Turn on thermostat
Use this action to turn on a climate device, such as a thermostat or air conditioner.
Using this action from the user interface
If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.
To turn on a climate device from an automation or a script:
- Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
- Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
- If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
- In the Then do section, select Add action.
- Select what you want to control. Under By target (see Targets), select the climate device you want to turn on.
- From the actions shown for that target, select Turn on thermostat.
- Select Save.
Options in the UI
This action has no additional options beyond the target.
Using this action in YAML
If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.
In YAML, refer to this action as climate.turn_on. A basic example looks like this:
action: climate.turn_on
target:
entity_id: climate.living_room
This turns on climate.living_room.
Options in YAML
This action has no additional YAML options beyond the target.
Targets of the action
This action requires a target. The target is the object of the action. You can point the action at a single entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more], a device, an area, a floor, or a label, and Home Assistant will run the action on every matching climate entity behind that target.
-
Entity: one specific climate entity, such as
climate.living_room. - Device: every climate entity that belongs to a device.
- Area: every climate entity in a room or area.
- Floor: every climate entity on a floor.
- Label: every climate entity that shares a label.
You can also select different target types in one action. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same action to run the action on both of them at once.
Good to know
- This action only works with climate devices that support being turned on.
Try it yourself
Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.
More examples
Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.
You don’t need to edit YAML to use these examples. Copy a YAML snippet from this page, open the automation editor in Home Assistant, and press Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on Mac). Home Assistant automatically converts the pasted YAML into the visual editor format, whether it’s a full automation, a single trigger, a condition, or an action.
Automation: turn on the thermostat in the morning
Turn on a climate device at a set time, for example to warm up the room before you get up.
- Trigger: Time: 06:30
-
Action: Turn on thermostat
- Target: Living room thermostat
Show example YAML
- alias: "Turn on the living room thermostat in the morning"
triggers:
- trigger: time
at: "06:30:00"
actions:
- action: climate.turn_on
target:
entity_id: climate.living_room
Still stuck?
The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.
AI assistants like ChatGPT or Claude can also explain actions or suggest the right one when you describe what you want in plain language.
Related actions
These actions work well alongside this one:
-
Turn off thermostat: Turns off a climate device.
-
Toggle thermostat: Toggles a climate device on or off.
-
Set thermostat HVAC mode: Sets the HVAC mode of a climate device.