Create scene

Use this action to create a scene while Home Assistant is running, without adding it to your configuration. You can list the 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] and the states you want them to have, take a snapshot of the states they have right now, or combine both.

A scene created this way is temporary. It disappears when you reload the scenes or restart Home Assistant.

Snapshots make this action a good fit for automations that change something for a while and then put everything back the way it was.

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 create a scene 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. From the search box, search for and select Create scene.
6. Enter a Scene entity ID for the new scene, in lowercase and with underscores instead of spaces.
7. Fill in Entity states, Entities snapshot, or both.
8. 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

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 scene.create. A basic example looks like this:

action: scene.create
data:
  scene_id: my_scene
  entities:
    light.tv_back_light:
      state: "on"
      brightness: 100
    light.ceiling: "off"

This creates scene.my_scene, which sets the two lights to those states when you activate it.

To store the states the entities have right now, use a snapshot instead:

action: scene.create
data:
  scene_id: before
  snapshot_entities:
    - climate.ecobee
    - light.ceiling_lights

Options in YAML

Good to know

• Set at least one of entities or snapshot_entities. You can also combine them, for example to store the current state of some entities and pick specific states for others.
• If a scene with the same ID was created with this action before, it is overwritten. If a scene with that ID comes from your YAML configuration, nothing happens and a warning appears in your logs.
• Scenes created with this action are removed again by Reload scenes or by a restart. To remove one on demand, use Delete scene.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Settings > 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: restore the room after a window is closed

Store the current states before turning things off, then activate the stored scene once the window is closed again.

• Trigger: Window opened
  • Target: Window
• Action: Create scene
  • Scene entity ID: before
  • Entities snapshot: thermostat and ceiling lights

- alias: "Window opened"
  triggers:
    - trigger: window.opened
      target:
        entity_id: binary_sensor.window
  actions:
    - action: scene.create
      data:
        scene_id: before
        snapshot_entities:
          - climate.ecobee
          - light.ceiling_lights
    - action: light.turn_off
      target:
        entity_id: light.ceiling_lights
    - action: climate.set_hvac_mode
      target:
        entity_id: climate.ecobee
      data:
        hvac_mode: "off"

alias: "Window closed"
triggers:

trigger: window.closed
target:
entity_id: binary_sensor.window
actions:
action: scene.turn_on
target:
entity_id: scene.before

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:

• Activate scene: Activates a scene.

• Delete scene: Deletes a scene that was created on the fly.

• Apply scene: Activates a set of entity states without defining a scene first.