Alarm triggered

The Alarm triggered trigger fires the moment an alarm control panel 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] enters the triggered state. This is the state that means something set off the alarm, whether a door was opened, a window was broken, or motion was detected in a protected zone. Use this trigger to take immediate action: flash all the lights red, sound a siren, send an urgent notification to every household member, or start recording on your security cameras.

Using this trigger from the user interface

If you prefer building automations visually, Home Assistant walks you through this trigger step by step. You pick what to watch, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To use this trigger in an automation:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. In the When section, select Add trigger.
4. Select what you want to monitor. Under By target (see Targets), pick the area your alarm panel is in (like your hallway or entryway). You can also select a floor, a device, a specific entity, or a label.
5. From the triggers shown for that target, select Alarm triggered.
6. Under Trigger when (see Behavior), pick Each, First, or All to control how the trigger behaves when multiple alarm panels are targeted.
7. Under For at least, set how long the alarm must stay triggered before the trigger fires. Leave it at zero to fire immediately.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this trigger 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 trigger as alarm_control_panel.triggered. A basic example looks like this:

trigger: alarm_control_panel.triggered
target:
  entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home_alarm

This fires every time alarm_control_panel.home_alarm enters the triggered state.

Options in YAML

YAML sometimes provides additional options for more complex use cases that are not available through the UI.

Targets of the trigger

This trigger requires a target. The target is the object that Home Assistant will watch. You can select 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 as a target, and Home Assistant will watch every matching alarm_control_panel entity behind that target.

• Entity: one specific alarm_control_panel entity, such as alarm_control_panel.living_room.
• Device: every alarm_control_panel entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every alarm_control_panel entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every alarm_control_panel entity on a floor.
• Label: every alarm_control_panel entity that shares a label.

You can also select different target types in one trigger. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same trigger to monitor 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 Trigger when option controls how the trigger responds:

• Each (default): the trigger fires every time any one of the targeted entities transitions. For example, if you monitor three motion sensors in the living room and someone walks past sensor 1, the automation fires. When they walk past sensor 2 a moment later, it fires again. Every individual event counts.
• First: the trigger fires only on the first transition in the targeted group, then waits until all targeted entities have reset before it fires again. For example, if you monitor the same three motion sensors, the automation fires when the first one picks up movement (someone entered the room). The other two firing afterward are ignored, so you get one notification per “someone walked in” event instead of three.
• All: the trigger fires only after the last targeted entity in the group has fired, meaning all of them are now in the expected state. For example, if you monitor the lights in the living room, bedroom, and hallway, the automation fires only once all three have turned off. This is useful for scenarios like “start the robot vacuum only after every light on the floor is off,” so you know the room is truly empty.

Good to know

• The trigger only fires when an alarm panel transitions from a known, valid state. If an alarm panel comes back from being unavailable (unavailable) or having an unknown state (unknown), the trigger does not fire for that recovery.
• For maximum safety, keep the For at least duration at zero so the automation fires without delay. Every second counts when the alarm goes off.
• To react when the alarm is disarmed after a triggered event, use Alarm disarmed.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Go to Settings > Automations & scenes, create a new automation, and add this trigger. Save the automation, then change the state of the targeted entity to watch the trigger fire on your actual entitiesAn 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].

More examples

Real scenarios where this trigger fires in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: flash lights and send an urgent notification when the alarm triggers

The alarm just went off. Every light in the house flashes red and your phone gets a critical notification that cuts through silent mode. Whether you are asleep upstairs or away at work, you know immediately that something triggered the alarm.

• Trigger: Alarm triggered
• Target: Home alarm panel
• Trigger when: Each
• For at least: 00:00:00
• Action: Flash all lights red
• Action: Send a critical mobile notification

alias: "Alert on alarm trigger"
triggers:
  - trigger: alarm_control_panel.triggered
    target:
      entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home_alarm
    options:
      behavior: any
      for: "00:00:00"
actions:
  - action: light.turn_on
    target:
      label_id: all_lights
    data:
      color_name: red
      flash: long
  - action: notify.mobile_app_phone
    data:
      title: "Alarm triggered!"
      message: >
        Your home alarm has been triggered.
        Check your cameras immediately.

Automation: sound the siren and start recording cameras

When the alarm triggers, activate the siren and start recording on all security cameras. The siren deters intruders and the camera footage gives you evidence of what happened.

• Trigger: Alarm triggered
• Target: Home alarm panel
• Trigger when: Each
• For at least: 00:00:00
• Action: Turn on the siren
• Action: Start camera recording

alias: "Siren and cameras on alarm trigger"
triggers:
  - trigger: alarm_control_panel.triggered
    target:
      entity_id: alarm_control_panel.home_alarm
    options:
      behavior: any
      for: "00:00:00"
actions:
  - action: siren.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: siren.home_alarm
  - action: switch.turn_on
    target:
      label_id: security_cameras

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the trigger you’re using and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related triggers

These triggers work well alongside this one:

• Alarm disarmed: Triggers after one or more alarms become disarmed.

• Alarm armed: Triggers after one or more alarms become armed, regardless of the mode.