Template cover

The template platform can create covers that combine integrations and provides the ability to run scripts or invoke actions for each of the open, close, stop, position and tilt commands of a cover.

Configuration

To enable Template Covers in your installation, add the following to your configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more] file:

# Example configuration.yaml entry
cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      garage_door:
        device_class: garage
        friendly_name: "Garage Door"
        value_template: "{{ states('sensor.garage_door')|float > 0 }}"
        open_cover:
          action: script.open_garage_door
        close_cover:
          action: script.close_garage_door
        stop_cover:
          action: script.stop_garage_door

Configuration Variables

covers map Required

List of your covers.

friendly_name string (Optional)

Name to use in the frontend.

unique_id string (Optional)

An ID that uniquely identifies this cover. Set this to a unique value to allow customization through the UI.

value_template template (Optional)

Defines a template to get the state of the cover. Valid output values from the template are open, opening, closing and closed which are directly mapped to the corresponding states. In addition, true is valid as a synonym to open and false as a synonym to closed. If both a value_template and a position_template are specified, only opening and closing are set from the value_template. If the template produces a None value the state will be set to unknown.

position_template template (Optional)

Defines a template to get the position of the cover. Legal values are numbers between 0 (closed) and 100 (open). If the template produces a None value the current position will be set to unknown.

icon_template template (Optional)

Defines a template to specify which icon to use.

entity_picture_template template (Optional)

Defines a template for the entity picture of the cover.

availability_template template (Optional, default: true)

Defines a template to get the available state of the entity. If the template either fails to render or returns True, "1", "true", "yes", "on", "enable", or a non-zero number, the entity will be available. If the template returns any other value, the entity will be unavailable. If not configured, the entity will always be available. Note that the string comparison is not case sensitive; "TrUe" and "yEs" are allowed.

device_class string (Optional)

Sets the class of the device, changing the device state and icon that is displayed on the frontend.

open_cover action (Inclusive)

Defines an action to open the cover. If open_cover is specified, close_cover must also be specified. At least one of open_cover and set_cover_position must be specified.

close_cover action (Inclusive)

Defines an action to close the cover.

stop_cover action (Optional)

Defines an action to stop the cover.

set_cover_position action (Optional)

Defines an action to set to a cover position (between 0 and 100). The variable position will contain the entity’s set position.

set_cover_tilt_position action (Optional)

Defines an action to set the tilt of a cover (between 0 and 100). The variable tilt will contain the entity’s set tilt position.

optimistic boolean (Optional, default: false)

Force cover position to use optimistic mode.

tilt_optimistic boolean (Optional, default: false)

Force cover tilt position to use optimistic mode.

tilt_template template (Optional)

Defines a template to get the tilt state of the cover. Legal values are numbers between 0 (closed) and 100 (open). If the template produces a None value the current tilt state will be set to unknown.

Template and action variables

State-based template entities have the special template variable this available in their templates and actions. The this variable aids self-referencing of an entity’s state and attribute in templates and actions.

Considerations

If you are using the state of a platform that takes extra time to load, the Template Cover 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.cover.source.state == 'open' }} with this equivalent that returns true/false and never gives an unknown result: {{ is_state('cover.source', 'open') }}

Optimistic mode

In optimistic mode, the cover position state is maintained internally. This mode is automatically enabled if neither value_template or position_template are specified. Note that this is unlikely to be very reliable without some feedback mechanism, since there is otherwise no way to know if the cover is moving properly. The cover can be forced into optimistic mode by using the optimistic attribute. There is an equivalent mode for tilt_position that is enabled when tilt_template is not specified or when the tilt_optimistic attribute is used.

Combining value_template and position_template

If both a value_template and a position_template are specified only opening and closing states are set directly from the value_template, the open and closed states will instead be derived from the cover position.

value_template output result
open state defined by position_template
closed state defined by position_template
true state defined by position_template
false state defined by position_template
opening state set to opening
closing state set to closing
No change of state or position

Examples

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

Garage door

This example converts a garage door with a controllable switch and position sensor into a cover. The condition check is optional, but suggested if you use the same switch to open and close the garage.

cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      garage_door:
        device_class: garage
        friendly_name: "Garage Door"
        position_template: "{{ states('sensor.garage_door') }}"
        open_cover:
          - condition: state
            entity_id: sensor.garage_door
            state: "off"
          - action: switch.turn_on
            target:
              entity_id: switch.garage_door
        close_cover:
          - condition: state
            entity_id: sensor.garage_door
            state: "on"
          - action: switch.turn_off
            target:
              entity_id: switch.garage_door
        stop_cover:
          action: switch.turn_on
          target:
            entity_id: switch.garage_door
        icon_template: >-
          {% if states('sensor.garage_door')|float > 0 %}
            mdi:garage-open
          {% else %}
            mdi:garage
          {% endif %}

Multiple covers

This example allows you to control two or more covers at once.

homeassistant:
  customize:
    cover_group:
      assumed_state: true

cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      cover_group:
        friendly_name: "Cover Group"
        open_cover:
          action: script.cover_group
          data:
            modus: "open"
        close_cover:
          action: script.cover_group
          data:
            modus: "close"
        stop_cover:
          action: script.cover_group
          data:
            modus: "stop"
        set_cover_position:
          action: script.cover_group_position
          data:
            position: "{{position}}"
        set_cover_tilt_position:
          action: script.cover_group_tilt_position
          data:
            tilt: "{{tilt}}"
        value_template: "{{is_state('sensor.cover_group', 'open')}}"
        icon_template: >-
          {% if is_state('sensor.cover_group', 'open') %}
            mdi:window-open
          {% else %}
            mdi:window-closed
          {% endif %}

sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      cover_group:
        value_template: >-
          {% if is_state('cover.bedroom', 'open') %}
            open
          {% elif is_state('cover.livingroom', 'open') %}
            open
          {% else %}
            closed
          {% endif %}

script:
  cover_group:
    sequence:
      - action: "cover.{{modus}}_cover"
        target:
          entity_id:
            - cover.bedroom
            - cover.livingroom
  cover_group_position:
    sequence:
      - action: cover.set_cover_position
        target:
          entity_id:
            - cover.bedroom
            - cover.livingroom
        data:
          position: "{{position}}"

automation:
  - alias: "Close covers at night"
    triggers:
      - trigger: sun
        event: sunset
        offset: "+00:30:00"
    actions:
      - action: cover.set_cover_position
        target:
          entity_id: cover.cover_group
        data:
          position: 25

Change the icon

This example shows how to change the icon based on the cover state.

cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      cover_group:
        friendly_name: "Cover Group"
        open_cover:
          action: script.cover_group
          data:
            modus: "open"
        close_cover:
          action: script.cover_group
          data:
            modus: "close"
        stop_cover:
          action: script.cover_group
          data:
            modus: "stop"
        value_template: "{{is_state('sensor.cover_group', 'open')}}"
        icon_template: >-
          {% if is_state('sensor.cover_group', 'open') %}
            mdi:window-open
          {% else %}
            mdi:window-closed
          {% endif %}

Change the entity picture

This example shows how to change the entity picture based on the cover state.

cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      cover_group:
        friendly_name: "Cover Group"
        open_cover:
          action: script.cover_group
          data:
            modus: "open"
        close_cover:
          action: script.cover_group
          data:
            modus: "close"
        stop_cover:
          action: script.cover_group
          data:
            modus: "stop"
        value_template: "{{is_state('sensor.cover_group', 'open')}}"
        entity_picture_template: >-
          {% if is_state('sensor.cover_group', 'open') %}
            /local/cover-open.png
          {% else %}
            /local/cover-closed.png
          {% endif %}