Clean spot

The Clean spot with vacuum cleaner action asks the vacuum to perform a concentrated cleaning cycle at its current position.

Use it when a small area needs extra attention, like around a chair, near pet bowls, or where crumbs have just landed.

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 from an automation or script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open or create an automation.
3. Add an action and search for Vacuum: Clean spot with vacuum cleaner.
4. Select the target vacuum, area, or group.
5. Select Save.

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.

action: vacuum.clean_spot
target:
  entity_id: vacuum.office

This starts a spot clean at vacuum.office’s current location.

Omitting entity_id targets all supported vacuums.

Options in YAML

YAML sometimes provides additional options for more complex use cases that are not available through the UI.

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 vacuum entity behind that target.

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

• Not all vacuum models support spot cleaning.

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: run a quick spot clean from a dashboard button

If you notice a small mess, you can trigger a dedicated spot clean without starting a full-house run. This example starts a spot clean when a helper button is pressed.

• Trigger: Helper button pressed
• Action: Clean spot
• Target: Office vacuum

alias: "Quick spot clean"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: input_button.quick_spot_clean
actions:
  - action: vacuum.clean_spot
    target:
      entity_id: vacuum.office

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.