Docs / Strand / connectors/home-assistant

Home Assistant Connector

Direction: Read/Write | Type: homeassistant

Control smart home devices, read entity states, fire events, and render templates from your Strand workflows via the Home Assistant REST API.

Prerequisites#

Your instance must be reachable from the internet#

This is the first thing to sort out, because most Home Assistant installs are on a home network and Strand runs in the cloud. Strand can only connect to addresses that are publicly reachable, so a URL like http://homeassistant.local:8123 or http://192.168.1.50:8123 will not work — even though it works perfectly from your own browser. Private addresses (10.x, 172.16–31.x, 192.168.x, 127.x) and .local mDNS names are all in that category.

Any of these gives Strand a reachable address:

• Home Assistant Cloud (Nabu Casa) — use your *.ui.nabu.casa URL. The

simplest option, and no ports are opened on your router.

• A reverse proxy or tunnel — Cloudflare Tunnel, Tailscale Funnel, or your

own nginx/Caddy with a real certificate.

• A public hostname with HTTPS pointing at your instance.

Whichever you choose, confirm the URL loads from outside your home network before creating the connector.

Access token#

You need a Long-Lived Access Token from your Home Assistant instance:

1. Open your Home Assistant dashboard
2. Click your profile icon (bottom-left)
3. Scroll to Long-Lived Access Tokens
4. Click Create Token, name it (e.g., "Strand"), and copy the token

Tip: Use a dedicated token for your Strand workflows. Tokens can be revoked individually from your HA profile page.

Required Permissions#

The access token inherits the permissions of the user who created it. For full access to all operations, use an administrator account.

Connector Setup#

Create a Home Assistant connector from the Connectors page.

Configuration Fields#

Operations#

Call Service#

Control any Home Assistant device by calling a service action.

Example: Turn on a light at 50% brightness:

• Domain: light
• Service: turn_on
• Target:

{"entity_id": "light.living_room"}

• Service Data:

{"brightness_pct": 50}

Example: Run a script with variables:

• Domain: script
• Service: {{ payload.script_name }}
• Service Data:

{"message": "{{ payload.alert_message }}"}

Fire Event#

Fire a custom event on the Home Assistant event bus to trigger automations.

Example: Fire a notification event:

• Event Type: strand_notification
• Event Data:

{"message": "{{ payload.alert }}", "severity": "warning", "source": "strand"}

Set State#

Create or update the state and attributes of an entity.

Example: Update a custom sensor:

• Entity ID: sensor.strand_last_run
• State: {{ payload.status }}
• Attributes:

{"friendly_name": "Last Strand Run", "timestamp": "{{ payload.timestamp }}"}

Get Entity State#

Get the current state and attributes of a single entity.

Get All States#

Get the current state of every entity in Home Assistant. No fields required.

Note: This can return a large payload depending on the number of entities in your HA instance. Use Get Entity State for targeted lookups.

Get History#

Get state change history for entities over a time period.

Example: Get last 24 hours of a sensor:

• Entity ID: sensor.outdoor_temperature
• Minimal Response: Yes

Get Services#

List all available service domains and their actions. No fields required.

Useful for discovering what services are available on your HA instance.

Render Template#

Render a Home Assistant Jinja2 template on the HA server.

Note: This template is rendered by Home Assistant, not Strand. You can use Strand Jinja templates to inject dynamic values into the HA template.

Example: Get a computed value:

{{ states("sensor.temperature") }} {{ state_attr("sensor.temperature", "unit_of_measurement") }}

Example: Count lights that are on:

{{ states.light | selectattr("state", "eq", "on") | list | count }}

Output#

Call Service Output#

{
  "success": true,
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "domain": "light",
    "service": "turn_on",
    "response": []
  },
  "service": "homeassistant",
  "operation": "call_service"
}

Fire Event Output#

{
  "success": true,
  "status": "fired",
  "data": {
    "event_type": "strand_notification",
    "message": "Event strand_notification fired."
  },
  "service": "homeassistant",
  "operation": "fire_event"
}

Set State Output#

{
  "success": true,
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "entity_id": "sensor.strand_status",
    "state": "active",
    "attributes": {
      "friendly_name": "Strand Status",
      "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z"
    }
  },
  "service": "homeassistant",
  "operation": "set_state"
}

Get Entity State Output#

{
  "success": true,
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "entity_id": "sensor.temperature",
    "state": "22.5",
    "attributes": {
      "unit_of_measurement": "\u00b0C",
      "friendly_name": "Temperature Sensor",
      "device_class": "temperature"
    },
    "last_changed": "2025-01-15T10:30:00+00:00",
    "last_updated": "2025-01-15T10:30:00+00:00"
  },
  "service": "homeassistant",
  "operation": "get_state"
}

Key fields for subsequent nodes:

• {{ steps.node_id.output_payload.data.state }}: Entity state value
• {{ steps.node_id.output_payload.data.attributes.friendly_name }}: An attribute
• {{ steps.node_id.output_payload.data.last_changed }}: Last state change time

Get All States Output#

{
  "success": true,
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "entities": [ ... ],
    "count": 156
  },
  "service": "homeassistant",
  "operation": "get_states"
}

Get History Output#

{
  "success": true,
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "history": [
      [
        {"state": "21.0", "last_changed": "2025-01-15T08:00:00+00:00"},
        {"state": "22.5", "last_changed": "2025-01-15T10:30:00+00:00"}
      ]
    ],
    "entity_id": "sensor.temperature"
  },
  "service": "homeassistant",
  "operation": "get_history"
}

Get Services Output#

{
  "success": true,
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "services": [
      {"domain": "light", "services": {"turn_on": {}, "turn_off": {}, "toggle": {}}},
      {"domain": "switch", "services": {"turn_on": {}, "turn_off": {}, "toggle": {}}}
    ],
    "count": 2
  },
  "service": "homeassistant",
  "operation": "get_services"
}

Render Template Output#

{
  "success": true,
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "template": "{{ states('sensor.temperature') }}",
    "rendered": "22.5"
  },
  "service": "homeassistant",
  "operation": "render_template"
}

Key field: {{ steps.node_id.output_payload.data.rendered }}: The rendered template result

Errors#

Example Workflow#

1. Get Entity State: Check a temperature sensor: entity_id sensor.outdoor_temperature
2. Logic node: Evaluate if temperature > 30
3. Call Service: Turn on the AC: domain climate, service set_temperature, target {"entity_id": "climate.living_room"}, service data {"temperature": 24}
4. Fire Event: Log the action: event_type strand_ac_activated, event data {"temperature": "{{ steps.step1.output_payload.data.state }}"}

Limitations#

• WebSocket API: Only the REST API is supported. WebSocket-based subscriptions and real-time event streams are not available.
• Media: Media upload/download and camera proxy endpoints are not supported.
• Config entries: Managing HA integrations and config entries via API is not supported.
• Large history queries: History queries for many entities over long periods may timeout. Use the entity_id filter and minimal_response option for large datasets.
• Rate limiting: Home Assistant does not enforce rate limits by default, but rapid-fire requests may slow down the instance.

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