Get account

The Get account action looks up a Mastodon account and returns its details, such as the display name, follower count, and number of posts.

This is handy when you want to react to changes on an account you follow, for example showing a follower count on your dashboard or triggering an automation when an account publishes a new post. It only returns accounts that are federated with your instance.

This action returns its result in a response variable, which you can use in later steps of the same automation or script.

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 get account information 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 Mastodon: Get account.
6. Select the Mastodon instance to use and enter the Account name to look up.
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 mastodon.get_account. Store the result in a response variable so you can use it in later steps:

action: mastodon.get_account
data:
  config_entry_id: 6b4be47a1fa7c3764f14cf756dc9899d
  account_name: "@[email protected]"
response_variable: account_details

To find the config_entry_id, go to Developer tools > Actions, select this action, choose your Mastodon instance, and switch to YAML mode.

Options in YAML

Response data

The response contains an account mapping with the account details. Useful fields include:

• display_name: The display name shown on the profile.
• username: The account username.
• followers_count: The number of accounts that follow this account.
• following_count: The number of accounts this account follows.
• statuses_count: The total number of posts published by the account.
• last_status_at: The date the last post was published.
• note: The account bio.
• url: The public URL of the account profile.

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:

• Post: Posts a status on your Mastodon account.

• Mute account: Mutes a Mastodon account.

• Unmute account: Unmutes a Mastodon account.

• Update profile: Updates your Mastodon profile information and pictures.