Add descriptions, details, notes or documentation to automations.

[Dravix64]

Describe the feature

This is more something that's UI related perhaps but I still believe is relevant to automation features... if not let me know and I will post in the appropriate board.

It'd be nice to have a place I can write down a description of what an automation does so I can reference it on the phone app or on the dashboard when I come back to it in the future much like commented out code in Java or C or even a short description that displays when you touch and hold an automation or view details.

Use cases

So I have created multiple automations some which are triggered manually but start a series of actions or other automations based on a set of conditions. Some of these conditions are based on variables collected from external entity integrations, have calculations done to them and have values that are used to dictate what automation should run at a given time.

These automations can get pretty complex to keep track of and sometimes troubleshooting them can be a pain because I cannot add my own documentation to describe what they exactly do outside of the automation titles.

For example for some of these automations I have implemented naming schemes like:
[Humidity Control Auto] - Master - Manual Trigger
[Humidity Control Auto] - Slave - High Humidity/Temp Threshhold Met
[Humidity Control Auto] - Slave - Low Humidity/Temp Threshhold Met

As you can see the naming scheme gets pretty long but wait there's more.

Some of these automations do so many things in one auto or like grabbing variables from other places if one place produces errors or is unavailable.

For example I have an automation:
[Humidity Control Auto] - Slave - Get Dew Point

This auto gets dewpoint from a weather integration and uses that to pass a variable for a threshold for one of the other autos. However I have condition inside this auto that if the weather integration is unavailable it will attempt to calculate it based on sensors or entities from around the house or even a different source.

I cannot describe that error prevention feature in a naming scheme at all because it would be far too long to fit on a screen and it's also a problem when troubleshooting issues with said automation. It's especially problem when I have 10 automations with similar naming schemes but all have specialized tasks. There's only so much I can fit in a title to reference what it does. And for the most complex ones, not being able to reference what the automation was initially designed to do after maybe a month or two of working on building up other parts of HA, becomes a problem as I'd forget why the auto even exists.

It'd be nice to have a place I can write down a description of what an automation does so I can reference it on the phone app or on the dashboard when I come back to it in the future much like commented out code in Java or C or even a short description that displays when you touch and hold an automation or view details.

Current workarounds

I have a notepad on my phone with automation names and their purposes. It's an annoying solution but it works for keeping some kind of documentation available.

Anything else?

No response

[karwosts]

Are you aware of the description field of the automation?

You can write as much text as you want, markdown formatted, and it shows at the top of the page.

[Qyriad]

That only shows up at the top of the page, though. If you have a big "Choose" block or similar you can't add comments anywhere in the middle.

[BBE-FR]

You can change the alias of certain blocs.

You can use some of the workarounds used there: https://github.com/orgs/home-assistant/discussions/541

[NedRen2023]

Is it possible to add a Description column to the "Settings/Automation & Scenes" page? Currently user cannot see what each automation does unless using the name, or click into it to see the descrption.

[nielsrowinbik]

I've mentioned this feature request on our roadmap: OpenHomeFoundation/roadmap#36. We really want to give more insight into what automations do to everyone in the home (while keeping the ability to edit gated of course). Have a look at what else is in there and feel free to give us your thoughts!

[wendevlin]

• Add automation item comments frontend#52090