Counter incremented

The Counter incremented trigger fires when a counter helperA helper is a virtual entity you create inside Home Assistant. It is not backed by a physical device. Helpers store values, track state, or do calculations that your automations and dashboards need. [Learn more] increases by its configured step size. Use it when you want another automation to react every time a count goes up, like updating a light, sending a reminder, or starting a follow-up task after a button press or another event increments the counter.

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 counter helper you want to monitor. You can also select an area, a floor, a device, or a label.
5. From the triggers shown for that target, select Counter incremented.
6. Select Save.

Options in the UI

This trigger has no additional 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 counter.incremented. A basic example looks like this:

trigger: counter.incremented
target:
  entity_id: counter.mail_arrivals

This fires when counter.mail_arrivals increments.

Options in YAML

This trigger has no additional YAML options.

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 counter entity behind that target.

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

Good to know

• The trigger fires each time the counter increments.
• A counter in the unknown or unavailable state does not fire the trigger until it has a valid value again.
• Resetting a counter does not count as an increment. To react to resets, use Counter reset.
• To react only when a counter reaches its configured maximum, use Counter reached maximum.

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: turn on a porch light after a visitor counter increments

If you have created a counter helper that tracks front door visits, you can turn on the porch light each time the count goes up after dark.

• Trigger: Counter incremented
  • Target: Visitor counter
• Condition: Sun is below the horizon
• Action: Turn on light

alias: "Turn on the porch light when the visitor counter increments"
triggers:
  - trigger: counter.incremented
    target:
      entity_id: counter.visitors_today
conditions:
  - condition: sun
    after: sunset
actions:
  - action: light.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: light.porch

Automation: send a notification when a package counter increments

If you use a counter helper to log package scans, you can send yourself a notification each time the count increases.

• Trigger: Counter incremented
  • Target: Package counter
• Action: Send a notification message
  • Target: My Device (notify.my_device)

alias: "Notify when the package counter increments"
triggers:
  - trigger: counter.incremented
    target:
      entity_id: counter.packages_today
actions:
  - action: notify.send_message
    target:
      entity_id: notify.my_device
    data:
      message: "The package counter increased."

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:

• Counter decremented: Triggers after one or more counters decrement.

• Counter reached maximum: Triggers after one or more counters reach their maximum value.