Visual Editors
Both cards have point-and-click editors, so you can build and use templates without writing YAML by hand.
Add a Custom: Decluttering Template Plus card to a view (+ Add card, search declutter). Its editor has a tab strip:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Template to define | The name other cards will use. Must be unique on the dashboard. |
| Type of thing to template | Card, Badge, Row or Element. Switching this swaps the body for a starter of the new type. |
| Variables | The template's default values, as a YAML list — - name: value per line. |
Underneath is a live preview, outlined in blue and labelled with the template name, rendered from the defaults. Give every variable a default and the preview shows you what you are building as you type.
When the type is Card, a second tab gives you Home Assistant's own card editor for the body:
You get the real editor for whichever card type you chose — entity pickers, feature
pickers, interaction settings, the lot. Show code editor at the bottom left drops to
YAML whenever the visual editor cannot express what you want, which is where you put your
[[variables]].
"Unknown entity selected" is normal here. The entity field shows
[[light]], which is a placeholder, not an entity. The editor does not know that. Ignore the warning — the preview below shows the real card built from your defaults.
Swaps the template body for a different card type, using the standard card picker.
When the type is Row, you get Home Assistant's row editor instead.
Badge and Element templates have no dedicated tab — edit them under Settings → Show code editor.
Add a Custom: Decluttering Card Plus card to use a template:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Template to use | Dropdown of every template available to this dashboard, sorted. You can also type a name that does not exist yet. |
| Variables | The values to substitute, as a YAML list — - name: value per line. |
The preview updates as you type.
The dropdown includes templates defined in decluttering_templates, templates defined as
cards on any view, and templates
borrowed from other dashboards. Borrowed ones
appear a moment later, once the other dashboard has been read — the editor will not flag a
template name as unknown while that is still in flight.
| Message | Cause |
|---|---|
| No template exists with this name | Typo, or the template is on a dashboard you have not borrowed from |
| The list of variables must be an array of key and value pairs | You wrote a mapping instead of a list — every entry needs a leading -
|
Rows and picture elements have no card picker entry, so add them in YAML:
- Add (or open) an Entities or Picture Elements card.
- Click Show code editor.
- Add the entry to
entities:orelements:as shown in Rows / Elements.
The template itself can still be built with the visual template editor.
Everything the editors do is plain configuration. ⋮ → Raw configuration editor on the dashboard gives you the whole thing at once, which is usually faster for defining several templates — see Defining Templates.