Reload persons

The Reload persons action reloads person definitions from YAML. Use it after you change YAML-defined persons and want Home Assistant to apply those changes without a restart.

This action only reloads persons that are defined in YAML. It does not change people you manage from the UI.

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 use this action in an automation or 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.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. From the search box, search for and select Reload persons.
6. 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

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 person.reload:

action: person.reload

This reloads persons that are defined in YAML.

Options in YAML

This action has no additional options in YAML.

Good to know

• This action reloads YAML-defined persons only.
• People you add or edit from the UI are not changed by this action.
• If you have not changed your YAML, running this action does not make any visible changes.

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: reload YAML-defined persons from a helper

If you want a simple way to apply person changes from a dashboard, you can create a helperA helper is a virtual entity you create inside Home Assistant. It is not backed by a physical device. Helpers store values, track state, or do calculations that your automations and dashboards need. [Learn more] separately and let it trigger this action.

• Trigger: A user-created helper turns on
• Action: Reload persons

alias: "Reload persons from a helper"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: input_boolean.reload_persons
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: person.reload
  - action: input_boolean.turn_off
    target:
      entity_id: input_boolean.reload_persons

Automation: reload YAML-defined persons after a scheduled sync

If another process updates your person YAML before a set time, you can schedule this action so Home Assistant picks up those changes automatically.

• Trigger: A scheduled time
• Action: Reload persons

alias: "Reload persons after nightly YAML sync"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "03:05:00"
actions:
  - action: person.reload

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.