Google Assistant

The google_assistant component allows you to control things via Google Assistant (on your mobile or tablet) or a Google Home device.

The Google Assistant component requires a bit more setup than most due to the way Google requires Assistant Apps to be set up.

To use Google Assistant, your Home Assistant configuration has to be externally accessible with a hostname and SSL certificate. If you haven’t already configured that, you should do so before continuing.

To enable this, add the following lines to your configuration.yaml file:

# Example configuration.yaml entry
google_assistant:
  project_id: someproject-2d0b8
  client_id: [long URL safe random string]
  access_token: [a different long URL safe random string]
  agent_user_id: [a string to identify user]
  api_key: [a Homegraph API Key generated for the Google Actions project]
  exposed_domains:
    - switch
    - light
    - group
  entity_config:
    switch.kitchen:
      name: Custom Name for Google Assistant
      aliases:
        - bright lights
        - entry lights
    light.living_room:
      expose: false
      room: living room

Configuration variables:

Available domains

Currently, the following domains are available to be used with Google Assistant, listed with their default types:

• group (on/off)
• input boolean (on/off)
• scene (on)
• script (on)
• switch (on/off)
• fan (on/off)
• light (on/off/brightness/rgb color/color temp)
• cover (on/off/set position (via set brightness))
• media_player (on/off/set volume (via set brightness))
• climate (temperature setting)

It’s very important that you use very long strings for client_id and access_token. Those are essentially the credentials to your Home Assistant instance. You can generate them with the following command:

$ cat /dev/urandom | fold -w 120 | head -n 1 | base64 -w 0 | tr -dc '0-9A-Za-z' | cut -c -80

If you’re not using Linux, you can use sites such as this one to generate a random string (containing mixed case letters and numbers) of up to 80 characters.

Setup

1. Download the gactions CLI to be used later. You can download and run this anywhere and on any machine. Just remember where you put it for later and don’t forget to run chmod +x gactions to make it executable on Mac or Linux.
2. Create a new file named project.json (in the same directory you downloaded gactions to) and replace the [YOUR HOME ASSISTANT URL:PORT] below with the URL you use to access Home Assistant. Note: This must be an HTTPS URL to work. Don’t forget to include the port number if you’re not using port 443.

{
  "actions": [{
    "name": "actions.devices",
    "deviceControl": {
    },
    "fulfillment": {
      "conversationName": "automation"
    }
  }],
  "conversations": {
    "automation":
    {
      "name": "automation",
      "url": "https://[YOUR HOME ASSISTANT URL:PORT]/api/google_assistant"
    }
  }
}

1. Create a new project in the developer console. a. Add/Import project b. Go to Build under the Actions SDK box c. Copy the command that looks like:

gactions update --action_package PACKAGE_NAME --project doctest-2d0b8

1. Replace PACKAGE_NAME with project.json and run that command in a console from the same directory you saved project.json in (you’ll need to put ./ before gactions so that it reads ./gactions if you’re running it on Linux or Windows). It should output a URL like https://console.actions.google.com/project/doctest-2d0b8/overview - go there.
2. You’ll need to fill out most of the information on that page, but none of it really matters since you won’t be addressing the App directly, only through the Smart Home functionality built into Google Assistant.
3. The final item on that page Account linking is required for your app to interact with Home Assistant.
   1. Grant type: Implicit
   2. Client ID: The client_id from your Home Assistant configuration above
   3. Authorization URL (replace with your actual URL): https://[YOUR HOME ASSISTANT URL]/api/google_assistant/auth. If you have set api_password: add this password to the URL https://[YOUR HOME ASSISTANT URL]/api/google_assistant/auth?api_password=[YOUR API PASSWORD])
   4. Configure your client. Add scopes for email and name.
   5. Testing instructions: Enter anything. It doesn’t matter since you won’t submit this app.
4. Back on the main app draft page. Click Test Draft. That will take you to the simulator (which won’t work so just close that window).
5. If you haven’t already added the component configuration to configuration.yaml and restarted Home Assistant, you’ll be unable to continue until you have.
6. Open the Google Assistant app and go into Settings > Home Control
7. Click the + sign, and near the bottom, you should have [test] your app name. Selecting that should lead to you the screen where you can set rooms for your devices or nicknames for your devices.
8. If you want to allow other household users to control the devices:
   1. Go to the developer console using the address from point 4.
   2. Under the gear icon, click Permissions
   3. Click Add, type the new user’s e-mail address and choose Project -> Editor role
   4. Have the new user go to developer console and repeat steps starting from point 7.
9. If you want to use the google_assistant.request_sync service, to update devices without unlinking and relinking, in Home Assistant, then enable Homegraph API for your project:
   1. Go to the cloud console
   2. Select your project and click Enable Homegraph API
   3. Go to Credentials and select API Key from Create Credentials
   4. Note down the generated API Key and use this in the configuration

Troubleshooting the request_sync service

The request_sync service requires that the initial sync from Google includes the agent_user_id. If not, the service will log an error that reads something like “Request contains an invalid argument”. If this happens, then unlink the account from Home Control and relink.

The request_sync service may fail with a 404 if the project_id of the Homegraph API differs from the project_id of the Actions SDK found in the preferences of your project on developer console. Resolve this by:

1. Removing your project from the developer console.
2. Add a new project to the cloud console. Here you get a new project_id.
3. Enable Homegraph API to the new project.
4. Generate a new API key.
5. Again, create a new project in the developer console. Described above. But at the step ‘Build under the Actions SDK box’ choose your newly created project. By this, they share the same project_id.