Update profile
The Update profile action changes the information and pictures on your Mastodon profile.
This is handy when you want your profile to reflect what is happening at home, for example updating your bio with the current indoor temperature or swapping your header image with the season. You can update your display name, bio, pictures, and several profile settings.
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 update your profile from an automation or a script:
- Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
- Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
- 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.
- In the Then do section, select Add action.
- From the search box, search for and select Mastodon: Update profile.
- Select the Mastodon account to update and set the fields you want to change.
- 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
An image to set as your profile picture. WEBP, PNG, or JPG. At most 8 MB. Downscaled to 400x400px. Cannot be combined with deleting the profile picture.
Permanently remove your current profile picture. Cannot be combined with setting a profile picture.
An image to set as your profile header. WEBP, PNG, or JPG. At most 8 MB. Downscaled to 1500x500px. Cannot be combined with deleting the header picture.
Permanently remove your current header picture. Cannot be combined with setting a header picture.
Lock your profile. A locked profile requires you to approve followers and hides your posts from non-followers.
Whether your profile should be discoverable. Public posts and the profile may be featured or recommended across Mastodon.
Up to four additional profile fields as name and value pairs, such as your homepage or pronouns. This replaces all existing fields, not just the ones you set here.
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.update_profile. A basic example looks like this:
action: mastodon.update_profile
data:
config_entry_id: 6b4be47a1fa7c3764f14cf756dc9899d
display_name: "Home Assistant"
note: "Automated updates from my smart home."
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
An image to set as your profile picture. WEBP, PNG, or JPG. At most 8 MB. Downscaled to 400x400px. Cannot be combined with delete_avatar.
Permanently remove your current profile picture. Cannot be combined with avatar.
An image to set as your profile header. WEBP, PNG, or JPG. At most 8 MB. Downscaled to 1500x500px. Cannot be combined with delete_header.
Permanently remove your current header picture. Cannot be combined with header.
Lock your profile. A locked profile requires you to approve followers and hides your posts from non-followers.
Whether your profile should be discoverable. Public posts and the profile may be featured or recommended across Mastodon.
Up to four additional profile fields as name and value pairs. This replaces all existing fields, not just the ones you set here.
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.
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:
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Post: Posts a status on your Mastodon account.
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Get account: Gets information about a Mastodon account.
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Mute account: Mutes a Mastodon account.
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Unmute account: Unmutes a Mastodon account.