Turn off vacuum cleaner
The Turn off vacuum cleaner action turns off a supported vacuum cleaner.
Use it when your vacuum supports a separate power state and you want to shut it down after cleaning or before maintenance.
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 use this action from an automation or script:
- Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
- Open or create an automation.
- Add an action and search for Turn off vacuum cleaner.
- Choose the vacuum, area, or device to turn off.
- Select Save.
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.
action: vacuum.turn_off
target:
entity_id: vacuum.downstairs
This turns off vacuum.downstairs.
The entity_id target is optional. If omitted, all targeted supported vacuums turn off.
Options in YAML
Targets of the action
This action requires a target. The target is the object of the action. You can point the action at a single entityAn 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], a device, an area, a floor, or a label, and Home Assistant will run the action on every matching vacuum entity behind that target.
-
Entity: one specific vacuum entity, such as
vacuum.living_room. - Device: every vacuum entity that belongs to a device.
- Area: every vacuum entity in a room or area.
- Floor: every vacuum entity on a floor.
- Label: every vacuum entity that shares a label.
You can also select different target types in one action. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same action to run the action on both of them at once.
Good to know
- This action only works for vacuums that support turning off.
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.
You don’t need to edit YAML to use these examples. Copy a YAML snippet from this page, open the visual automation editor in Home Assistant, and press Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on Mac). Home Assistant automatically converts the pasted YAML into the visual editor format, whether it’s a full automation, a single trigger, a condition, or an action.
Automation: turn off the vacuum after it returns to the dock
If your vacuum supports a separate power state, this automation turns it off after it has finished cleaning and returned to the dock.
- Trigger: Vacuum cleaner returned to dock
-
Action: Turn off vacuum cleaner
- Target: Downstairs vacuum
YAML example for turning off a vacuum after docking
alias: "Turn off vacuum after docking"
triggers:
- trigger: vacuum.returned_to_dock
target:
entity_id: vacuum.downstairs
actions:
- action: vacuum.turn_off
target:
entity_id: vacuum.downstairs
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.
AI assistants like ChatGPT or Claude can also explain actions or suggest the right one when you describe what you want in plain language.