Automation Ideas

Automation Ideas

Copy these into Settings, then Automations & Scenes, then create a new automation and switch to YAML mode. Replace kitchen with your own feeder's name and notify.mobile_app_phone with your own notify service.

Tell me when the food is running out

The one everybody should have.

alias: Feeder food is low
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_food_level_low
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: notify.mobile_app_phone
    data:
      title: Cat feeder
      message: The food hopper is getting low. Time for a refill.

Tell me when the food is jammed

More important than it sounds. When food sticks in the outlet, the feeder still believes it fed the cat. The schedule looks fine. Nothing looks wrong. The cat just does not get fed, and you find out much later.

alias: Feeder is jammed
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_food_outlet_stuck
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: notify.mobile_app_phone
    data:
      title: Cat feeder is jammed
      message: Food is stuck in the outlet. The cat is not being fed.
      data:
        push:
          sound:
            critical: 1
            name: default
            volume: 1.0

Tell me if the feeder falls off the network

alias: Feeder went offline
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_device_connectivity
    to: "off"
    for: "00:10:00"
actions:
  - action: notify.mobile_app_phone
    data:
      message: The cat feeder has been offline for ten minutes.

The ten minute delay matters. Without it, a brief Wi-Fi hiccup wakes you up at three in the morning for nothing.

Send me a picture when the cat visits

alias: Cat at the feeder
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: event.kitchen_motion_detected
actions:
  - action: notify.mobile_app_phone
    data:
      message: Something is at the feeder.
      data:
        image: /api/camera_proxy/camera.kitchen_camera

If this fires all day long, lower select.kitchen_motion_sensitivity a step before doing anything cleverer.

Feed the cat if I am running late

alias: Late home, feed the cat
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "19:30:00"
conditions:
  - condition: state
    entity_id: person.me
    state: not_home
actions:
  - action: button.press
    target:
      entity_id: button.kitchen_feed
  - action: notify.mobile_app_phone
    data:
      message: You are not home yet, so the cat has been fed.

Confirm every meal actually happened

alias: Meal dispensed
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: event.kitchen_meal_dispensed
actions:
  - action: notify.mobile_app_phone
    data:
      message: The cat has been fed.

Pair this with the jam alert and you have both halves: told when it works, told when it does not.

Privacy mode while I am home

Some people would rather not have a camera running in the kitchen when they are in it.

alias: Camera off while I am home
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: person.me
    to: home
actions:
  - action: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: switch.kitchen_privacy_mode
mode: single

Add the reverse automation to turn it off again when you leave.

Start recording just before a meal

Useful with an NVR, so you catch the cat arriving rather than the aftermath.

alias: Record before a meal
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: event.kitchen_meal_upcoming
actions:
  - action: camera.record
    target:
      entity_id: camera.kitchen_camera
    data:
      filename: /media/feeder/{{ now().strftime('%Y%m%d-%H%M%S') }}.mp4
      duration: 120

Remind me about the filter

alias: Feeder filter is due
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_filter_replacement_due
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: persistent_notification.create
    data:
      title: Cat feeder
      message: The feeder's filter is due for replacement.

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