Alarm is armed away

The Alarm is armed away condition passes when one or more alarm control panel 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] are armed in away mode. Use it to stop automations that make no sense in an empty house, like skipping thermostat schedules, holding back welcome-home lighting, or pausing the robot vacuum. On the flip side, use it to enable away-only automations, like dropping the heating to a setback temperature to save energy while nobody is home.

Using this condition from the user interface

If you prefer building automations visually, Home Assistant walks you through this condition step by step. You pick what to check, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To use this condition in an automation:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. In the And if section, select Add condition.
4. Select what you want to check. Under By target (see Targets), pick the area your alarm panel is in (like your hallway or entryway). You can also select a floor, a device, a specific entity, or a label.
5. From the conditions shown for that target, select Alarm is armed away.
6. Under Condition passes if (see Behavior), pick Any or All to control how the check behaves when multiple alarm panels are targeted.
7. Under For at least, set how long the alarm must have been in this state before the condition passes. Leave it at zero to pass immediately.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this condition 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 condition as alarm_control_panel.is_armed_away. A basic example looks like this:

condition: alarm_control_panel.is_armed_away
target:
  entity_id: alarm_control_panel.hallway

This passes when the hallway alarm panel is currently armed in away mode.

Options in YAML

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

Targets of the condition

This condition requires a target. The target is the object that Home Assistant will check. You can point the condition 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 evaluate every matching alarm_control_panel entity behind that target.

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

You can also select different target types in one condition. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same condition to check both of them at once.

Behavior with multiple targets

When you target more than one entity (or select an area, floor, or label that contains several), the Condition passes if option controls how the results combine:

• Any (default): the condition passes if at least one of the targeted entities matches. For example, if you check three smoke sensors and only one of them detects smoke, the condition still passes. This is useful for questions like “is there smoke anywhere in the house?”
• All: the condition passes only when every targeted entity matches. For example, if you check the same three smoke sensors, the condition passes only once all three report cleared. This is useful for “is the entire house safe now?” checks, so your automation does not send an all-clear while one room still has a reading.

Good to know

• Alarm panels that are unavailable (unavailable) or have an unknown state (unknown) do not count as armed away. With Any behavior, they are skipped. With All behavior, the condition fails if every targeted alarm is unavailable.
• If you want to check whether the alarm is armed in any mode (not just away), use Alarm is armed.
• To check the opposite state, use Alarm is disarmed.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Go to Settings > Automations & scenes, open an automation, and add this condition. Trigger the automation with and without the condition met, and watch whether it continues or stops.

More examples

Real scenarios where this condition gates an automation. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: lower the thermostat when a water leak is detected and nobody is home

When a water leak sensor detects a leak, turn the thermostat down to prevent further damage, but only if the alarm is armed in away mode. If someone is home, they should handle it themselves.

• Trigger: State: Water leak sensor detects a leak
• Condition: Alarm is armed away
• Target: Hallway alarm panel
• Condition passes if: Any
• Action: Climate: Set temperature

alias: "Lower thermostat on leak when away"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.basement_water_leak
    to: "on"
conditions:
  - condition: alarm_control_panel.is_armed_away
    target:
      entity_id: alarm_control_panel.hallway
    options:
      behavior: any
actions:
  - action: climate.set_temperature
    target:
      entity_id: climate.thermostat
    data:
      temperature: 15

Automation: skip the thermostat schedule while nobody is home

Your thermostat normally follows a comfort schedule throughout the day. When the alarm is armed away, there is no reason to heat or cool an empty house. This automation checks the away state before applying the scheduled temperature, saving energy until someone comes home.

• Trigger: Time: 07:00 (morning schedule)
• Condition: Alarm is not armed away
• Action: Set the thermostat to 21 degrees

alias: "Skip heating schedule when away"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "07:00:00"
conditions:
  - condition: not
    conditions:
      - condition: alarm_control_panel.is_armed_away
        target:
          entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home_alarm
        options:
          behavior: any
actions:
  - action: climate.set_temperature
    target:
      entity_id: climate.living_room
    data:
      temperature: 21

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the condition you’re using and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related conditions

These conditions work well alongside this one:

• Alarm is armed: Tests if one or more alarms are armed.

• Alarm is disarmed: Tests if one or more alarms are disarmed.