Awning opened

The Awning opened trigger fires when a targeted awning changes to open. Use it when you want Home Assistant to react as soon as an awning opens.

This trigger is useful for comfort, notifications, and routines that should run as soon as an awning opens.

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. From the search box, search for and select Awning opened.
5. Select what you want to monitor. Under By target (see Targets), pick the area your awning is in, like your patio or living room. You can also select a floor, a device, a specific entity, or a label.
6. Under Trigger when (see Behavior), pick Each, First, or All.
7. Under For at least, enter how long the awning must stay open before the trigger fires. Leave it at zero to fire right away.
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 cover.awning_opened. A basic example looks like this:

trigger: cover.awning_opened
target:
  entity_id: cover.patio_awning

This fires when cover.patio_awning changes to open.

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 cover entity behind that target.

• Entity: one specific cover entity, such as cover.living_room.
• Device: every cover entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every cover entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every cover entity on a floor.
• Label: every cover 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 (any in YAML, 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 (first in YAML): 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 (last in YAML): 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

• This trigger works only with cover entities that use the awning device class.
• If an awning comes back from unavailable or unknown, that recovery does not count as the opening.
• The for option fires the automation only if the awning stays open for the entire time you set.

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 the patio fan when the awning opens

When the awning opens, this automation starts the patio fan right away to make the space more comfortable.

• Trigger: Awning opened
  • Target: Patio awning
• Action: Turn on fan
  • Target: Patio fan

alias: "Turn on the patio fan when the awning opens"
triggers:
  - trigger: cover.awning_opened
    target:
      entity_id: cover.patio_awning
actions:
  - action: fan.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: fan.patio_fan

Automation: notify you if the awning opens while you are away

If the awning changes while nobody is home, this automation sends a notification so you can check whether it was expected.

• Trigger: Awning opened
  • Target: Patio awning
  • For at least: 00:00:10
• Action: Send a notification message
  • Target: My Device (notify.my_device)

alias: "Notify me if the awning opens while I am away"
triggers:
  - trigger: cover.awning_opened
    target:
      entity_id: cover.patio_awning
    options:
      for: "00:00:10"
conditions:
  - condition: state
    entity_id: person.morgan
    state: "not_home"
actions:
  - action: notify.send_message
    target:
      entity_id: notify.my_device
    data:
      title: "Awning changed"
      message: >
        The awning opened while nobody was home.

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:

• Awning closed: Triggers after one or more awnings close.