Set text overlay

Use this action to set the text overlay shown on the left and right side of one or more motionEye cameras. Each side can show a timestamp, the camera name, custom text, or nothing.

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 set a text overlay 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 motionEye camera you want to change.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Set text overlay.
7. Choose what to show with Left text overlay and Right text overlay. If you pick custom text, enter it in Left custom text or Right custom text.
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 motioneye.set_text_overlay. A basic example looks like this:

action: motioneye.set_text_overlay
target:
  entity_id: camera.office
data:
  left_text: timestamp
  right_text: custom-text
  custom_right_text: "Alarm armed"

This shows a timestamp on the left and the custom text Alarm armed on the right of the camera.office camera.

Options in YAML

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 camera entity behind that target.

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

• Calling this action resets the motionEye cameras, which briefly pauses the stream, recordings, and motion detection.
• Make sure the Text overlay switch is turned on so the configured text overlays are actually displayed.

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.

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:

• Snapshot: Triggers a motionEye still snapshot.

• Trigger motionEye action: Triggers a motionEye action.