Automation Editor – Show current entity state directly in the entity picker

[rainer1988]

Describe the feature

When creating or editing automations in Home Assistant, it would be very useful to see the current state of an entity (e.g., on/off, numeric value, last changed) directly in the entity picker. This would save time and reduce errors when setting triggers and conditions.

Use cases

• Quickly check if a binary sensor is currently on or off without opening Developer Tools.
• See the current temperature or humidity before setting a numeric threshold.
• Validate that an entity is updating as expected while creating an automation.
• Avoid switching between multiple tabs or windows during automation building

Current workarounds

• Open Developer Tools → States in a separate tab and manually look up the entity.
• Add a temporary card in a dashboard to display the current value while editing.
• Both are time-consuming and break the workflow.

Anything else?

• Could be implemented as a small badge or label next to the selected entity, similar to the Devices & Services UI.
• Tooltip could show last_changed.
• Numeric sensors could display their unit and optionally min/max values.
• A “Show live state” toggle could be added to the editor for those who want to hide it.

[nielsrowinbik]

Displaying the current state in the target picker is something we are still exploring, however it may prove difficult with the sheer amount of variety that exists in the state that entities may provide.

Another approach that we're exploring right now is to provide super quick access to the more info screen of selected targets.

In any case: the problem that's represented by this feature request is something we're tracking on our roadmap: OpenHomeFoundation/roadmap#34. I invite you to have a read, including the linked Epic, which shows a bit more about the solutions we're currently thinking of. Feel free to give your thoughts here, there, or on Discord!

[mehuman]

I'm not sure if this should be a new discussion but I'd love to see the current value and/or a mini graph when editing an automation. I've been trying to tweak an automation based on a numeric value and it would be great to have the values displayed in the editor. Including a screenshot