Track a habit

Use this action to score a habit, increasing its positive or negative streak depending on the direction you choose.

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 score a habit 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 Habitica: Score habit.
  6. Select the Config entry of the character, the Task to score, and the Direction.
  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

Select character (Required)

The Habitica character that tracks the habit.

Habit name (Required)

The habit to score by name, task ID, or alias.

Reward or loss (Required)

Is it positive (➕) or negative (➖) progress you want to track for your habit.

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 habitica.score_habit:

ActionActions are used in several places in Home Assistant. As part of a script or automation, actions define what is going to happen once a trigger is activated. In scripts, an action is called *sequence*. [Learn more]
action: habitica.score_habit
data:
  config_entry: 6b4be47a1fa7c3764f14cf756dc9899d
  task: "Drink water"
  direction: up

Options in YAML

config_entry string Required

The Habitica character that tracks the habit.

task string Required

The habit to score by name, task ID, or alias.

direction string Required

The direction to score. Use up for positive progress or down for negative progress.

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.

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.

Tip

AI assistants like ChatGPT or Claude can also explain actions or suggest the right one when you describe what you want in plain language.