MQTT device tracker
The mqtt device tracker integrationIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] allows you to define new device_trackers through manual YAML configuration in configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more] and also to automatically discover device_trackers using the MQTT Discovery protocol.
Configuration
To use this device tracker in your installation, add the following to your configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more] file:
# Example configuration.yaml entry
mqtt:
- device_tracker:
name: "annetherese_n4"
state_topic: "location/annetherese"
- device_tracker:
name: "paulus_oneplus"
state_topic: "location/paulus"
Configuration Variables
A list of MQTT topics subscribed to receive availability (online/offline) updates. Must not be used together with availability_topic.
The payload that represents the available state.
The payload that represents the unavailable state.
When availability is configured, this controls the conditions needed to set the entity to available. Valid entries are all, any, and latest. If set to all, payload_available must be received on all configured availability topics before the entity is marked as online. If set to any, payload_available must be received on at least one configured availability topic before the entity is marked as online. If set to latest, the last payload_available or payload_not_available received on any configured availability topic controls the availability.
Defines a template to extract device’s availability from the availability_topic. To determine the devices’s availability result of this template will be compared to payload_available and payload_not_available.
The MQTT topic subscribed to receive availability (online/offline) updates. Must not be used together with availability.
Information about the device this device tracker is a part of that ties it into the device registry. At least one of identifiers or connections must be present to identify the device.
A link to the webpage that can manage the configuration of this device. Can be either an http://, https:// or an internal homeassistant:// URL.
A list of connections of the device to the outside world as a list of tuples [connection_type, connection_identifier]. For example the MAC address of a network interface: "connections": [["mac", "02:5b:26:a8:dc:12"]].
A list of IDs that uniquely identify the device. For example a serial number.
Defines a template to extract the JSON dictionary from messages received on the json_attributes_topic. Usage example can be found in MQTT sensor documentation.
The MQTT topic subscribed to receive a JSON dictionary message containing device tracker attributes. This topic can be used to set the location of the device tracker under the following conditions:
- If the attributes in the JSON message include
longitude,latitude, andgps_accuracy(optional). - If the device tracker is within a configured zone.
If these conditions are met, it is not required to configure state_topic.
Be aware that any location message received at state_topic overrides the location received via json_attributes_topic until a message configured with payload_reset is received at state_topic. For a more generic usage example of the json_attributes_topic, refer to the MQTT sensor documentation.
The payload that represents the available state.
The payload value that represents the ‘home’ state for the device.
The payload that represents the unavailable state.
The payload value that represents the ‘not_home’ state for the device.
The payload value that will have the device’s location automatically derived from Home Assistant’s zones.
Must be device_tracker. Only allowed and required in MQTT auto discovery device messages.
The maximum QoS level to be used when receiving and publishing messages.
Attribute of a device tracker that affects state when being used to track a person. Valid options are gps, router, bluetooth, or bluetooth_le.
The MQTT topic subscribed to receive device tracker state changes. The states defined in state_topic override the location states defined by the json_attributes_topic. This state override is turned inactive if the state_topic receives a message containing payload_reset. The state_topic can only be omitted if json_attributes_topic is used. An empty payload is ignored. Valid payloads are not_home, home or any other custom location or zone name. Payloads for not_home, home can be overridden with the payload_not_homeand payload_home config options.
An ID that uniquely identifies this device_tracker. If two device_trackers have the same unique ID, Home Assistant will raise an exception. Required when used with device-based discovery.
Examples
Using the discovery protocol
The device_tracker can be created via publishing to a discovery topic that follows the following MQTT Discovery topic name format: <discovery_prefix>/device_tracker/[<node_id>/]<object_id>/config.
You can use the command line tool mosquitto_pub shipped with mosquitto or the mosquitto-clients package to send MQTT messages.
To create the device_tracker:
mosquitto_pub -h 127.0.0.1 -t homeassistant/device_tracker/a4567d663eaf/config -m '{"state_topic": "homeassistant/device_tracker/a4567d663eaf/state", "name": "My Tracker", "payload_home": "home", "payload_not_home": "not_home"}'
To set the state of the device tracker to “home”:
mosquitto_pub -h 127.0.0.1 -t homeassistant/device_tracker/a4567d663eaf/state -m 'home'
To set the state of the device tracker to a named location:
mosquitto_pub -h 127.0.0.1 -t homeassistant/device_tracker/a4567d663eaf/state -m 'location_name'
If the device supports GPS coordinates then they can be sent to Home Assistant by specifying an attributes topic (i.e. “json_attributes_topic”) in the configuration payload:
- Attributes topic:
homeassistant/device_tracker/a4567d663eaf/attributes - Example attributes payload:
Example message to be received at topic homeassistant/device_tracker/a4567d663eaf/attributes:
{
"latitude": 32.87336,
"longitude": -117.22743,
"gps_accuracy": 1.2
}
To create the device_tracker with GPS coordinates support:
mosquitto_pub -h 127.0.0.1 -t homeassistant/device_tracker/a4567d663eaf/config -m '{"json_attributes_topic": "homeassistant/device_tracker/a4567d663eaf/attributes", "name": "My Tracker"}'
Using state_topic is optional when using json_attributes_topic to determine the state of the device tracker.
To set the state of the device tracker to specific coordinates:
mosquitto_pub -h 127.0.0.1 -t homeassistant/device_tracker/a4567d663eaf/attributes -m '{"latitude": 32.87336, "longitude": -117.22743, "gps_accuracy": 1.2}'
YAML configuration
The following example shows how to configure the same device tracker through configuration.yaml
# Example configuration.yaml entry
mqtt:
- device_tracker:
name: "My Tracker"
state_topic: "a4567d663eaf/state"
payload_home: "home"
payload_not_home: "not_home"