Get shopping list items

Use this action to get the items on a Mealie shopping list, including structured data for labels, units, and food. This is handy when you want to read the list out loud or send it in a notification.

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 shopping list items 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 Mealie shopping lists you want to read.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Get shopping list items.
7. In the Response variable field, enter a name to store the data in, such as shopping_list.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

This action has no additional 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 mealie.get_shopping_list_items. Store the result in a response variable so you can use it in later steps:

action: mealie.get_shopping_list_items
target:
  entity_id: todo.mealie_shopping_list
response_variable: shopping_list

This gets the items on the targeted shopping list and stores them in the shopping_list response variable.

Options in YAML

This action has no additional options in YAML.

Response data

The action returns the items on each shopping list you targeted, including structured data for labels, units, and food.

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 todo entity behind that target.

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

• The Mealie shopping lists are exposed as to-do list entities, so you target them like any other to-do list.

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:

• Get recipes: Search Mealie for recipes that match your search terms.

• Get meal plan: Get the Mealie meal plan for a specified date range.