Restart required

The Restart required condition passes while Home Assistant needs a restart, for example after you installed an update of a custom integration, or changed a setting that only applies after a restart.

Use it to run a routine only while a restart is pending, like a nightly restart that only happens when one is needed. To hold off a routine while a restart is pending instead, wrap this condition in a Not condition.

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. From the search box, search for and select Restart required.
5. Select Save.

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. For how an automation is built in YAML, refer to Automations in YAML.

In YAML, put the settings that are specific to this condition under options. Keep target, if the condition uses one, and general settings such as alias and enabled at the top level, next to condition.

In YAML, refer to this condition as homeassistant.restart_required. It has no options:

condition: homeassistant.restart_required

This passes while a restart is pending.

Good to know

• The restart stays pending until Home Assistant restarts. Nothing else clears it.
• To act the moment a restart becomes pending, use the Restart required trigger.

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. In the visual editor, select the UI options listed in the example or paste the YAML code.

Automation: restart at night when needed

Every night at 4:00, restart Home Assistant, but only when a restart is pending.

• Trigger: Time
  • At time: 4:00:00 AM
• Condition: Restart required
• Action: Restart Home Assistant

alias: "Restart at night when needed"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "04:00:00"
conditions:
  - condition: homeassistant.restart_required
actions:
  - action: homeassistant.restart

Still stuck?

To find out why the condition didn’t pass, check it live in the automation editor, and look at the trace of the run. For details, refer to Testing automations. For common problems and their solutions, refer to Troubleshooting automations.

If that doesn’t help, 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

Explore related conditions:

• Host reboot required: Tests if the host needs a reboot to apply installed updates or changed settings.