Snapshot

The Snapshot action saves the current playback state of one or more Snapcast speakers, so you can return to it later with Restore.

This pair is handy when you want to interrupt playback for a doorbell or a notification sound and then pick up right where you left off.

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 take a snapshot 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 Snapcast speakers you want to snapshot.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Snapshot.
7. 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 snapcast.snapshot. A basic example looks like this:

action: snapcast.snapshot
target:
  entity_id: media_player.snapcast_living_room

This saves the current playback state of the selected speaker.

Options in YAML

This action has no additional 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 media_player entity behind that target.

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

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: pause for a doorbell and resume afterwards

When the doorbell rings, snapshot the speakers, play a chime, then restore playback.

• Trigger: The doorbell button is pressed
• Action: Snapcast: Snapshot, play the chime, then Snapcast: Restore

alias: "Doorbell chime with resume"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.doorbell
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: snapcast.snapshot
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.snapcast_living_room
  - action: media_player.play_media
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.snapcast_living_room
    data:
      media_content_id: "media-source://media_source/local/doorbell.mp3"
      media_content_type: music
  - delay: "00:00:10"
  - action: snapcast.restore
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.snapcast_living_room

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:

• Restore: Restores a previously taken snapshot of one or more Snapcast speakers.

• Set latency: Sets the latency of a Snapcast speaker.