Template Switch

The template platform creates switches that combines components.

For example, if you have a garage door with a toggle switch that operates the motor and a sensor that allows you know whether the door is open or closed, you can combine these into a switch that knows whether the garage door is open or closed.

This can simplify the GUI and make it easier to write automations. You can mark the components you have combined as hidden so they don’t appear themselves.

To enable Template Switches in your installation, add the following to your configuration.yaml file:

# Example configuration.yaml entry
switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      skylight:
        value_template: "{{ is_state('sensor.skylight', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: switch.turn_on
          data:
            entity_id: switch.skylight_open
        turn_off:
          service: switch.turn_on
          data:
            entity_id: switch.skylight_close

Configuration Variables

switches

(map)(Required)List of your switches.

friendly_name: (string)(Optional)Name to use in the frontend.
entity_id: (string | list)(Optional)A list of entity IDs so the switch only reacts to state changes of these entities. This can be used if the automatic analysis fails to find all relevant entities.
value_template: (template)(Required)Defines a template to set the state of the switch.
turn_on: (action)(Required)Defines an action to run when the switch is turned on.
turn_off: (action)(Required)Defines an action to run when the switch is turned off.
icon_template: (template)(Optional)Defines a template for the icon of the switch.

Considerations

If you are using the state of a platform that takes extra time to load, the Template Switch may get an unknown state during startup. This results in error messages in your log file until that platform has completed loading. If you use is_state() function in your template, you can avoid this situation. For example, you would replace {{ states.switch.source.state == 'on' }} with this equivalent that returns true/false and never gives an unknown result: {{ is_state('switch.source', 'on') }}

Examples

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

Copy Switch

This example shows a switch that copies another switch.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      copy:
        value_template: "{{ is_state('switch.source', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: switch.turn_on
          data:
            entity_id: switch.source
        turn_off:
          service: switch.turn_off
          data:
            entity_id: switch.source

Toggle Switch

This example shows a switch that takes its state from a sensor, and toggles a switch.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      blind:
        friendly_name: "Blind"
        value_template: "{{ is_state_attr('switch.blind_toggle', 'sensor_state', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: switch.toggle
          data:
            entity_id: switch.blind_toggle
        turn_off:
          service: switch.toggle
          data:
            entity_id: switch.blind_toggle

Sensor and Two Switches

This example shows a switch that takes its state from a sensor, and uses two momentary switches to control a device.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      skylight:
        friendly_name: "Skylight"
        value_template: "{{ is_state('sensor.skylight.state', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: switch.turn_on
          data:
            entity_id: switch.skylight_open
        turn_off:
          service: switch.turn_on
          data:
            entity_id: switch.skylight_close

Change The Icon

This example shows how to change the icon based on the day/night cycle.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      garage:
        value_template: "{{ is_state('cover.garage_door', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: cover.open_cover
          data:
            entity_id: cover.garage_door
        turn_off:
          service: cover.close_cover
          data:
            entity_id: cover.garage_door
        icon_template: >-
          {% if is_state('cover.garage_door', 'open') %}
            mdi:garage-open
          {% else %}
            mdi:garage
          {% endif %}

Change The Entity Picture

This example shows how to change the entity picture based on the day/night cycle.

switch:
  - platform: template
    switches:
      garage:
        value_template: "{{ is_state('cover.garage_door', 'on') }}"
        turn_on:
          service: cover.open_cover
          data:
            entity_id: cover.garage_door
        turn_off:
          service: cover.close_cover
          data:
            entity_id: cover.garage_door
        entity_picture_template: >-
          {% if is_state('cover.garage_door', 'open') %}
            /local/garage-open.png
          {% else %}
            /local/garage-closed.png
          {% endif %}