Activate Hue scene

Use this action to activate a Hue scene with more control than the standard scene action gives you. On top of turning the scene on, you can start its dynamic color palette, set how fast that palette cycles, adjust the brightness, and choose how long the lights take to transition. A common use is to start a slow, dynamic scene in the evening and switch to a brighter static scene in the morning.

This action targets the Hue scene 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] you want to activate. These scene entities are created automatically from the scenes you set up in the Hue app.

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 activate a Hue scene 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. Select what you want to control. Under By target (see Targets), select the Hue scene you want to activate.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Activate Hue scene.
7. Optionally, set the transition, dynamic mode, speed, and brightness.
8. Select Save.

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 hue.activate_scene. A basic example looks like this:

action: hue.activate_scene
target:
  entity_id: scene.living_room_energize

This activates the scene.living_room_energize Hue scene.

Options in YAML

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 scene entity behind that target.

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

• Dynamic mode and speed only have an effect on scenes that support a dynamic color palette.
• Use this action when you need the extra options. To simply turn a scene on, the standard scene action is enough.

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:

• Activate scene: Activates a Hue scene by its group and scene name as stored in the Hue app.