Send text command

The Send text command action sends one or more commands as text queries to Google Assistant, just as if you had spoken them out loud. This lets you reach Google Assistant features that aren’t otherwise available in Home Assistant, like controlling devices that are only linked to your Google account.

You can optionally have Google Assistant’s spoken response played back on a media player, which is useful for commands that answer a question, such as asking for a joke or the weather.

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 send a text command from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. 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.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. From the search box, search for and select Google Assistant SDK: Send text command.
6. Enter the Command to send, and optionally select a Media player entity to play the audio response on.
7. Select Save.

This action does not support targets. In the UI, you are not prompted to choose an area, device, entity, or label.

Options in the UI

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 google_assistant_sdk.send_text_command. A basic example looks like this:

action: google_assistant_sdk.send_text_command
data:
  command: "turn off kitchen TV"

Options in YAML

Good to know

• To control a specific device, like streaming a camera to a TV, include the device’s name (as known by Google Assistant) in the text command itself. The Media player entity option only plays back the audio response and does not direct the command.
• You can send multiple commands in the same conversation context, which is useful for commands that need a follow-up, such as unlocking a door or opening a cover that requires a PIN.
• This action can optionally return Google Assistant’s responses. Store them in a response variable to use them later in your automation or script.

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.

Play a joke on a speaker

Ask Google Assistant to tell a joke and play the spoken response on a living room speaker.

action: google_assistant_sdk.send_text_command
data:
  command: "tell me a joke"
  media_player: media_player.living_room_speaker

Send multiple commands in one conversation

Send a sequence of commands in the same conversation context, for example to open a garage door that needs a PIN.

action: google_assistant_sdk.send_text_command
data:
  command:
    - "open the garage door"
    - "1234"

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.