LIFX

The LIFX integrationIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] controls LIFX lights over your local network, without going through the LIFX cloud. Use it to switch your lights on and off, set their color and brightness, and start the animated effects that LIFX lights can run.

Use cases

• Keep your lights responding when your internet connection is down, because Home Assistant talks to them directly over your local network instead of through the LIFX cloud.
• Use a light as a notification. Pulse the living room lights when the doorbell rings or the washing machine finishes, which reaches people that a spoken announcement does not.
• Wake up to a sunrise, or wind down to a sunset, by starting the Sky effect on a LIFX Ceiling on a schedule.
• Paint a theme across a Beam or a Z so a whole run of zones changes together, instead of setting one color across the entire light.
• Run a LIFX Clean cycle in a bathroom while the house is empty, and stop it automatically when someone comes home.

Supported devices

The integration supports every LIFX light. Which features you get depends on what the light can do:

• White lights, such as the LIFX White and Filament, support brightness and, on some models, color temperature.
• Color lights, such as the LIFX Color, Mini, GU10, BR30, PAR38, and Downlight, add full color control.
• Multizone lights have a line of individually controlled zones.
• Matrix lights have a grid of individually controlled zones.
• LIFX Clean lights add an HEV cycle, and LIFX Nightvision lights add infrared LEDs.

Multizone and matrix lights support extra effects, and spread a painted theme across their zones. It is not always obvious which group a light belongs to, so here they are:

• Multizone: Beam, Indoor/Outdoor Neon Flex, Lightstrip, Permanent Outdoor, String, and Z.
• Matrix: Candle Color, Ceiling, Luna, Mirror, Path, Spot, Tile, and Tube.

Matrix lights running firmware 4 or later also run the Sky effect. This includes the LIFX Ceiling, Luna, Mirror, E26 Candle, and E26 Tube, but not matrix lights still on firmware 3, such as the E12 Candle. For details on what each group can do, refer to Light effects and Themes.

Unsupported devices

The LIFX Switch is not supported by this integration, because it does not use the LIFX LAN protocol. You can add it to Home Assistant with the Matter integration or the HomeKit Controller integration instead. For details, refer to LIFX Switch.

Configuration

To add the LIFX device to your Home Assistant instance, use this My button:

LIFX can be auto-discovered by Home Assistant. If an instance was found, it will be shown as Discovered. You can then set it up right away.

Home Assistant discovers LIFX lights automatically on each network that is enabled in your network configuration. If a light is not discovered, you can add it manually by entering its host, its serial number, or both. If you leave both empty, Home Assistant searches your network and lets you pick from the lights it finds.

Giving both is the most direct option, because Home Assistant talks straight to that address without searching for the light first. Giving only the host is the option to use when you do not know the serial number, and either of those two is what you need when the light is on a network that Home Assistant cannot reach by broadcast, because a serial number on its own can only be resolved by broadcasting for it.

Device names and areas

When a LIFX device is added, it is named after its label in the LIFX app and placed in an area named after its group. If no area of that name exists yet, Home Assistant creates it.

Changing the address of a light

If a light moves to a new IP address, Home Assistant usually picks up the change on its own, because DHCP, Zeroconf/HomeKit, and broadcast discovery can all update the address of a light you have already added.

To change the address by hand, for example for a light on a network that Home Assistant cannot reach by broadcast, go to Settings > Devices & services, select LIFX, open the three dots menu next to the light, then select Reconfigure. Enter the new host. Home Assistant asks the light at that address who it is, and refuses the change if it is a different light from the one you are reconfiguring.

Supported functionality

The LIFX integration provides the following entities.

Lights

• Light
  • Description: Controls the power, brightness, color, and effects of the light. The entity uses the device name.
  • Available for: all LIFX lights
  • Remarks: Color, color temperature, and transition support depend on the model.

Buttons

• Identify

  • Description: Flashes the light three times at maximum brightness, then returns it to its previous state. If the light is off, it is turned on for the flash and turned off again afterwards.
  • Available for: all LIFX lights

• Restart

  • Description: Restarts the light in the same way as a physical power cycle. This is a good way to make the light request a new DHCP lease.
  • Available for: all LIFX lights

Both buttons are configuration entities.

Selects

• Infrared brightness

  • Description: Sets how bright the infrared LEDs run when the visible brightness is low.
  • Options: Disabled, 25%, 50% or 100%
  • Available for: LIFX Nightvision lights
  • Remarks: Configuration entity. In an automation or a script, change it with the Select option action.

• Theme

  • Description: Paints one of the built-in themes across the light.
  • Options: any of the available themes
  • Available for: multizone and matrix lights
  • Remarks: Configuration entity. It shows the last theme applied from Home Assistant, not what the light is currently showing, so it does not change when you pick a theme in the LIFX app.

Sensors

• RSSI
  • Description: Reports the current Wi-Fi signal strength of the light.
  • Available for: all LIFX lights
  • Remarks: Diagnostic entity, disabled by default. To use it, enable the entity first. Home Assistant only asks the light for its signal strength while the entity is enabled, which saves a request on every update. The unit depends on the light’s firmware.

Binary sensors

• Clean cycle
  • Description: Indicates whether an HEV cycle is currently running.
  • Available for: LIFX Clean lights
  • Remarks: Diagnostic entity.

Light effects

LIFX lights can run animated effects. Some effects are generated by Home Assistant and sent to the light, and others run on the light’s own firmware.

Which effects a light offers depends on its type:

• White lights: Pulse and Stop.
• Color lights: Color loop, Pulse, and Stop.
• Multizone lights, such as the LIFX Z, Beam, and Neon Flex: Color loop, Move, Pulse, and Stop.
• Matrix lights, such as the LIFX Tile, Candle, Path, and Tube: Color loop, Flame, Morph, Pulse, and Stop.
• LIFX Ceiling: everything a matrix light offers, plus Sky.

The LIFX Luna, Mirror, E26 Candle, and E26 Tube also run the Sky effect, but it is not offered in the Effect option yet. On those lights, use the Sky effect action instead.

The LIFX smartphone app splits the Sky effect into three separate effects, Clouds, Sunrise, and Sunset. In Home Assistant, they are one action with a Sky type option.

To start an effect with its default settings, use the Effect option of the Turn on light action:

alias: "Start a LIFX pulse effect"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.office_motion
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: light.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id:
        - light.office
        - light.kitchen
    data:
      effect: effect_pulse

To control how an effect looks, use its dedicated action instead. Each action is described in List of actions.

Firmware effects can be started and stopped whether the light is on or off. By default, starting one turns the light on. Set Power on to false to leave the power state alone.

Themes

The integration includes 157 predefined themes. Every category except Library matches a category in the LIFX app and holds the same themes. The Library themes are extras that the LIFX app does not have.

Themes can be painted onto any LIFX light with the Paint theme action. A multizone or matrix light spreads the theme across its zones, and a light with a single zone takes one color from the theme at random.

You can also set a theme when you start the Move effect or Morph effect. To apply a theme by hand from the device page, use the Theme select entity, which multizone and matrix lights have.

The following themes are available:

Some themes have been renamed or retired to match the LIFX app. The old names still work, so existing automations keep running, but use the replacement in anything new:

List of actions

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

• Color loop effect (lifx.effect_colorloop) Run an effect on LIFX lights that loops colors around the color wheel.

• Flame effect (lifx.effect_flame) Start the firmware-based Flame effect on a matrix LIFX light, such as the LIFX Tile or Candle.

• Morph effect (lifx.effect_morph) Start the firmware-based Morph effect on a matrix LIFX light, such as the LIFX Tile or Candle.

• Move effect (lifx.effect_move) Start the firmware-based Move effect on a multizone LIFX light, such as the LIFX Z, Lightstrip, or Beam.

• Pulse effect (lifx.effect_pulse) Run a flash effect on LIFX lights by changing to a color and back.

• Sky effect (lifx.effect_sky) Start a firmware-based effect that animates a sky scene across a LIFX Ceiling, Luna, Mirror, E26 Candle, or E26 Tube.

• Stop effect (lifx.effect_stop) Stop a running effect on LIFX lights.

• Paint theme (lifx.paint_theme) Paints either a provided theme or custom palette across one or more LIFX lights.

• Set HEV cycle state (lifx.set_hev_cycle_state) Start or stop a HEV (Clean) cycle on a LIFX Clean bulb.

• Set state (lifx.set_state) Change the color, brightness, and power of a LIFX light in a single step.

For an overview of every action across all integrations, see the actions reference.

LIFX automation examples

Here are a few automation examples that use the actions provided by the LIFX integration:

Automation: Flash the lights when the doorbell is pressed

Pulse the living room lights a few times so you notice the doorbell even if the sound is turned down.

• Trigger: State of the doorbell button changes to pressed
• Action: Pulse effect
  • Target: Living room (light.living_room)

Use the blueprint to pick the sensor, the lights, and the flash color without writing any YAML.

alias: "Flash the living room lights on a doorbell press"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.doorbell
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: lifx.effect_pulse
    target:
      entity_id: light.living_room
    data:
      mode: breathe
      color_name: "white"
      cycles: 3

Automation: Show a sky scene on the ceiling light in the evening

Start the Sky effect on a LIFX Ceiling light at sunset, using the slow sunset scene. To return the light to normal control later, use the Stop effect action.

• Trigger: Sun: after sunset
• Action: Sky effect
  • Target: Bedroom ceiling (light.bedroom_ceiling)

Use the blueprint to choose the lights, the sky type, the speed, and how long after sunset the effect starts.

alias: "Sky scene on the bedroom ceiling in the evening"
triggers:
  - trigger: sun
    event: sunset
actions:
  - action: lifx.effect_sky
    target:
      entity_id: light.bedroom_ceiling
    data:
      sky_type: Sunset
      speed: 120

Automation: Run a clean cycle when everyone leaves

Start a two-hour HEV cycle on a LIFX Clean light once the last person leaves home, so the room is cleaned while nobody is in it.

• Trigger: Zone: Person leaves home
• Condition: Nobody is home
• Action: Set HEV cycle state
  • Target: Bathroom (light.bathroom)

Use the blueprint to choose the zone to watch, the LIFX Clean lights, and how long the cycle runs.

alias: "Run a LIFX clean cycle when everyone leaves"
triggers:
  - trigger: zone
    entity_id: person.jane_doe
    zone: zone.home
    event: leave
conditions:
  - condition: numeric_state
    entity_id: zone.home
    below: 1
actions:
  - action: lifx.set_hev_cycle_state
    target:
      entity_id: light.bathroom
    data:
      power: true
      duration: 7200

Data updates

The LIFX integration pollsData polling is the process of querying a device or service at regular intervals to check for updates or retrieve data. By defining a custom polling interval, you can control how frequently your system checks for new data, which can help optimize performance and reduce unnecessary network traffic. [Learn more] each light over your local network every 10 seconds. Changes made outside Home Assistant, such as from the LIFX app or a wall switch, can take up to that long to show up. After Home Assistant changes a light or starts an effect, it reads the light again straight away, and once more when a transition finishes, instead of waiting for the next poll.

Home Assistant also searches for LIFX lights every 15 minutes, which finds new lights and updates the address of lights you have already added. Zeroconf/HomeKit and DHCP discovery find lights as well.

Known limitations

Upgrading from a single LIFX entry

Older versions of the integration could add every LIFX light under one shared LIFX entry. That entry is removed when you upgrade, because it does not hold the address of any light. Each light is then discovered again and offered as its own entry, so add them from Settings > Devices & services.

Sky effect

The Sky effect needs a matrix light running firmware 4 or later. In the Effect option of the light, it is only offered on the LIFX Ceiling. On the Luna, Mirror, E26 Candle, and E26 Tube, start it with the Sky effect action instead.

HomeKit Accessory Protocol

Most LIFX devices also support Apple HomeKit through the HomeKit Accessory Protocol (HAP). If a device has not already been added to HomeKit with an Apple device, you can add it to Home Assistant with the HomeKit Controller integration instead.

Compared to this integration, HomeKit Controller offers push updates, encrypted communication, and considerably less network traffic. It also lets you use LIFX devices that this integration does not support.

A device that supports HAP and has not been added to native HomeKit is discovered by both methods. You can set up both integrations for the same device at the same time, or ignore the discovery you do not want.

LIFX Switch

The LIFX Switch is not supported by this integration. You have two other ways to add it to Home Assistant.

A LIFX Switch running firmware 4.100 or higher supports Matter over Wi-Fi, so you can add it with the Matter integration. If the switch is already paired with another ecosystem, such as Apple Home or Google Home, use that app to generate a new pairing code before you add it to Home Assistant.

You can also use the HomeKit Controller integration for a LIFX Switch running firmware 3.90 or higher. Follow the LIFX documentation to get a HomeKit code first, because you need it during setup. If you do not use Apple Home, this option keeps the switch entirely within Home Assistant.

When you use HomeKit Controller, each button on the switch is discovered as a stateless switch and does not appear as an entity in Home Assistant. Relays that are configured as wired to non-LIFX devices appear as normal switches.

Troubleshooting

Lights are not discovered

LIFX lights are discovered by LIFX UDP broadcast, Zeroconf, HomeKit, and DHCP. Broadcast, Zeroconf, and HomeKit discovery all need Home Assistant to have a network interface on the same subnet as your lights.

To resolve this issue, try the following steps:

1. If you have several network interfaces, make sure the one on the same subnet as your lights is enabled in your network configuration.
2. If your lights are on a separate network that Home Assistant cannot reach directly, add each light manually by host instead. A serial number on its own does not work here, because Home Assistant has to broadcast to resolve one.

A LIFX Switch is not discovered

Symptom: “Cannot add pairing as device can no longer be found”

While adding a LIFX Switch with the HomeKit Controller integration, the switch is not discovered, or setup fails with this message.

Description

A LIFX Switch only advertises its HomeKit support for 15 minutes after it starts up.

Resolution

Reboot your LIFX Switch, then start setup again within 15 minutes.

Removing the integration

This integration follows standard integration removal.

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.