Home Assistant is flexible, but starting an automation from a blank editor can still mean making a lot of small decisions: which trigger to use, how to structure actions, and what to change for your own entities. I put together a small starter kit of seven YAML automation examples for people who would rather begin with something readable and adapt it than copy a mysterious block of configuration.
This is a set of starting points, not a plug-and-play system. Your entity IDs, devices, notification service and available integrations will differ. The examples include comments identifying the values to edit, and the steps are written out so you can see what each automation is intended to do.
What's included
The seven files cover a mix of common household patterns:
- Presence lights: turn a living-room light on when a presence sensor detects someone, then wait 12 minutes after presence ends before switching it off. The delay is there for quiet activities such as reading.
- Morning routine: use a bedroom motion sensor during a morning time window to start a staged sequence: bring up the bedroom light gradually, change a climate preset, wait, turn on another light and send a notification. A helper flag prevents it running repeatedly; a second automation resets that flag at 02:00.
- Away mode: after configured people have been away for 20 minutes, set the climate preset to eco, turn off lights and send a notification. A separate evening automation switches on a living-room light at 19:30 when one configured person is away, then turns it off after 1 hour 40 minutes.
- Energy watchdog: notify when a configured whole-home power sensor remains above 3,500 W for 90 minutes.
- Device health: notify when any of a configured list of availability sensors has been off for five minutes.
- Weather shutters: close a configured cover in response to a rain forecast or a temperature above 27, within a daytime time window.
- Water leak response: when either configured leak sensor turns on, switch off the configured valve entity and send notifications. Safety-critical: test the valve manually first.
The files use Home Assistant's automation YAML structure and target Home Assistant 2024 or newer. No custom integrations required unless stated. Some examples rely on entities/helpers you must already have.
A small validation helper, with clear limits
The download also contains scripts/validate_yaml.py: checks YAML syntax, verifies required automation keys, and reports example entity IDs still needing replacement. Pre-flight sanity check only, not a substitute for testing in your own HA instance.
I ran the validator against the seven files while preparing this post: 7 files checked, 0 errors, plus notes on example entity IDs to customize.
The kit is live on Gumroad for $19, MIT-licensed, usable at home or in client projects.
Get the kit here: Home Assistant Automation Starter Kit on Gumroad — https://stephimp.gumroad.com/l/sjphoy
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