Actions: What an Automation Actually Does

The action block is the payoff of an automation — it's the work that runs once the trigger fires and any conditions clear. Actions are written in the same script syntax used everywhere else, so they can call services, fire events, and generally drive anything in your setup.

How Actions Are Shaped

Each action typically names an entity_id to act on plus any extra parameters the service accepts — brightness, color, temperature, and so on. Rather than spelling out every device setting by hand, you can also flip on a scene and let that scene describe the desired end state for a whole group of devices.

Example 1: Setting Lights at Sunset

When the sun goes down, this automation drives two lamps to a warm amber at roughly two-thirds brightness.

automation:
  # Push the porch and hallway lamps to amber at sunset.
  triggers:
    - trigger: sun
      event: sunset
  actions:
    - action: light.turn_on
      target:
        entity_id:
          - light.porch_lamp
          - light.hallway_lamp
      data:
        brightness: 170
        rgb_color: [255, 170, 40]

Example 2: A Notification, a Pause, Then Another

Because actions run as a script, you can chain several together and slot a delay between them. Here a templated notification target sends one alert, the automation waits, then sends a follow-up.

automation 2:
  # Ping my phone shortly before sunset, then again afterward.
  triggers:
    - trigger: sun
      event: sunset
      offset: -00:20
  variables:
    alert_target: notify.maria_pixel
  actions:
    # The list of actions doubles as a mini script.
    - action: "{{ alert_target }}"
      data:
        message: "Catch the sunset, it's starting!"
    - delay: 0:25
    - action: notify.notify
      data:
        message: "And that's a wrap on today's sunset."

Mixing Conditions into the Action List

Conditions aren't limited to the top-level conditions block — you can drop them straight into the action sequence. WoowTech walks the list top to bottom, and the moment a condition comes back false it stops, skipping everything after it.

Example 3: Evening Scene, Gated Midway

The automation fires on occupancy, always sends a heads-up notification, then checks whether it's dark enough before continuing to set the scene and switch on the lamps.

automation:
  - alias: "Den evening lighting"
    triggers:
      - trigger: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.den_presence
        to: "on"
    actions:
      - action: notify.notify
        data:
          message: "Den presence detected"
      - condition: or
        conditions:
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sun.sun
            attribute: elevation
            below: 6
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sensor.den_illuminance
            below: 15
      - action: scene.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: scene.den_evening
      - action: light.turn_on
        target: "{{ {'entity_id': ['light.den_main', 'light.den_corner']} }}"
      - action: switch.turn_on
        target:
          label_id: "{{ ['den_evening', 'den_after_dusk'] }}"