Scene activated

Use this trigger when you want an automation to run every time a scene is activated. This is useful when activating a scene should also kick off follow-up actions, such as sending a notification, starting media playback, or adjusting devices that are not part of the scene itself.

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), select the area, floor, device, label, or scene entity you want to monitor.
5. From the triggers shown for that target, select Scene activated.
6. Select Save.

Options in the UI

This trigger has no additional options beyond the target.

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 scene.activated. A basic example looks like this:

trigger: scene.activated
target:
  entity_id: scene.movie_night

This fires every time scene.movie_night is activated.

Options in YAML

This trigger has no additional YAML options beyond the target.

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 scene entity behind that target.

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

• This trigger fires every time the scene is activated.
• A scene entity is stateless. It does not have an on or off state, but it does track the timestamp of when it was last activated. This trigger fires when that timestamp updates.
• Changes to unavailable or unknown do not count as scene activations.
• If you only need to activate a scene from an automation, use the related Activate scene action instead.

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: switch the TV to the movie source when the movie night scene is activated

When you activate the movie night scene, also switch the living room TV to the HDMI input your media player is on. TV inputs are not typically captured in a scene, so a trigger-based automation is a good way to handle them.

• Trigger: Scene activated
  • Target: Movie night scene
• Action: Select source on the living room TV

- alias: "Switch TV to movie source on movie night"
  triggers:
    - trigger: scene.activated
      target:
        entity_id: scene.movie_night
  actions:
    - action: media_player.select_source
      target:
        entity_id: media_player.living_room_tv
      data:
        source: "HDMI 1"

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.