Home Assistant Automations at Scale

I have drafted a motion-activated lighting automation using the restart mode. This ensures that every time motion is detected, the 5-minute timer resets, preventing the light from turning off while someone is still outside. I used entity_id for portability and included a for duration on the trigger to prevent flapping.

Porch Motion Automation

- id: porch_light_motion_control
  alias: "Outdoor: Porch Light on Motion"
  description: "Turns on porch light at night when motion is detected and off after 5 minutes of quiet."
  mode: restart
  trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id: binary_sensor.porch_motion
      from: "off"
      to: "on"
  condition:
    - condition: state
      entity_id: sun.sun
      state: "below_horizon"
  action:
    - service: light.turn_on
      target:
        entity_id: light.porch_light
    - wait_for_trigger:
        - platform: state
          entity_id: binary_sensor.porch_motion
          from: "on"
          to: "off"
          for:
            minutes: 5
    - service: light.turn_off
      target:
        entity_id: light.porch_light

Next steps

1. Copy this YAML into your automations.yaml file.
2. Run python scripts/ha_check.py automations.yaml to ensure no other automation is fighting for control of light.porch_light.
3. Go to Developer Tools -> YAML -> Reload Automations to apply the changes.