Add shopping list item

Use this action to add an item to your shopping list. A common use is to add something automatically when Home Assistant notices you are running low, for example adding batteries to the list when a device reports a low battery.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To add an item from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. Search for and select Shopping list: Add shopping list item.
6. Enter the Name of the item to add.
7. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required. For how an automation or a script is built in YAML, refer to Automations in YAML and Scripts.

In YAML, refer to this action as shopping_list.add_item. A basic example looks like this:

action: shopping_list.add_item
data:
  name: "Milk"

Options in YAML

Good to know

• The item is added to the single shopping list that this integration provides.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Settings > Tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.

More examples

Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup. In the visual editor, select the UI options listed in the example or paste the YAML code.

Automation: add batteries when a device runs low

Add batteries to your shopping list automatically when a device reports a low battery level.

• Trigger: Numeric state crossed threshold
  • Entity: Remote battery
  • Below: 10
• Action: Shopping list: Add shopping list item
  • Name: Batteries

alias: "Buy batteries when the remote is low"
triggers:
  - trigger: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.remote_battery
    below: 10
actions:
  - action: shopping_list.add_item
    data:
      name: "Batteries"

Still stuck?

To test the action on its own, run it in the automation editor with Run action, and check the message that it shows. To see what the action did when the automation ran, open the trace of that run. For details, refer to Testing automations. For common problems and their solutions, refer to Troubleshooting automations.

If that doesn’t help, the Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related actions

Explore related actions:

• Remove shopping list item: Removes the first item with matching name from the shopping list.

• Complete shopping list item: Marks every incomplete item with matching name as completed in the shopping list.

• Clear completed shopping list items: Removes completed items from the shopping list.