Z-Wave JS node status

The Z-Wave JS node status condition passes when the selected Z-Wave nodes report the status you choose. Use it to check whether a node is reachable before an automation tries to talk to it.

Z-Wave nodes report one of four statuses. A mains-powered node is normally alive, and becomes dead when the controller can no longer reach it. A battery-powered node spends most of its life asleep and briefly becomes awake when it checks in.

This condition is useful when:

• You want to skip an action for a node that has gone dead instead of letting the action fail.
• You want to send a notification only while a node is unreachable.
• You want to queue work for a battery-powered node only while it is awake.

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 Z-Wave JS node status 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. Search for Z-Wave JS node status and select it.
5. Under Devices (see Selecting nodes), pick the Z-Wave devices whose nodes you want to check.
6. Under Status, choose the status to test for.
7. Under Condition passes if (see Behavior with multiple nodes), choose how multiple nodes should combine. The default is Any.
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 zwave_js.node_status. A basic example looks like this:

condition: zwave_js.node_status
options:
  device_id: 45d7d3230dbb7441473ec883dab294d4
  status: alive

This passes when the node behind that device is reachable.

To require every listed node to be dead:

condition: zwave_js.node_status
options:
  device_id:
    - 45d7d3230dbb7441473ec883dab294d4
    - 8f4219cfa57e23f6f669c4616c2205e2
  behavior: all
  status: dead

Options in YAML

Selecting nodes

A Z-Wave node is represented in Home Assistant as a device, so this condition selects nodes with a device picker rather than a target. Pick one or more Z-Wave devices, and the condition tests the node behind each one.

Behavior with multiple nodes

When you select more than one device, the Condition passes if option controls how the results combine:

• Any (default): the condition passes if at least one node has the status. This suits questions like “is any node in this group unreachable?”
• All: the condition passes only when every node has the status. This suits “is the whole group back online?” checks, so an automation does not report an all-clear while one node is still dead.

Good to know

• The condition does not pass when none of the selected devices resolve to a Z-Wave node, whichever behavior you choose.
• A selected device that no longer resolves to a node, because the config entry is unloaded or the device was removed, counts as unresolved and makes All fail. It is simply skipped for Any.
• Selecting the same node twice does not change the result. Nodes are de-duplicated before the check.
• Node statuses are also exposed as a diagnostic sensor per node, so you can use the standard state condition instead if you prefer to check that entity.

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: only notify while a lock is unreachable

Check a lock’s node every hour and notify only while the controller cannot reach it.

• Trigger: Time pattern, every hour
• Condition: Z-Wave JS node status
  • Devices: Front door lock
  • Status: Dead
• Action: Send a notification message

alias: "Notify while the front door lock is unreachable"
triggers:
  - trigger: time_pattern
    hours: "/1"
conditions:
  - condition: zwave_js.node_status
    options:
      device_id: 45d7d3230dbb7441473ec883dab294d4
      status: dead
actions:
  - action: notify.send_message
    target:
      entity_id: notify.my_device
    data:
      message: "The front door lock is not responding."

Automation: refresh a battery node only while it is awake

Battery-powered nodes only accept commands while they are awake. This automation refreshes a sensor’s values when the node checks in.

• Trigger: Z-Wave JS node status changed, to Awake
• Condition: Z-Wave JS node status
  • Devices: Motion sensor
  • Status: Awake
• Action: Z-Wave refresh value

alias: "Refresh the motion sensor while it is awake"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: sensor.motion_sensor_node_status
    to: "awake"
conditions:
  - condition: zwave_js.node_status
    options:
      device_id: 8f4219cfa57e23f6f669c4616c2205e2
      status: awake
actions:
  - action: zwave_js.refresh_value
    target:
      entity_id: sensor.motion_sensor_air_temperature

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

Explore related conditions:

• Z-Wave JS configuration parameter: Tests if a configuration parameter on one or more Z-Wave JS nodes has the given value.

• Z-Wave JS value: Tests if a Z-Wave value on one or more nodes equals the given value.