Sky effect

Use this action to run the firmware-based Sky effect, which animates a sky scene across the device. This is a hardware effect that only works on LIFX Ceiling lights. The effect emulates three types of sky: Sunrise, Sunset, and Clouds. The default values and palette for each type match those used by the LIFX smartphone app.

By default, the light is turned on when the effect starts. Turn off the power on option to leave a light that is off untouched.

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 run the sky effect 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 LIFX Ceiling lights you want to animate.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Sky effect.
7. Fill in the options you want to use.
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 lifx.effect_sky. A basic example looks like this:

action: lifx.effect_sky
target:
  entity_id: light.lifx_ceiling
data:
  sky_type: Sunrise
  speed: 600

This runs a five-minute Sunrise across the LIFX Ceiling.

Options in YAML

Good to know

• The palette is shared between all three sky types. To use a custom palette, provide all six colors in this order:
  1. Sky: the background sky color for the Clouds sky type.
  2. Night sky: the starting or finishing color of the sky when no sun is visible, for the Sunrise and Sunset sky types.
  3. Dawn sky: the color of the sky just as the sun appears.
  4. Dawn sun: the color of the sun just as it appears.
  5. Full sun: the color of the sun as it covers the whole light.
  6. Final sun: the color of the full sun at the end of the effect.

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 light entity behind that target.

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

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.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one:

• Morph effect: Run the firmware-based Morph effect on LIFX matrix lights.

• Stop effect: Stop any running software or hardware effect on LIFX lights.