to be at, and don’t forget to join our amazing forums.

Found a bug or issue? Please report it in our issue tracker, to get it fixed! Or, check our help page for guidance for more places you can go.

Are you more into email? Sign-up for our Building the Open Home Newsletter to get the latest news about features, things happening in our community and other news about building an Open Home; straight into your inbox.

Backward-incompatible changes

We do our best to avoid making changes to existing functionality that might unexpectedly impact your Home Assistant installation. Unfortunately, sometimes, it is inevitable.

We always make sure to document these changes to make the transition as easy as possible for you. This release has the following backward-incompatible changes:

If you are a custom integration developer and want to learn about changes and new features available for your integration: Be sure to follow our developer blog. The following are the most notable for this release:

All changes

Of course, there is a lot more in this release. You can find a list of all changes made here: Full changelog for Home Assistant Core 2024.7