MQTT Device Tracker
The mqtt device tracker platform allows you to define new device_trackers through manual YAML configuration in configuration.yaml 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.yaml file:
# Example configuration.yaml entry
mqtt:
device_tracker:
- name: "annetherese_n4"
state_topic: "location/annetherese"
- name: "paulus_oneplus"
state_topic: "location/paulus"
The configuration format of manual configured MQTT items has changed.
The old format that places configurations under the switch platform key
should no longer be used and is deprecated.
The above example shows the new and modern way, this is the previous/old example and deprecated configuration schema:
device_tracker:
- platform: mqtt
devices:
paulus_oneplus: "location/paulus"
annetherese_n4: "location/annetherese"
To set the state of the device_tracker then you need to publish a JSON message to the topic (e.g., via mqtt.publish service). As an example, the following JSON message would set the paulus_oneplus device_tracker to home:
{
"topic": "location/paulus",
"payload": "home"
}
Configuration Variables
The payload value that represents the ‘home’ state for the device.
The payload value that represents the ‘not_home’ state for the device.
Attribute of a device tracker that affects state when being used to track a person. Valid options are gps, router, bluetooth, or bluetooth_le.
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 or HTTPS link.
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 payload and then set as device_tracker attributes. Usage example can be found in 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.
Attribute of a device tracker that affects state when being used to track a person. Valid options are gps, router, bluetooth, or bluetooth_le.
An ID that uniquely identifies this device_tracker. If two device_trackers have the same unique ID, Home Assistant will raise an exception.
Examples
Using the discovery protocol
The device_tracker can be created via a discovery topic that follows the following topic name convention: <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": "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 a4567d663eaf/state -m 'home'
To set the state of the device tracker to a named location:
mosquitto_pub -h 127.0.0.1 -t 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:
a4567d663eaf/attributes - Example attributes payload:
{
"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 '{"state_topic": "a4567d663eaf/state", "name": "My Tracker", "payload_home": "home", "payload_not_home": "not_home", "json_attributes_topic": "a4567d663eaf/attributes"}'
To set the state of the device tracker to specific coordinates:
mosquitto_pub -h 127.0.0.1 -t a4567d663eaf/state -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"