Run in parallel

The Run in parallel building block starts several actions at the same time, instead of one after the other. Use it when the actions don’t depend on each other and the order doesn’t matter, for example, to send several notifications at once.

Using this building block from the user interface

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes and select an automation. To edit a script, go to the Scripts tab and select the script.
2. In the Then do section of an automation, or the Sequence section of a script, select Add action.
3. Select Blocks, then select Run in parallel.
4. Inside the building block, select Add action, and add the actions to start at the same time.
   • To run some of them in order, add a Run in sequence building block, and add those actions to it.
5. Select Save.

Options in the UI

This building block has no options. You add the actions inside it.

Using this building block in YAML

In YAML, use parallel with a list of actions. This example sends two messages at the same time:

triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.motion
    to: "on"
actions:
  - parallel:
      - action: notify.send_message
        target:
          entity_id: notify.person1_device
        data:
          message: "These messages are sent at the same time!"
      - action: notify.send_message
        target:
          entity_id: notify.person2_device
        data:
          message: "These messages are sent at the same time!"

Options in YAML

Good to know

• Most automations and scripts work well with actions that run one after the other. Use Run in parallel only when the actions don’t depend on each other.
• The actions start at the same time, but they don’t always finish in the same order.
• If one action fails, the other actions keep running until they are finished or fail too.
• Variables that one action creates or changes can conflict with variables of another action. Give them different names.

Examples

Script: Wait for motion in one group, and send a message right away in another

This script runs a sequence and an action at the same time. The first is a group that waits for motion and then sends a message. The second sends a message right away, without waiting for the first group.

example_script:
  sequence:
    - parallel:
        - sequence:
            - wait_for_trigger:
                - trigger: state
                  entity_id: binary_sensor.motion
                  to: "on"
            - action: notify.send_message
              target:
                entity_id: notify.person1_device
              data:
                message: "This message awaited the motion trigger"
        - action: notify.send_message
          target:
            entity_id: notify.person2_device
          data:
            message: "I am sent immediately and do not await the above action!"