Customizing entities

After adding a new device, you might find the automatically assigned entity ID too technical and the entity lacking a friendly name. You can personalize these elements to better fit your naming conventions or modify other attributes like the icon.

Recommendations on entity naming and related elements

If you want a straightforward and organized Home Assistant setup, create a simple name for each entity, as well as for each related floor, area and device, and then configure everything properly. Name every element for what it is and Home Assistant will add the context around it based on what you have configured. Here are a few recommendations and examples:

• Create a short, standalone name for each item. Leave out its location and what it belongs to. For example, a good name for an area is Living room instead of Ground floor living room, and a good name for a device is Multi sensor instead of Office multi sensor.
• Assign an area to each device and assign a floor to each area. Home Assistant will use that information in pickers, dialogs, and tables so you don’t need to add the location of areas, entities, and devices in their names.
• Customize the presentation of floors, areas, devices, and entities by editing the cards and views of dashboards. For example, you can adjust the displayed name of a dashboard entity card or remove it if it is longer than you would like, instead of changing the entity name.

Changing the attributes of an entity

To change entity attributes, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Devices & services > Entities and select the entity from the list.

2. In the top-right corner, select Settings .

3. Enter or edit the attributes:

   • Enter or edit the entity ID, for example, to shorten it to binary_sensor.lumi_sensor_aq2_opening.

     • You can use lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores.
     • The ID must not start or end with an underscore.
     • To undo the change and revert the ID to the default, select the icon.
     • To revert all the entity IDs for a device, go to Settings > Devices & services > Devices, select the device and then select Menu > Recreate entity IDs.
     • Result: This resets the entity ID and applies the current default naming convention.
       • The terms used to generate the entity ID depend on a few factors. Prioritization is as follows:
         1. If you changed the name of the entity, the entity name will be used.
         2. The entity ID suggested by the integration (just a few integrations do this).
         3. The default name in the user language, if using Latin script.
            • If something other than Latin script is used, the entity ID is based on the English default name. This is because entity IDs must use lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores.

   • Enter or edit the entity name.

     • If the entity belongs to a device, you can turn on Use device name instead. The entity is then called by the name of its device. For example, if a smart plug called Coffee machine has an entity called Power, the entity is shown as Coffee machine instead of Coffee machine Power. The entity also uses the area of its device. To rename the device, select change the device name.

   • If needed, from the Show as menu, you can select a different device class.

   • If you like, add a label.

4. To apply the changes, select Update.

5. If you changed the entity ID and use this entity in automations or scripts, update the entity ID there as well.

   • Changing only the entity name does not affect your automations or scripts because they refer to the entity ID.
   • Go to Settings > Automations & scenes, open the respective tab, and find your automation or script.

Changing the entity ID format for new entities

Home Assistant generates entity IDs for new entities based on parts of your setup, like the area that is assigned to the entity, the device it belongs to, and the entity name. For example, a temperature sensor on a thermostat in the living room might have the entity ID sensor.living_room_thermostat_temperature. The default format of entity IDs uses the area, the parent device, the device, and the entity name, in that order. For more information about parent devices, refer to About parent devices and sub-devices. Parts without a value are left out. To get the most out of the default entity ID format, check the recommendations on entity naming and related elements.

However, you can change the default format of entity IDs by defining which parts will be used and its order. The new format that you set will only be used when Home Assistant generates a new entity ID, so existing entities keep their current entity IDs. You can still rename the entity IDs afterwards in the entity settings.

To change the format:

1. Go to Settings > System > Entity ID format.
2. Add, remove, or reorder the Floor, Area, Parent device, Device, and Entity parts to build the format you want. The Examples show the result for a device with a parent device and for one without.
3. Select Save.

If you want to go back to the default format, select Reset to default.

When you recreate the entity IDs for a device, Home Assistant will use the new format to generate them.

Customizing an entity in YAML

If your entity is not supported, or you could not customize what you need via the user interface, you need to edit the settings in your configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more] file. For a detailed description of the entity configuration variables and device class information, refer to the Home Assistant Core integration documentation.

About parent devices and sub-devices

Some devices are made up of smaller parts that each act like a device of their own. For example, a power strip can show each of its outlets as a separate device. In Home Assistant, the power strip is the parent device, and each outlet is a sub-device with its own entities, such as the power use of that outlet.

Whether a device has sub-devices is decided by the integration that provides it. You can’t add or change this yourself.

You can see which devices belong together in several places, for example, on the page of a parent device, which lists its sub-devices, and on the page of a sub-device, which shows the device it is part of.

By default, new entity IDs include the name of the parent device. For more information, refer to Changing the entity ID format for new entities.