Generic toggle

Use this action to toggle one or more entities on or off, no matter which domain they belong to. It works like light.toggle or switch.toggle, but it is not tied to a single domain. That means you can toggle a light and a switch in the same action. A common use is a single button that flips a mix of devices to the opposite of their current state.

Home Assistant passes the request on to the matching toggle action for each entity’s domain. If an entity’s domain does not support toggling, that entity is skipped.

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 toggle entities 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. Search for and select Generic toggle.
6. Under Targets (see Targets), select the entities, devices, or areas you want to toggle.
7. Select Save.

Options in the UI

This action has no options other than its targets.

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 homeassistant.toggle. A basic example looks like this:

action: homeassistant.toggle
target:
  entity_id:
    - light.living_room
    - switch.tv

Options in YAML

This action has no options other than its target.

Targets of the action

This action requires a target. The target is the object of the action. Unlike most actions, the generic toggle action is not limited to one domain. You can point it at any mix of entities that can be toggled, such as lights, switches, and fans.

• Entity: one specific entity, such as light.living_room.
• Device: every entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every entity on a floor.
• Label: every entity that shares a label.

You can combine target types in one action. For example, you can add a single light and a whole area at once.

Good to know

• Each entity flips to the opposite of its current state. Entities that are on turn off, and entities that are off turn on.
• Entities whose domain does not support toggling are skipped.

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.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one:

• Generic turn on: Turns on one or more entities across any domain in a single action.

• Generic turn off: Turns off one or more entities across any domain in a single action.