New automations in Home Assistant 2026.7

Beginner Home Assistant 2026.7

Home Assistant 2026.7 changes the starting point for new automations. Instead of first choosing between technical trigger types such as state and numeric state, you can begin with the event you care about: a door opens, the temperature drops, a battery runs low, or motion is detected in an area.

This guide uses an outdoor motion light as a practical example. Your existing automations are not converted or disabled by the update.

This is not an AI generator

The editor provides clearer, purpose-specific triggers and conditions. You still choose the event, limits, and actions yourself, and Home Assistant stores an ordinary automation configuration.

What changed?

Before	New starting point
Choose a technical trigger type	Choose an event such as “motion detected”
Often point to one entity	Select an area where the integration supports it
Know about on, off, and attributes	Let the integration describe the useful event
Find the documentation separately	Open trigger, condition, or action documentation from the editor

The integration behind a device can provide its own readable triggers and conditions. The available choices therefore depend on your integrations and device types. The generic editor and YAML remain available.

Prepare the foundation

Spend five minutes on the setup before building:

• assign devices to the correct areas;
• give sensors and lights short, distinct names;
• confirm the sensor changes state in Home Assistant;
• manually test the action you plan to automate;
• start with a small, low-risk example.

Areas work well when the intent concerns the room rather than one particular sensor. If you replace that sensor later, an area-based automation can be easier to maintain.

Example: outdoor light on motion

The goal is:

When motion is detected outside after sunset, turn on the outdoor lights. Turn them off after the area has been quiet for five minutes.

1. Create the automation

   Go to Settings → Automations & scenes → Create automation → Create new automation.

2. Choose the event

   Under When, search for motion and select the purpose-specific motion detected trigger. Choose the Outside area if the editor offers area targeting. Otherwise select the stable motion sensor entity.

3. Limit it to darkness

   Under And if, add the built-in sun condition for after sunset. Prefer this to a hand-written time template.

4. Turn on the lights

   Under Then do, choose the turn-on action and target the Outside area or the specific lights you want.

5. Wait for quiet

   Add a wait action for the motion sensor to become inactive. Follow it with a five-minute delay, then turn the lights off.

6. Choose restart mode

   Set the automation mode to Restart. New motion should restart the timeout instead of being ignored.

7. Save with a useful name

   A name such as Outdoor lights – motion after dark will be easier to find and debug later.

Area or entity?

Use an area when the intent applies to the whole space. Use a specific entity when one sensor or light has a special role that must not follow the rest of the area.

Test without waiting for tonight

Check each boundary separately:

1. Run only the light action from the editor.
2. Confirm the intended light or area responds.
3. Trigger the motion sensor and watch its state.
4. Open the automation Trace and inspect the selected trigger and condition.
5. Use Activity to see what turned the light on and off.

A successful manual action does not prove the trigger works. A trace from a complete natural run is the stronger check.

Should old automations be rebuilt?

No. Home Assistant states that existing automations, generic triggers, templates, and YAML continue to work. Use the new editor for new automations first. Change an existing automation only when doing so fixes a real problem or makes it meaningfully easier to maintain.

Before changing an important automation:

• take a backup or duplicate it;
• record its current trigger and mode;
• change one part at a time;
• compare traces before and after;
• keep the former version disabled briefly if the automation is important.

Good choices in the new editor

Prefer built-in conditions

Select temperature threshold, time, sun, zone, or state directly. Templates remain useful for special calculations, but are harder to validate and debug.

Use stable targets

Prefer an area or entity_id for ordinary devices. Internal device_id values can change when a device is removed and added again.

Pick the right run mode

Situation	Mode
Motion light with a timeout	Restart
Locks or doors processed in order	Queued
Independent events that may overlap	Parallel
One short notification	Single

Troubleshooting

The trigger I need is missing

Update Home Assistant and the relevant integration. Not every integration provides purpose-specific triggers yet. Use a normal state or numeric threshold trigger when it accurately represents the event.

The area controls too many devices

Review area assignments and which domains the action targets. Select individual entities if only particular lights should respond.

The light turns off despite new motion

Confirm the automation uses Restart and that the new motion actually starts a fresh run. Read the trace before extending the delay.

The trigger works but the action stops

Open the latest trace. Check the condition result and the first failed action. Fix the documented failure instead of adding more delays.

First automation

Start from the beginning with your first automation.

More ideas

Browse practical patterns in the automations overview.

Official sources

• Home Assistant 2026.7: Automations that speak your language
• Understanding automations
• Automation triggers
• Conditions
• Actions