2026.6.3
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Post

The Post action publishes a status to your Mastodon account.

This is handy when you want Home Assistant to share something automatically, for example posting your local weather station readings each morning or announcing when your solar panels hit a production milestone. You can attach media, add a content warning, and control who sees the post.

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 post a status 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: Post.
  6. Select the Mastodon account to post to and enter the Status. Set any optional fields you need.
  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

Mastodon account (Required)

The Mastodon account to post to.
Status (Required)

The status text to post.
Visibility (Optional)

The visibility of the post: public, unlisted, private, or direct. If omitted, your account’s default visibility is used.
Who can quote (Optional)

Who can quote this post: public, followers, or nobody. Ignored if the visibility is private or direct.
Idempotency key (Optional)

A unique key for this post. Subsequent posts with the same key are ignored by your Mastodon instance for up to one hour, which prevents duplicates.
Content warning (Optional)

Text shown as a warning before the status text. If omitted, no warning is displayed.
Language (Optional)

The language of the post. If omitted, your Mastodon account preference is used.
Media (Optional)

An image or video to attach to the post.
Media description (Optional)

A description of the attached media for people with visual impairments.
Media warning (Optional)

Mark the attached media as sensitive.

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.post. A basic example looks like this:

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: mastodon.post
data:
  config_entry_id: 6b4be47a1fa7c3764f14cf756dc9899d
  status: "A toot from Home Assistant"

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

Options in YAML

config_entry_id string Required

The ID of the Mastodon config entry to use.

status string Required

The status text to post.

visibility string

The visibility of the post: public, unlisted, private, or direct. If omitted, your account’s default visibility is used.

quote_approval_policy string

Who can quote this post: public, followers, or nobody. Ignored if the visibility is private or direct.

idempotency_key string

A unique key for this post. Subsequent posts with the same key are ignored by your Mastodon instance for up to one hour, which prevents duplicates.

content_warning string

Text shown as a warning before the status text. If omitted, no warning is displayed.

language string

The language of the post. If omitted, your Mastodon account preference is used.

media string

An image or video to attach to the post.

media_description string

A description of the attached media for people with visual impairments.

media_warning boolean

Mark the attached media as sensitive.

Note

Mastodon holds idempotency keys for up to one hour. The exact timeframe is controlled by your Mastodon instance, not Home Assistant. If you do not set an idempotency key, the post is published without any duplicate check.

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.

More examples

Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Tip

You don’t need to edit YAML to use these examples. Copy a YAML snippet from this page, open the automation editor in Home Assistant, and press Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on Mac). Home Assistant automatically converts the pasted YAML into the visual editor format, whether it’s a full automation, a single trigger, a condition, or an action.

Post a private status

This posts a status that only your followers can see, because the visibility is set to private.

YAML example for a private post
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: mastodon.post
data:
  config_entry_id: 6b4be47a1fa7c3764f14cf756dc9899d
  status: "A private toot from Home Assistant"
  visibility: private

Post with media, a description, and a content warning

This posts a status with an attached image, a media description, a content warning, and an unlisted visibility so it does not appear in the public timeline.

YAML example for a media post with a content warning
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: mastodon.post
data:
  config_entry_id: 6b4be47a1fa7c3764f14cf756dc9899d
  status: "A media toot from Home Assistant"
  visibility: unlisted
  media: /config/www/funny_meme.png
  media_description: "A funny meme"
  content_warning: "This might not be funny 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.

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.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one: