Event

Events are signals that are emitted when something happens, for example, when a user presses a physical button like a doorbell or when a button on a remote control is pressed.

The Event integrationIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] provides 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] that represent these momentary signals from physical devices.

These events do not capture a state in the traditional sense. For example, a doorbell does not have a state such as “on” or “off” but instead is momentarily pressed. Some events can have variations in the type of event that is emitted. For example, a remote control might emit a single press, a double press, or a long press.

The event entity captures these events from the physical world and makes them available in Home Assistant as an entity.

The state of an event entity

The event entity does not capture a state such as On or Off. Instead, an event entity keeps track of the timestamp when the emitted event was last detected.

Event entity with a timestamp value in state and event type "pressed".

In addition, the entity can have the following states:

• Unavailable: The entity is currently unavailable.
• Unknown: The state is not yet known.

Event types

Besides the timestamp of the last event, the event entity also keeps track of the event type that was last emitted. This lets you trigger different automation actions based on the type of event.

For example, you can trigger a different action when a remote control button is pressed once versus twice, if your remote control can emit those different event types.

When creating automations in the UI, the event types are available as a dropdown list, depending on the event entity you are using. This means you don’t have to remember or look up the different event types.

Device class

A device class is a measurement categorization in Home Assistant. It influences how the entity is represented in the dashboard. This can be modified in the customize section. For example, different states may be represented by different icons, colors, or text.

The screenshot shows different icons representing device classes of the event entity:

Example of different icons representing device classes of the event entity.

The following device classes are supported by event entities:

• None: Generic event. This is the default and doesn’t need to be set.
• button: For remote control buttons.
• doorbell: Specifically for buttons that are used as a doorbell.
• motion: For motion events detected by a motion sensor.

Video tutorial

This video tutorial explains how events work in Home Assistant and how you can set up Emulated Roku to control a media player using a physical remote control.

List of triggers

The Event integrationIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] provides the following triggers. Each link below opens a dedicated page with examples, fields, and a step-by-step UI walkthrough.

• Event received (event.received) Triggers when one or more event entities receive a matching event type.

For an overview of every trigger across all integrations, see the triggers reference.

Event automation examples

Automation: send a notification when the doorbell rings

Use this automation to get a message on your phone whenever someone presses the doorbell.

• Trigger: Event received
  • Target: Front door doorbell (event.front_door_doorbell)
  • Event type: Ring
• Action: Send a notification message
  • Target: My Device (notify.my_device)

- alias: "Notify me when the doorbell rings"
  triggers:
    - trigger: event.received
      target:
        entity_id: event.front_door_doorbell
      options:
        event_type:
          - ring
  actions:
    - action: notify.send_message
      target:
        entity_id: notify.my_device
      data:
        message: "Someone is at the front door."

Automation: turn on a scene when the remote is double-pressed

Use this automation to activate a scene when a remote control button is pressed twice.

• Trigger: Event received
  • Target: Living room remote (event.living_room_remote_on_button)
  • Event type: Double press
• Action: Activate scene

- alias: "Activate movie scene on remote double press"
  triggers:
    - trigger: event.received
      target:
        entity_id: event.living_room_remote_on_button
      options:
        event_type:
          - double_short_release
  actions:
    - action: scene.turn_on
      target:
        entity_id: scene.living_room_movie