Hey Google Nest Community,
TL;DR: Read about the new script editor for automations that is rolling out to users in Public Preview, and join our discussion in the Home Automation forum to share the scripts you've created, ask questions, and share feedback with the Google team.
We built a script editor to give you more control over your home automations. This tool provides a new way to quickly create and edit powerful home automations using YAML. You can easily create scripts for advanced automations with more device traits than are currently available in the app.
The script editor will be available to all users in Public Preview on Google Home for web starting June 13th, followed by the Google Home app (for users who have opted in to Google Home app Public Preview) starting June 14th.
Similar to the new Home app, the new Automation Tab on Google Home for web shows your Personal and Household Routines. You can manually start automations from here. To create a new automation script, click + Add new.
Follow our step-by-step guide to write your first script. Get started with our helpful documentation and ready-to-use example automation scripts. Autocomplete fills in device names and traits to guide you through writing scripts.
We’ve heard you want powerful capabilities to automate your home. Here are a few ways we’re excited to share our progress with the script editor:
- Build your most powerful automations with nearly 100 starters, conditions and actions for Google Home and 3rd party devices, including many Matter devices
- You rely on a wide range of devices in your smart home, and you want to be able to create advanced automations that control all of your devices
- We’ve expanded how an automation can be started, and what it can do
- You can now use nearly 100 starters, conditions and actions to create custom automations that meet your needs, much more than what is currently possible in the Google Home app
- The script editor works across Google Home and 3rd party smart home devices, with all the traits that our devices and 3rd party devices support, giving you more control over your home, flexibility in creating automations, and compatibility with a wide range of devices
- You can also start automations with the most popular sensor types, including many Matter-supported sensors. For flexible automations, use advanced logic like multiple starters, Boolean conditions, and custom Assistant queries to fine tune when an automation runs.
- Use our easy, flexible scripting language, tool and examples to help you get started quickly
- Only basic coding skills are needed to edit and adopt automations quickly using example automation scripts
- Manually fix any errors by clicking “validate” to view debugging error messages and warnings
- Concise and easy to understand starter-condition-action syntax maps to Routines
- Edit scripts on any surface — web, mobile or tablet
- Powered by Google intelligence
- Build and customize automations based on home presence signals, using Home & Away as starters and conditions, going beyond what’s possible with existing Home & Away Routines.
- Continue automating your home after Works with Nest goes away
- Starting September 29, 2023, Works with Nest connections will stop working. You can continue to automate your home by creating automations script editor in Google Home for web and in the Google Home app, available in Public Preview.
Here are a few examples of what you can do with the script editor:
- Use Home/Away as a starter and condition
- Change the lights when I come home or leave
- Vacuum while everyone is away
- Control camera based on household presence
- Use multiple automations in one script
- Sequence multiple actions, and use special features like light effects
- Use custom Google Assistant commands
- Use sensors, including many Matter ones, to start automations
- Motion triggered lights with Matter occupancy sensor
- Turn on air purifier when indoor air quality is poor
- Control multiple devices
Note: Automations are for convenience only, and shouldn’t be relied upon for safety-critical use cases.
Share your feedback and your automations
Please share your thoughts through the “send feedback” function in the tool! The script editor is in preview and the script language may change over time, so your feedback will help us improve features.
We’re very excited for you to begin building custom automations that fit your unique home. We’d love for you to share what you’ve created. Head to the Home Automation forum and join the discussion.
Coming soon
We’re excited to get you the script editor as an early preview. We're working to add more starters and actions, including camera events as starters. We’re also working on custom notifications that enable you to include notifications in an automation. Additionally, we’re improving debugging and language capabilities. Android and iOS Google Home app users will both be able to Manage their advanced scripted automations (edit, run, deactivate, delete). Creating new scripts on Google Home app for iOS is coming soon as well.
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Check out our Help Center for more instructions on how to write a scripted automation.
Then try out the new script editor and let us know what you think!
Thanks,
Prafulla Rawal, Senior Product Manager, Google Home
