Repeat until

The Repeat until building block runs a group of actions until its conditions are met. The conditions are checked after each round, so the actions always run at least once. Use it when you want to try something again until it works, for example, until a device reports that it turned on.

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 Repeat until.
4. Under Until conditions, select Add condition, and add the conditions that end the repeat.
5. Under Actions, select Add action, and add the actions to repeat.
6. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this building block in YAML

In YAML, use repeat with sequence and until. until also accepts a shorthand notation of a template condition:

repeat:
  until: "{{ is_state('device_tracker.iphone', 'home') }}"
  sequence:
    - action: script.something

Options in YAML

Repeat variable

While the actions repeat, the repeat variable shows which round is running. You can also use it in the conditions:

• repeat.index: The number of the round: 1, 2, 3, and so on.
• repeat.first: true during the first round.

Good to know

• The actions always run at least once, because the conditions are only checked after each round.
• The repeat ends when all Until conditions are met. To also end it after a number of rounds, put the conditions in an Or condition, together with a condition on repeat.index, for example, {{ repeat.index >= 5 }}. The repeat then ends when the actions work, or after 5 rounds.

Examples

Automation: Repeat a command until it works

When binary_sensor.xyz turns on, this automation runs a shell command, and repeats it until binary_sensor.something is on.

• Trigger: State changed
  • Entity: binary_sensor.xyz
  • To: On
• Condition: State
  • Entity: binary_sensor.something
  • State: Off
• Action: Repeat until
  • Actions:
    • Action: shell_command.turn_something_on
    • Action: Wait for time to pass (delay)
      • Duration: 200 milliseconds
  • Until conditions:
    • Condition: State
      • Entity: binary_sensor.something
      • State: On

triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.xyz
    to: "on"
conditions:
  - condition: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.something
    state: "off"
actions:
  - alias: "Repeat the sequence UNTIL the conditions are true"
    repeat:
      sequence:
        # Run command that for some reason doesn't always work
        - action: shell_command.turn_something_on
        # Give it time to complete
        - delay:
            milliseconds: 200
      until:
        # Did it work?
        - condition: state
          entity_id: binary_sensor.something
          state: "on"