Satellite is idle

The Satellite is idle condition passes when a targeted Assist satellite 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] is currently in the idle state, which means that the satellite has finished any active voice pipeline run and is waiting quietly for the next wake word.

Use it when you want an automation to continue only if the satellite is not currently busy with a voice interaction. For example, gate an announcement so it is only delivered when the satellite is not already mid-conversation, confirm all satellites are idle before running a scheduled pipeline test, or allow a follow-up action to proceed only after a previous voice session has fully completed.

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, pick the area the satellite is in, like your living room or kitchen. You can also select a floor, a device, a specific entity, or a label, as described in Targets.
5. From the conditions shown for that target, select Satellite is idle.
6. Under Condition passes if, pick Any or All to control how the check behaves when multiple satellites are targeted, as described in Behavior.
7. Under For at least, set how long the satellite must have been idle 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 assist_satellite.is_idle. A basic example looks like this:

condition: assist_satellite.is_idle
target:
  entity_id: assist_satellite.living_room

This passes when assist_satellite.living_room is currently idle.

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 assist_satellite entity behind that target.

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

• A satellite without a configured wake word engine remains in the Idle state permanently until a pipeline is triggered externally. In that case, this condition will always pass.
• Satellites that have the Unavailable or Unknown state are skipped from the condition evaluation.
• Use the For at least option to add a short delay, for example 5 seconds, before acting. This avoids race conditions where an action fires before the satellite has fully settled after a pipeline run.
• To check another pipeline state, use Satellite is listening, Satellite is processing, or Satellite is responding.

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: gate an energy-saving announcement so it is only delivered when all satellites are idle

This automation delivers a daily energy-saving tip only when every satellite in the home is confirmed idle. It avoids interrupting an active voice session, which would require you to repeat the command, wasting a full pipeline run of compute and network resources.

• Trigger: Time: 20:00
• Condition: Satellite is idle
  • Target: All Assist satellites (by label)
  • Condition passes if: All
• Action: Announce on satellite
  • Target: All Assist satellites (by label)

alias: "Deliver energy tip only when all satellites are idle"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "20:00:00"
conditions:
  - condition: assist_satellite.is_idle
    target:
      label_id: assist_satellites
    options:
      behavior: all
      for: "00:00:05"
actions:
  - action: assist_satellite.announce
    target:
      label_id: assist_satellites
    data:
      message: >
        Evening reminder: turn off lights and devices you are not using
        to save energy overnight.

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:

• Satellite is listening: Tests if one or more Assist satellites are listening for a voice command.

• Satellite is processing: Tests if one or more Assist satellites are processing a voice command.

• Satellite is responding: Tests if one or more Assist satellites are playing back a response.