Explore offering a node-based editor experience for automations

[nielsrowinbik]

Problem statement

Our current automation editor UI is linear: it displays triggers first, conditions come below that, and at the bottom we've got the actions. This works well for simpler automations, but for more complex automations, it gets messy quickly. Running different actions based on what triggered the automation and a few other conditions... things get less and less legible as soon as building blocks like if/else and choose are added.

The visualisation that has been proven time and time again to work very well for more complex flows is node-based. Commercial platforms such as Homey support this out of the box and users have found (Node-RED) and built (C.A.F.E.) ways to add such a visualisation to Home Assistant.

We strongly feel the need to explore offering this visualisation natively. For now, this roadmap idea serves as a container for logging and sharing our thoughts and research on this topic.

Scope & Boundaries

In scope

Not in scope

Foreseen solution

No response

Community signals

• Feature requests like this one and this one.

Risks & open questions

No response

Appetite

No response

Execution issues

No response

Decision log

Date	Decision	Outcome

[Hedda]

FYI, there is a custom component integration called ”C.A.F.E.” (Complex Automation Flow Editor) that offers this today:

• https://github.com/FezVrasta/cafe-hass

It is available via HACS and the implementation makes the automations compatible with the the default automation editior:

• https://community.home-assistant.io/t/project-release-c-a-f-e-a-third-way-for-automations-visual-flows-like-node-red-but-100-native-yaml-storage-no-extra-engines/972511

Not tried it but like the idea that it has ”No Lock-in, so If you decide you don’t like C.A.F.E., you can delete the integration. Your automations stay in your system and keep running forever because they are just standard YAML.”

[nielsrowinbik]

@Hedda, thanks! I am aware of C.A.F.E. (I installed it around the time of creating this idea to try it out), just hadn't gotten around to linking to it in the issue here. Will update soon, thanks for the nudge! 🙂