Home Assistant

Template Switch

The template platform creates switches that combines components.

For example, if you have a garage door with a toggle switch that operates the motor and a sensor that allows you know whether the door is open or closed, you can combine these into a switch that knows whether the garage door is open or closed.

This can simplify the GUI and make it easier to write automations.

Configuration

To enable Template Switches in your installation, add the following to your configuration.yaml file:

# Example configuration.yaml entry
switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      skylight:
        value_template: "{{ is_state('sensor.skylight', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: switch.turn_on
          target:
            entity_id: switch.skylight_open
        turn_off:
          service: switch.turn_off
          target:
            entity_id: switch.skylight_close

Configuration Variables

Looking for your configuration file?
switches map Required

List of your switches.

friendly_name string (Optional)

Name to use in the frontend.

unique_id string (Optional)

An ID that uniquely identifies this switch. Set this to a unique value to allow customization through the UI.

value_template template (Optional, default: optimistic)

Defines a template to set the state of the switch. If not defined, the switch will optimistically assume all commands are successful.

availability_template template (Optional, default: true)

Defines a template to get the available state of the entity. If the template either fails to render or returns True, "1", "true", "yes", "on", "enable", or a non-zero number, the entity will be available. If the template returns any other value, the entity will be unavailable. If not configured, the entity will always be available. Note that the string comparison not case sensitive; "TrUe" and "yEs" are allowed.

turn_on action Required

Defines an action or list of actions to run when the switch is turned on.

turn_off action Required

Defines an action or list of actions to run when the switch is turned off.

icon_template template (Optional)

Defines a template for the icon of the switch.

entity_picture_template template (Optional)

Defines a template for the picture of the switch.

Template and action variables

State-based template entities have the special template variable this available in their templates and actions. The this variable aids self-referencing of an entity’s state and attribute in templates and actions.

Considerations

If you are using the state of a platform that takes extra time to load, the Template Switch may get an unknown state during startup. This results in error messages in your log file until that platform has completed loading. If you use is_state() function in your template, you can avoid this situation. For example, you would replace {{ states.switch.source.state == 'on') }} with this equivalent that returns true/false and never gives an unknown result: {{ is_state('switch.source', 'on') }}

Examples

In this section you find some real-life examples of how to use this switch.

Copy Switch

This example shows a switch that copies another switch.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      copy:
        value_template: "{{ is_state('switch.source', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: switch.turn_on
          target:
            entity_id: switch.target
        turn_off:
          service: switch.turn_off
          target:
            entity_id: switch.target

Toggle Switch

This example shows a switch that takes its state from a sensor and toggles a switch.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      blind:
        friendly_name: "Blind"
        value_template: "{{ is_state_attr('switch.blind_toggle', 'sensor_state', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: switch.toggle
          target:
            entity_id: switch.blind_toggle
        turn_off:
          service: switch.toggle
          target:
            entity_id: switch.blind_toggle

Multiple actions for turn_on or turn_off

This example shows multiple service calls for turn_on and turn_off.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      copy:
        value_template: "{{ is_state('switch.source', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          - service: switch.turn_on
            target:
              entity_id: switch.target
          - service: light.turn_on
            target:
              entity_id: light.target
            data:
              brightness_pct: 40
        turn_off:
          - service: switch.turn_off
            target:
              entity_id: switch.target
          - service: light.turn_off
            target:
              entity_id: light.target

Sensor and Two Switches

This example shows a switch that takes its state from a sensor, and uses two momentary switches to control a device.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      skylight:
        friendly_name: "Skylight"
        value_template: "{{ is_state('sensor.skylight', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: switch.turn_on
          target:
            entity_id: switch.skylight_open
        turn_off:
          service: switch.turn_on
          target:
            entity_id: switch.skylight_close

Change The Icon

This example shows how to change the icon based on the state of the garage door.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      garage:
        value_template: "{{ is_state('cover.garage_door', 'open') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: cover.open_cover
          target:
            entity_id: cover.garage_door
        turn_off:
          service: cover.close_cover
          target:
            entity_id: cover.garage_door
        icon_template: >-
          {% if is_state('cover.garage_door', 'open') %}
            mdi:garage-open
          {% else %}
            mdi:garage
          {% endif %}

Change The Entity Picture

This example shows how to change the entity picture based on the day/night cycle.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      garage:
        value_template: "{{ is_state('cover.garage_door', 'open') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: cover.open_cover
          target:
            entity_id: cover.garage_door
        turn_off:
          service: cover.close_cover
          target:
            entity_id: cover.garage_door
        entity_picture_template: >-
          {% if is_state('cover.garage_door', 'open') %}
            /local/garage-open.png
          {% else %}
            /local/garage-closed.png
          {% endif %}