Agent-Skills.md

Agent Skills: Home Assistant Manager

Expert-level Home Assistant configuration management with efficient deployment workflows (git and rapid scp iteration), remote CLI access via SSH and hass-cli, automation verification protocols, log analysis, reload vs restart optimization, and comprehensive Lovelace dashboard management for tablet-optimized UIs. Includes template patterns, card types, debugging strategies, and real-world examples.

UncategorizedID: komal-skynet/claude-skill-homeassistant/home-assistant-manager

Repository

komal-skynet/claude-skill-homeassistant
komal-SkyNETLicense: MIT
34529

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pnpm dlx add-skill https://github.com/komal-SkyNET/claude-skill-homeassistant/tree/HEAD/skills/home-assistant-manager

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skills/home-assistant-manager/SKILL.md

Skill Metadata

Name
home-assistant-manager
Description
Manage Home Assistant configuration safely and fast — edit and deploy YAML (automations, blueprints, scripts, scenes, templates, MQTT), validate with ha core check, deploy via git or rapid scp, reload-vs-restart correctly, verify changes from logs, traces and entity state, and build Lovelace dashboards. Use for any Home Assistant config, automation, template, or dashboard work over SSH/hass-cli/MCP.

Home Assistant Manager

Operate a remote Home Assistant instance precisely: make a change, get it live, prove it worked. Optimize for the fewest safe round-trips.

Assumptions

  • The repo you're editing is the HA /config dir, git-connected to the instance. Edits aren't live until pulled on the instance.
  • root@homeassistant.local in examples is a placeholder. Resolve the real user/host once (project CLAUDE.md, ~/.ssh/config, or ask) and if it isn't recorded in the project CLAUDE.md yet, add it so future sessions skip this step.
  • Access via one or more of: hass-cli (REST), SSH ha, or an MCP server (see below).
  • Only edit .yaml/.yml/.md. Never read/write .env or secrets.yaml; use !secret.

Remote access — pick the right tool

  • SSH ha — always works, needs no local env. Use for ha core check|restart|logs|info.
  • hass-cli (REST) — state/service calls, but needs HASS_SERVER/HASS_TOKEN in the shell before the session starts. If they're unset, hass-cli falls back to the wrong host (localhost) and errors — don't retry, check [ -n "$HASS_TOKEN" ] once, then use SSH or MCP instead.
  • MCP (preferred when available) — first-class tools for live state/control, no env juggling. Official mcp_server integration (HA core ≥2025.2) or community ha-mcp (richer, 80+ tools). Use it instead of shelling out when present.

The deploy pipeline (the one canonical flow)

Changes are not live until step 4.

  1. Edit YAML locally.
  2. Validate: ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha core check" (slow, ~30-60s — see "when to skip" below).
  3. Commit + push: git add … && git commit -m "…" && git push.
  4. Make it live: ssh root@homeassistant.local "cd /config && git pull".
  5. Apply: reload if possible, else restart (table below).
  6. Verify (next section).

Rapid iteration: skip git and scp straight to the instance, then reload — good for dashboards and tight test loops. Commit to git only once stable. scp automations.yaml root@homeassistant.local:/config/ → reload.

When to skip ha core check: it parses the whole config and is slow. For an isolated YAML edit you're confident in, a domain reload surfaces errors faster and the logs tell you immediately. Always run it before a restart or for configuration.yaml changes.

Reload vs restart

| Change | Action | |--------|--------| | automations, scripts, scenes, groups, template entities, themes | reload the domain (hass-cli service call automation.reload, etc.) | | configuration.yaml core, new integrations, platform sensors (min/max), MQTT sensor/binary_sensor platforms, dashboard registry (lovelace_dashboards) | restart (ssh … "ha core restart", ~30s) |

Prefer reload. Never restart without a passing ha core check. Before risky changes (core configuration.yaml surgery, removing an integration), snapshot first — it's cheap: ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha backups new --name pre-<change>".

Verify — don't assume it worked

  1. Reload/restart the right domain.
  2. For automations, trigger manually for instant feedback: hass-cli service call automation.trigger --arguments entity_id=automation.<id> (or call the service via MCP). This bypasses conditions by default — it proves the actions, not the gate. To test conditions too, pass skip_condition: false or exercise the real trigger, then read the automation's trace in the UI.
  3. Read the logs filtered to your change: ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha core logs | grep -iE '<name>|error' | tail -20". Good: Running automation actions, Executing step …. Bad: Invalid data for call_service, TypeError, Template variable warning, Error executing script.
  4. Confirm the real outcome: device/sensor state (hass-cli state get <entity>), or ask the user for notification-type actions.
  5. On error: fix → re-pull/scp → reload → re-check. Loop until clean.

Automations — write modern syntax

HA 2024.10 renamed the keys; legacy syntax still works but don't emit it in new code: top-level triggers:/conditions:/actions: (plural), trigger: not platform: inside a trigger, action: not service: for calls. Every automation gets a stable id: (traces and UI editing need it) plus an alias.

Full automation reference (syntax table, mode: behavior, blueprints, trace debugging, pitfalls) → read reference/automations.md when writing or debugging automations.

Templates — the precision rules

  • Always coerce types before comparing: states('sensor.x') | int(0) < 7. Bare states are strings; '5' < 7 raises TypeError. Provide a default (int(0)) so startup None doesn't error.
  • Test in Developer Tools → Template before committing.
  • state_attr(...) returns None if the entity/attr is missing — guard it.

Conventions

  • Surgical edits; preserve comments; 2-space indent.
  • Validate before restart; prefer reload; verify from logs.
  • Use context7 MCP for current HA docs before non-trivial or unfamiliar config.

Dashboards

Lovelace dashboards live in .storage/lovelace.* (JSON). UI edits show on a browser refresh; direct file edits (scp/git) may not appear until a ha core restart — HA caches the lovelace store in memory. Adding a new dashboard to .storage/lovelace_dashboards also needs a restart. scp + refresh is the fast loop; validate JSON first: python3 -m json.tool .storage/lovelace.x > /dev/null. After deploying, validate the UI visually in the browser (see the reference) — logs/state won't catch a broken card or a mis-sorted popup.

Full dashboard reference (view types, card catalog, template cards, tablet layout, pitfalls, debugging) → read reference/dashboards.md when doing UI work. Modern HA: native sections view (drag-drop grid, badges, heading cards) and feature-rich tile cards now cover most needs without custom cards; reach for Mushroom only when you want its specific look.

Quick reference

# Validate / apply
ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha core check"
ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha core restart"
ssh root@homeassistant.local "cd /config && git pull"     # make pushed changes live

# Logs
ssh root@homeassistant.local "ha core logs | grep -iE 'error|<name>' | tail -20"

# State / services (needs env loaded, or use MCP)
hass-cli state get <entity>
hass-cli service call <domain>.reload
hass-cli service call automation.trigger --arguments entity_id=automation.<id>

# Rapid deploy
scp <file>.yaml root@homeassistant.local:/config/ && hass-cli service call automation.reload
Home Assistant Manager Skill | Agent Skills