Home Assistant

Command line Switch

The command_line switch platform issues specific commands when it is turned on and off. This might very well become our most powerful platform as it allows anyone to integrate any type of switch into Home Assistant that can be controlled from the command line, including calling other scripts!

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

# Example configuration.yaml entry
switch:
  - platform: command_line
    switches:
      kitchen_light:
        command_on: switch_command on kitchen
        command_off: switch_command off kitchen

Configuration variables:

  • switches (Required): The array that contains all command switches.
    • identifier (Required): Name of the command switch as slug. Multiple entries are possible.
      • command_on (Required): The action to take for on.
      • command_off (Required): The action to take for off.
      • command_state (Optional): If given, this command will be run. Returning a result code 0 will indicate that the switch is on.
      • value_template (Optional): If specified, command_state will ignore the result code of the command but the template evaluating to true will indicate the switch is on.
      • friendly_name (Optional): The name used to display the switch in the frontend.

A note on friendly_name:

When set, the friendly_name had been previously used for API calls and backend configuration instead of the object_id (“identifier”), but this behavior is changing to make the friendly_name for display purposes only. This allows users to set an identifier that emphasizes uniqueness and predictability for API and config purposes but have a prettier friendly_name still show up in the UI. As an additional benefit, if a user wanted to change the friendly_name / display name (e.g. from “Kitchen Lightswitch” to “Kitchen Switch” or “Living Room Light”, or remove the friendly_name altogether), he or she could do so without needing to change existing automations or API calls. See aREST device below for an example.

Examples

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

aREST device

The example below is doing the same as the aREST switch. The command line tool curl is used to toggle a pin which is controllable through REST.

# Example configuration.yaml entry
switch:
  platform: command_line
  switches:
    arest_pin_four:
      command_on: "/usr/bin/curl -X GET http://192.168.1.10/digital/4/1"
      command_off: "/usr/bin/curl -X GET http://192.168.1.10/digital/4/0"
      command_state: "/usr/bin/curl -X GET http://192.168.1.10/digital/4"
      value_template: '{{ value == "1" }}'
      friendly_name: Kitchen Lightswitch

Given this example, in the UI one would see the friendly_name of “Kitchen Light”. However, the identifier is arest_pin_four, making the entity_id switch.arest_pin_four, which is what one would use in automation or in API calls.

Shutdown your local host

This switch will shutdown your system that is hosting Home Assistant.

This switch will shutdown your host immediately, there will be no confirmation. 

# Example configuration.yaml entry
switch:
  platform: command_line
  switches:
    home_assistant_system_shutdown:
      command_off: "/usr/sbin/poweroff"

Control your VLC player

This switch will control a local VLC media player (Source).

# Example configuration.yaml entry
switch:
  platform: command_line
  switches:
    vlc:
      command_on: "cvlc 1.mp3 vlc://quit &"
      command_off: "pkill vlc"

Control Foscam Motion Sensor

This switch will control the motion sensor of Foscam Webcams which Support CGI Commands (Source). This switch supports statecmd, which checks the current state of motion detection.

# Example configuration.yaml entry
switch:
  platform: command_line
  switches:
    foscam_motion:
      command_on: 'curl -k "https://ipaddress:443/cgi-bin/CGIProxy.fcgi?cmd=setMotionDetectConfig&isEnable=1&usr=admin&pwd=password"'
      command_off: 'curl -k "https://ipaddress:443/cgi-bin/CGIProxy.fcgi?cmd=setMotionDetectConfig&isEnable=0&usr=admin&pwd=password"'
      command_state: 'curl -k --silent "https://ipaddress:443/cgi-bin/CGIProxy.fcgi?cmd=getMotionDetectConfig&usr=admin&pwd=password" | grep -oP "(?<=isEnable>).*?(?=</isEnable>)"'
      value_template: '{{ value == "1" }}'
  • Replace admin and password with an “Admin” privileged Foscam user
  • Replace ipaddress with the local IP address of your Foscam