Satellite is listening

The Satellite is listening 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 listening state, which means that the wake word has been detected and the satellite has opened its microphone to capture the voice command.

Use it when you want an automation to continue only if a satellite is actively capturing audio input. For example, confirm that a satellite is already listening before triggering a follow-up visual cue, or gate a scene change on whether any satellite in the room is mid-capture to avoid disrupting the voice interaction.

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 listening.
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 listening 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_listening. A basic example looks like this:

condition: assist_satellite.is_listening
target:
  entity_id: assist_satellite.living_room

This passes when assist_satellite.living_room is currently listening for a voice command.

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

• The Listening state is active from the moment the wake word is confirmed until the satellite finishes capturing the voice command and hands it to the pipeline. This window is typically two to five seconds long.
• Because the listening window is short, the For at least option should only be set to small values, a few seconds at most. A duration longer than the typical capture window will prevent this condition from ever passing under normal use.
• Satellites that have an Unavailable or Unknown state do not count as listening. Home Assistant skips them and evaluates the condition using the remaining targeted satellites.
• To check another pipeline state, use Satellite is idle, 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: pause media playback only if a satellite in the room is already listening

This automation pauses a media player only when a satellite in the same area has already started listening, ensuring media is not paused unnecessarily when the satellite is idle and no voice interaction is taking place.

• Trigger: State change of any media player in the living room to playing
• Condition: Satellite is listening
  • Target: Assist satellite of living room
• Action: Pause media
  • Target: Living room speaker

alias: "Pause media only when living room satellite is listening"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: media_player.living_room_speaker
    to: "playing"
conditions:
  - condition: assist_satellite.is_listening
    target:
      entity_id: assist_satellite.living_room
actions:
  - action: media_player.media_pause
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.living_room_speaker

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 idle: Tests if one or more Assist satellites are idle.

• 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.