Send a notification

The Send a notification action sends a message through the legacy notify action. Use it when a notify integration has not moved to notify entities yet, or when an existing automation still uses the generic notify.notify action.

When possible, choose a specific notify entity and use Send a notification message instead. Specific targets make it clearer where the message goes.

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 send a notification from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create to start a new one.
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 Send a notification.
6. In Message, enter the notification text.
7. Optional: In Title, enter a title for the notification.
8. Optional: Use Target or Data if the notify integration supports those fields.
9. 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 notify.notify. A basic example looks like this:

action: notify.notify
data:
  message: "The garage door has been open for 10 minutes."

This sends a message through the first notify action Home Assistant can find.

Options in YAML

Good to know

• notify.notify is shorthand for the first notify action Home Assistant can find. It might not send the message to the place you expect.
• Prefer a specific action, such as notify.send_message with a notify entity, when one is available.
• The target and data fields are integration-specific. Check the documentation for the notify integration you use before adding them.

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.

Automation: send a generic reminder notification

Send a reminder through the generic notify action every weekday morning.

• Trigger: Time: 08:00
• Condition: Day of the week is Monday to Friday
• Action: Send a notification
  • Message: Remember to check today’s calendar.

alias: "Send a weekday reminder notification"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "08:00:00"
conditions:
  - condition: time
    weekday:
      - mon
      - tue
      - wed
      - thu
      - fri
actions:
  - action: notify.notify
    data:
      message: "Remember to check today's calendar."

Automation: send a generic notification when motion is detected

Send a notification when motion is detected while nobody is home.

• Trigger: State
  • Entity: Hall motion (binary_sensor.hall_motion)
  • To: On
• Condition: State
  • Entity: Paulus (person.paulus)
  • State: Not home
• Action: Send a notification
  • Title: Motion detected
  • Message: Hall motion was detected while nobody was home.

alias: "Send a motion notification when nobody is home"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.hall_motion
    to: "on"
conditions:
  - condition: state
    entity_id: person.paulus
    state: not_home
actions:
  - action: notify.notify
    data:
      title: "Motion detected"
      message: "Hall motion was detected while nobody was home."

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:

• Send a notification message: Sends a notification message to one or more notify entities.

• Send a persistent notification: Sends a notification that is visible in the notifications panel.