MQTT Light

The mqtt light platform lets you control your MQTT enabled lights. It supports setting brightness, color temperature, effects, flashing, on/off, RGB colors, transitions, XY colors and white values.

In an ideal scenario, the MQTT device will have a state topic to publish state changes. If these messages are published with a RETAIN flag, the MQTT light will receive an instant state update after subscription and will start with the correct state. Otherwise, the initial state of the switch will be false / off.

When a state topic is not available, the light will work in optimistic mode. In this mode, the light will immediately change state after every command. Otherwise, the light will wait for state confirmation from the device (message from state_topic).

Optimistic mode can be forced, even if the state_topic is available. Try to enable it, if experiencing incorrect light operation.

# Example configuration.yml entry
light:
  - platform: mqtt
    command_topic: "office/rgb1/light/switch"

Configuration Variables

name

(string)(Optional)The name of the light.

Default value: MQTT Light

command_topic

(string)(Required)The MQTT topic to publish commands to change the switch state.

brightness_command_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic to publish commands to change the light’s brightness.

brightness_scale

(integer)(Optional)Defines the maximum brightness value (i.e. 100%) of the MQTT device.

Default value: 255

brightness_state_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic subscribed to receive brightness state updates.

brightness_value_template

(string)(Optional)Defines a template to extract the brightness value.

color_temp_command_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic to publish commands to change the light’s color temperature state. The color temperature command slider has a range of 157 to 500 mireds (micro reciprocal degrees).

color_temp_state_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic subscribed to receive color temperature state updates.

color_temp_value_template

(string)(Optional)Defines a template to extract the color temperature value.

effect_command_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic to publish commands to change the light’s effect state.

effect_state_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic subscribed to receive effect state updates.

effect_value_template

(string)(Optional)Defines a template to extract the effect value.

effect_list

(string list)(Optional)The list of effects the light supports.

on_command_type

(string)(Optional)Defines when on the payload_on is sent. Using last (the default) will send any style (brightness, color, etc) topics first and then a payload_on to the command_topic. Using first will send the payload_on and then any style topics. Using brightness will only send brightness commands instead of the payload_on to turn the light on.

optimistic

(boolean)(Optional)Flag that defines if switch works in optimistic mode.

Default value: true if no state topic defined, else false.

payload_on

(string)(Optional)The payload that represents enabled state.

Default value: true

payload_off

(string)(Optional)The payload that represents disabled state.

Default value: false

qos

(integer)(Optional)The maximum QoS level of the state topic.

Default value: 0

retain

(boolean)(Optional)If the published message should have the retain flag on or not.

Default value: false

rgb_command_template

(string)(Optional)Defines a template to compose message which will be sent to rgb_command_topic. Available variables: red, green and blue.

rgb_command_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic to publish commands to change the light’s RGB state.

rgb_state_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic subscribed to receive RGB state updates. The expected payload is the RGB values separated by commas, for example 255,0,127.

rgb_value_template

(string)(Optional)Defines a template to extract the RGB value.

state_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic subscribed to receive state updates.

state_value_template

(string)(Optional)Defines a template to extract the state value. The template should match the payload on and off values, so if your light uses power on to turn on, your state_value_template string should return power on when the switch is on. For example if the message is just on, your state_value_template should be power .

white_value_command_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic to publish commands to change the light’s white value.

white_value_state_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic subscribed to receive white value updates.

white_value_template

(string)(Optional)Defines a template to extract the white value.

xy_command_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic to publish commands to change the light’s XY state.

xy_state_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic subscribed to receive XY state updates.

xy_value_template

(string)(Optional)Defines a template to extract the XY value.

availability_topic

(string)(Optional)The MQTT topic subscribed to receive availability (online/offline) updates.

payload_available

(string)(Optional)The payload that represents the available state.

Default value: online

payload_not_available

(string)(Optional)The payload that represents the unavailable state.

Default value: offline

Make sure that your topics match exactly. some-topic/ and some-topic are different topics.

XY and RGB can not be used at the same time. If both are provided, XY overrides RGB.

Comparison of light MQTT platforms

Function	`mqtt`	`mqtt_json`	`mqtt_template`
Brightness	✔	✔	✔
Color temperature	✔	✔	✔
Effects	✔	✔	✔
Flashing	✘	✔	✔
RGB Color	✔	✔	✔
Transitions	✘	✔	✔
XY Color	✔	✔	✘
White Value	✔	✔	✔

Examples

In this section you will find some real life examples of how to use this sensor.

Brightness and RGB support

To enable a light with brightness and RGB support in your installation, add the following to your configuration.yaml file:

# Example configuration.yml entry
light:
  - platform: mqtt
    name: "Office Light RGB"
    state_topic: "office/rgb1/light/status"
    command_topic: "office/rgb1/light/switch"
    brightness_state_topic: "office/rgb1/brightness/status"
    brightness_command_topic: "office/rgb1/brightness/set"
    rgb_state_topic: "office/rgb1/rgb/status"
    rgb_command_topic: "office/rgb1/rgb/set"
    state_value_template: "{{ value_json.state }}"
    brightness_value_template: "{{ value_json.brightness }}"
    rgb_value_template: "{{ value_json.rgb | join(',') }}"
    qos: 0
    payload_on: "ON"
    payload_off: "OFF"
    optimistic: false

Brightness and no RGB support

To enable a light with brightness (no RGB version) in your installation, add the following to your configuration.yaml file:

# Example configuration.yml entry
light:
  - platform: mqtt
    name: "Office light"
    state_topic: "office/light/status"
    command_topic: "office/light/switch"
    brightness_state_topic: 'office/light/brightness'
    brightness_command_topic: 'office/light/brightness/set'
    qos: 0
    payload_on: "ON"
    payload_off: "OFF"
    optimistic: false

Brightness without on commands

To enable a light that sends only brightness topics to turn it on, add the following to your configuration.yaml file. The command_topic is only used to send an off command in this case:

# Example configuration.yml entry
light:
  - platform: mqtt
    name: "Brightness light"
    state_topic: "office/light/status"
    command_topic: "office/light/switch"
    payload_off: "OFF"
    brightness_state_topic: 'office/light/brightness'
    brightness_command_topic: 'office/light/brightness/set'
    on_command_type: 'brightness'

Implementations

A basic example using a nodeMCU board (ESP8266) to control its built-in LED (on/off).
Another example to control a RGB LED (on/off, brightness, and colors).