Improve Entity Search Results

[JonLaliberte]

Describe the enhancement

List phrase search results at the top of the entity search results.
If we were to sort the results ranking those with the exact phrase higher, it would make the results at the top more relevant.

Use cases

When searching for a entity, sometimes other less relevant entities are ranked earlier in search.

Visual examples

Here is an example.

My search for “pool roof”:

I’d expect the sort order here to be a bit better - specifically that those with the exact phrase “pool roof” would be listed first in the results.

Quoting does work to find only the phrase, but I think a nice enhancement would be to automatically move phrase matches to the top of the list.

Anything else?

No response

[jonm802]

im pretty sure you could type in say p d d and that would have brought up pool daily delta, this seems to be missing now

[JonLaliberte]

p d d returns just about every entity in the system right now.

[tomlut]

Yes this definitely could do with improvement. There is an exact match for my search term shown below yet it is way down the list of results:

How the heck does "Fill Off Level" match the search "pond level v" better than "Pond Level V"?

[EDelsman]

When you want to make sure and enter the entity id, you'd expect it to narrow down soon. Instead I got a list of over a hundered hits that I can in no way match to the search term. The entity who's id started with the search term was approx. 90% down a list over a hundred items long.

[aerminas]

I created this issue with some proposed solution that would be helpful for your issue.

https://github.com/orgs/home-assistant/discussions/1443

Let me know what do you think about that proposal :)

My next steps would be to find some developer who can build this and test is that solution working as intended.

[bjornfor]

https://github.com/orgs/home-assistant/discussions/1443

I followed that discussion and it lead me to home-assistant/frontend#28353, and based on that, I think this is fixed in HA 2026.1.

[tomlut]

Anyone tried 2026.1.0?

It has considerably improved for me.

[matticas]

Nope. Still useless. Decimal points (dots), seem to break up the search string? Example; I have automations grouped by numbers; 0005.01.2.3 0005.01.2.9 019.06.4.1 etc, 600 automations. I used to be able to type one of those numbers above in full, and only get that automation, or, the first 2 or 3 numbers (not digits), and get that sub list. eg; search; 019.06 and results would be; 019.06.1.1 019.06.1.2 019.06.2.1 019.06.2.2 etc Still doesn't work. I currently get; Search: 019.06; 019.01 ... 019.07 006.01.1.1 ... 006.08.2.3 Basically, anything with 019 OR 06 The decimal breaks up the string. Very p$%^ off about it, worked for YEARS, simple search feature, broken.

…

On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 11:11 AM tomlut ***@***.***> wrote: Anyone tried 2026.1.0? It has considerably improved for me. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#638 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/APCODKXX5V5OYKRNED7FWBD4FWOEXAVCNFSM6AAAAACDXUDQPGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKNBTHEZTMOA> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: <home-assistant/feature-requests/repo-discussions/638/comments/15439368@ github.com>

-- --Matt

[tomlut]

I have automations grouped by numbers;

Why the heck would you do that rather than actual descriptive words?

[matticas]

Because I have 600 automations written over 6-7 years ago before all the existing features exist. Trying to type descriptive words into each automation title/name isn't practical. Arranging them in numbered groups is significantly more practical, considering I can't remember 80% of them - they just work (until I need to make a change). Stop blaming the use case. The search feature is quite simply broken, when it never was.

…

On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 1:36 PM tomlut ***@***.***> wrote: I have automations grouped by numbers; Why the heck would you do that rather than actual descriptive words? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#638 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/APCODKRWII7JGBUXLKFCRVL4FW7DLAVCNFSM6AAAAACDXUDQPGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKNBUGAYTMMQ> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: <home-assistant/feature-requests/repo-discussions/638/comments/15440162@ github.com>

-- --Matt

[tomlut]

I started around that time too. Maybe a bit earlier, and it was possible to name automations things like "lounge_lights_movement", "lounge_climate_control", "dining_lights_movement", etc... back then. Using numbers just seems very impractical when the understandable name actually groups the automation for you rather than having to remember or look up some esoteric number system.

Search feature isn't actually broken, it just searches for groups, not by character position.

[matticas]

That's your opinion, the fact is, the search tool worked for me, for over 7 years. Then done genius had an idea mid 2025, and now it doesn't work. Broken.

…

On Thu, 8 Jan 2026, 14:51 tomlut, ***@***.***> wrote: I started around that time too. Maybe a bit earlier, and it was possible to name automations things like "lounge_lights_movement", "lounge_climate_control", "dining_lights_movement", etc... back then. Using numbers just seems very impractical when the understandable name actually groups the automation for you rather than having to remember or look up some esoteric number system. Search feature isn't actually broken, it just searches for groups, not by character position. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#638 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/APCODKQPMGWQZACAYNVPGEL4FXH4VAVCNFSM6AAAAACDXUDQPGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKNBUGA2TANY> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: <home-assistant/feature-requests/repo-discussions/638/comments/15440507@ github.com>

[pcb1962]

Entities search in settings is still broken.
A search for sensor.fire_8 brings back all the matches for sensor.fire_7 and sensor.fire_10 and no amount of column re-ordering will put the actual matches at the top.
A search for octopi brings back all the matches for octopus and octoprint, again the actual matches are buried way down the list and not even grouped together.
What's needed is a 'strict search' option to give us back the functionality we had until sometime last year.