Sensor.Community

The Sensor.Community integrationIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] brings readings from the Sensor.Community open data air quality network into Home Assistant. Sensor.Community (formerly known as luftdaten.info) is a global citizen science project that maps air quality and environmental data from thousands of do-it-yourself (DIY) sensor stations around the world.

Use cases for this integration include:

• Tracking air quality in your neighborhood using a nearby public sensor.
• Displaying readings from your own DIY Sensor.Community sensor without running its web interface.
• Triggering automations, such as closing windows or turning on an air purifier, when particulate matter levels rise.
• Comparing outdoor air quality against indoor sensors on a single dashboard.

Prerequisites

You need the sensor ID of the Sensor.Community sensor you want to track. The ID is a numeric value, not the sensor type.

To find a sensor ID:

1. Open the Sensor.Community map.
2. Select the sensor you want to track on the map.
3. The sensor ID is shown in the sidebar with a # in front of it, for example, #12345.

Each physical sensor station usually has multiple sensor IDs, one for each sensor type (particulate matter, temperature, humidity, pressure). Add the integration once per sensor ID you want to track.

Configuration

To add the Sensor.Community device to your Home Assistant instance, use this My button:

Supported functionality

Sensors

The integration creates sensor entities based on the data that the selected Sensor.Community sensor reports. Not every sensor reports every measurement. Sensors that the selected sensor does not provide are not created.

• PM10 particulate matter
  • Description: Concentration of particulate matter up to 10 micrometers in diameter, in µg/m³.
  • Device class: PM10
• PM2.5 particulate matter
  • Description: Concentration of particulate matter up to 2.5 micrometers in diameter, in µg/m³.
  • Device class: PM2.5
• Temperature
  • Description: Ambient temperature reported by the sensor, in °C.
  • Device class: Temperature
• Humidity
  • Description: Relative humidity reported by the sensor, in %.
  • Device class: Humidity
• Pressure
  • Description: Atmospheric pressure at the sensor location, in Pa.
  • Device class: Pressure
• Pressure at sea level
  • Description: Atmospheric pressure adjusted to sea level, in Pa.
  • Device class: Pressure

Each sensor includes the Sensor.Community sensor ID as an attribute. When the Show on map option is enabled, the sensor’s latitude and longitude are also added as attributes so the entity appears on the map dashboard.

Data updates

The integration polls the Sensor.Community API every 10 minutes over the internet for new readings. This matches how often most Sensor.Community stations upload new data.

Examples

Warn when PM2.5 levels are unhealthy

Send a notification when the PM2.5 concentration exceeds 35 µg/m³. You can adjust this example threshold to match the air quality guidance or standard you want to follow:

alias: "Unhealthy air quality alert"
triggers:
  - trigger: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.sensor_12345_pm25
    above: 35
    for:
      minutes: 15
actions:
  - action: notify.mobile_app_my_phone
    data:
      title: "Air quality"
      message: >
        PM2.5 is currently {{ states('sensor.sensor_12345_pm25') }} µg/m³.
        Consider closing windows.

Turn on an air purifier based on outdoor air quality

Automatically turn on an indoor air purifier when outdoor particulate matter rises above a threshold:

alias: "Air purifier on high PM"
triggers:
  - trigger: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.sensor_12345_pm10
    above: 50
actions:
  - action: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: switch.living_room_air_purifier

Known limitations

• The integration is read-only and relies on data that Sensor.Community stations upload to the public API. If a station stops uploading, the sensors become unavailable.
• Each Sensor.Community station usually has separate sensor IDs per sensor type. To track particulate matter and temperature from the same station, set up the integration once per sensor ID.
• The 10-minute polling interval is fixed and matches the upload frequency of most stations. Polling more often does not give you fresher data.

Troubleshooting

Sensor not available or invalid

If you see a “Sensor not available or invalid” error during setup, verify that:

1. The Sensor ID you entered is correct. The ID is the number with # in front of it on the Sensor.Community map, not the sensor’s physical location or name.
2. The sensor is still online and uploading data to Sensor.Community. Check its recent values on the map.
3. Your Home Assistant instance can reach the internet.

Removing the integration

This integration follows standard integration removal, no extra steps are required.

To remove an integration instance from Home Assistant

1. Go to Settings > Devices & services and select the integration card.
2. From the list of devices, select the integration instance you want to remove.
3. Next to the entry, select the three dots menu. Then, select Delete.