Home Assistant Manager skill

Home Assistant Manager

Operate a remote Home Assistant instance precisely: make a change, get it live, prove it worked. Optimize for the fewest safe round-trips.

Assumptions

• The repo you're editing is the HA /config dir, git-connected to the instance. Edits aren't live until pulled on the instance.
• root@homeassistant.local in examples is a placeholder. Resolve the real user/host once (project CLAUDE.md, ~/.ssh/config, or ask) and if it isn't recorded in the project CLAUDE.md yet, add it so future sessions skip this step.
• Access via one or more of: hass-cli (REST), SSH ha, or an MCP server (see below).
• Only edit .yaml/.yml/.md. Never read/write .env or secrets.yaml; use !secret.

Remote access — pick the right tool

• SSH ha — always works, needs no local env. Use for ha core check|restart|logs|info.
• hass-cli (REST) — state/service calls, but needs HASS_SERVER/HASS_TOKEN in the shell before the session starts. If they're unset, hass-cli falls back to the wrong host (localhost) and errors — don't retry, check [ -n "$HASS_TOKEN" ] once, then use SSH or MCP instead.
• MCP (preferred when available) — first-class tools for live state/control, no env juggling. Official mcp_server integration (HA core ≥2025.2) or community ha-mcp (richer, 80+ tools). Use it instead of shelling out when present.

The deploy pipeline (the one canonical flow)

Changes are not live until step 4.

1. Edit YAML locally.
2. Validate: ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha core check" (slow, ~30-60s — see "when to skip" below).
3. Commit + push: git add … && git commit -m "…" && git push.
4. Make it live: ssh root@homeassistant.local "cd /config && git pull".
5. Apply: reload if possible, else restart (table below).
6. Verify (next section).

Rapid iteration: skip git and scp straight to the instance, then reload — good for dashboards and tight test loops. Commit to git only once stable. scp automations.yaml root@homeassistant.local:/config/ → reload.

When to skip ha core check: it parses the whole config and is slow. For an isolated YAML edit you're confident in, a domain reload surfaces errors faster and the logs tell you immediately. Always run it before a restart or for configuration.yaml changes.

Reload vs restart

Change	Action
automations, scripts, scenes, groups, template entities, themes	reload the domain (hass-cli service call automation.reload, etc.)
configuration.yaml core, new integrations, platform sensors (min/max), MQTT sensor/binary_sensor platforms, dashboard registry (lovelace_dashboards)	restart (ssh … "ha core restart", ~30s)

Prefer reload. Never restart without a passing ha core check. Before risky changes (core configuration.yaml surgery, removing an integration), snapshot first — it's cheap: ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha backups new --name pre-<change>".

Verify — don't assume it worked

1. Reload/restart the right domain.
2. For automations, trigger manually for instant feedback: hass-cli service call automation.trigger --arguments entity_id=automation.<id> (or call the service via MCP). This bypasses conditions by default — it proves the actions, not the gate. To test conditions too, pass skip_condition: false or exercise the real trigger, then read the automation's trace in the UI.
3. Read the logs filtered to your change: ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha core logs | grep -iE '<name>|error' | tail -20". Good: Running automation actions, Executing step …. Bad: Invalid data for call_service, TypeError, Template variable warning, Error executing script.
4. Confirm the real outcome: device/sensor state (hass-cli state get <entity>), or ask the user for notification-type actions.
5. On error: fix → re-pull/scp → reload → re-check. Loop until clean.

Automations — write modern syntax

HA 2024.10 renamed the keys; legacy syntax still works but don't emit it in new code: top-level triggers:/conditions:/actions: (plural), trigger: not platform: inside a trigger, action: not service: for calls. Every automation gets a stable id: (traces and UI editing need it) plus an alias.

Full automation reference (syntax table, mode: behavior, blueprints, trace debugging, pitfalls) → read reference/automations.md when writing or debugging automations.

Templates — the precision rules

• Always coerce types before comparing: states('sensor.x') | int(0) < 7. Bare states are strings; '5' < 7 raises TypeError. Provide a default (int(0)) so startup None doesn't error.
• Test in Developer Tools → Template before committing.
• state_attr(...) returns None if the entity/attr is missing — guard it.

Conventions

• Surgical edits; preserve comments; 2-space indent.
• Validate before restart; prefer reload; verify from logs.
• Use context7 MCP for current HA docs before non-trivial or unfamiliar config.

Dashboards

Lovelace dashboards live in .storage/lovelace.* (JSON). UI edits show on a browser refresh; direct file edits (scp/git) may not appear until a ha core restart — HA caches the lovelace store in memory. Adding a new dashboard to .storage/lovelace_dashboards also needs a restart. scp + refresh is the fast loop; validate JSON first: python3 -m json.tool .storage/lovelace.x > /dev/null. After deploying, validate the UI visually in the browser (see the reference) — logs/state won't catch a broken card or a mis-sorted popup.

Full dashboard reference (view types, card catalog, template cards, tablet layout, pitfalls, debugging) → read reference/dashboards.md when doing UI work. Modern HA: native sections view (drag-drop grid, badges, heading cards) and feature-rich tile cards now cover most needs without custom cards; reach for Mushroom only when you want its specific look.

Quick reference

# Validate / apply
ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha core check"
ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha core restart"
ssh root@homeassistant.local "cd /config && git pull"     # make pushed changes live

# Logs
ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha core logs | grep -iE 'error|<name>' | tail -20"

# State / services (needs env loaded, or use MCP)
hass-cli state get <entity>
hass-cli service call <domain>.reload
hass-cli service call automation.trigger --arguments entity_id=automation.<id>

# Rapid deploy
scp <file>.yaml root@homeassistant.local:/config/ && hass-cli service call automation.reload