Script Editor: Share your ideas and vote on others' ideas!

[Prafulla]

We built the Google Home script editor to give you more control over your home automations (announcement post). We are still in the early days of the script editor, and we highly value feedback and ideas from our community to shape its future.

You can use this post to:

• Share ideas that will help you build your next scripted automation
• Vote on other people's ideas by clicking the "Kudos" button next to the idea

How do I submit an idea? Can I submit more than one idea?

To submit an idea, simply click the "Reply" button below this post and add your idea in the following format:

• Idea: Weather as a starter 
• Example automation: If it's about to rain today, remind me to carry my umbrella.

We encourage you to submit as many ideas as you like, but please use one comment per idea so that it's easy for others to vote on your ideas.

How do I vote for an idea? Can I vote on more than one idea?

To vote for an idea, simply click the "Kudos" button next to the idea that helps you with your use case. Please use your votes thoughtfully so that we can clearly understand what matters to you the most.

Will my idea be implemented? Will the top-voted idea be implemented?

We will do our best to prioritize what is important across our entire community and look at feedback across many channels throughout the product cycle. We will very actively use your feedback in our prioritization exercise, but cannot make any guarantees or promises that you'll see your idea/feedback implemented into the product. That said, we will do our best to address the pain points and problems our community is trying to solve.

We look forward to hearing your ideas!

Prafulla Rawal, Senior Product Manager, Google Home

[Alphabet]

Idea: Ability to adjust brightness while not affecting device's on/off state.

Example automation: Adjusting the brightness of lights during the day without turning them on. Such as dimming the lights to 25% a few hours after sunset. However, if the lights are off I don't want to turn them on. A condition doesn't work because I still want the adjust the brightness regardless of if they are on or off.

Google Home/Assistant seems to remember lights' previous brightness when turning on/off. I just want to be able to adjust that stored brightness for the next time they come on, without turning them on.

[andrew12]

Idea: Be able to sub group / order Household routines in the automations section of the app

Automation : So that I can easily see /run and manage my automations by sub group or priority of most used.

[HandDman]

Idea: Starter based on detection of motion on the nest doorbell.

Example - if nest detects someone/ car coming down my drive then it automatically displays the camera image on my hub, etc for a set period of time.

[Alfred2]

Not just Nest Doorbell but any Nest Camera. Also, we need to be able to specify if it’s Motion or Person detection like in Home Assistant. People/Vehicle could be nice too but less urgent (to me). 

[Batwam]

Exactly! I understand that this is already being worked on and Google is even falsely advertising this feature already on the App Store so we need to know when this is going to be released. 

 

[chrispatrik]

Does that screenshot somehow imply that they are working on the separate Person/Motion/Vehicle detection (I don't see it), or did you get that information somewhere else? I don't see it mentioned in the App Store either.

The functionality listed in the screenshot is already in the preview version which I have been using, including being able to edit the automations in the script editor, but not being able to create a new script as far as I can tell.

[Batwam]

Yeah, you are right, it says “motion” so this could just be a motion sensor.

the Nest Camera Motion detection trigger is however available in Home Assistant so that definitively exists. It works ok-ish but there is a bit of a lag and installing Home Assistant requires a (Linux) machine running 24/7 with dockers, etc… so it’s not for everyone.

[Batwam]

Idea: create an action to trigger and alarm or text-to-speech sound to a device like a speaker or a Nest cam

description: these devices can stream music or have the user talk through them. It would be useful to be able to send messages/notifications based on events (like motion detection) or have them play an alarm full blast if an intruder is detected.

[Dolkin]

Idea: Using Camera Human detection in Starters.

Example automation: Show my camera video flux on Nest hub if a human presence is detected on this camera.

Context: I have cameras on Tuya Smart life application, this camera are available on Google Home but only for viewing video flux. I want to use these cameras on script to automaticaly showing video flux when a human is detected by a camera or switch on a light or launch alarm, etc....

[KrajeQ]

Idea: Weather conditions, like temperature, or air quality
Example automation: When turning on TV which will symbolize if someone is home, and the temperature outside is higher than 20 degrees Celsius, close the blinds, turn on air conditioner and turn the lights on at brightness 50%.

[KrajeQ]

Idea: delay with milliseconds or at least 1/10 of a second. 

Example automation: Making a light show to music. Some tracks are faster and some are slower and we are able to make it perfect with ms

[lardo5150]

IDEA:  Add ability to repeat, just like in Home Assistant (in fact would love for anything that Home Assistant can do, Google will be able to do it as well.

Example Automation:

Repeat:  

yes.  if I set it up to be a on/off button.

Here is an example of having a toggle option AND a repeat.

I am controlling the volume on a receiver that is not smart.

To change to bluetooth, I have to turn "on" and "off" that button to get it to the right input.

Then same thing for volume, I have to keep processing the on and off to get the volume to 30.  A repeat would be good here.

Here is how it looks in Home Assistant:

repeat:
count: "30"
sequence:
- type: toggle
device_id: 369bc566fed95dd4078dd39378fb6a42
entity_id: switch.moukey_volume_down
domain: switch

[15624980]

I have a switch like that too.. I made a routine...

When turning on the switch, perform the action to turn it off and after 1 second turn off the same switch again and again after 1 second turn off the same switch. That way it worked.

In your case you will have to do a sequence of 30 actions of turning off the same switch.

[albinoman887]

Pro-tip. if you want to add a sub 1 sec delay between actions.. this trick has worked for years for me. Follow below:

We will use this example:

- we have a virtual switch that the ON command presses the Volume Up button on IR blaster, OFF command does nothing.. So in order for it to do what we want it to do we have to do the following if we want it to do volume up 5 times
* Change Virtual Switch to ON

* wait a few 100 ms to let the cloud catch its breath

* Change Virtual Switch to OFF

* wait 250 ms

* Change VIrtual Switch to ON

* wait a few 100 ms to let the cloud catch its breath

* Change Virtual Switch to OFF

* wait 250 ms

* Change VIrtual Switch to ON

* wait a few 100 ms to let the cloud catch its breath

* Change Virtual Switch to OFF

* wait 250 ms

* Change VIrtual Switch to ON

* wait a few 100 ms to let the cloud catch its breath

* Change Virtual Switch to OFF

* wait 250 ms

* Change VIrtual Switch to ON

* wait 250 ms Change Virtual Switch to OFF

NOTE: This is all with the old GUI based method , havent tested with script editor
1) Create new Routine

2) Choose your Starter action (We will do "When I say to Google: Test Routine")

3) For the first action set it to turn the virtual switch OFF so we know we are at a good state....

4) now lets add delay so we know the cloud is in sync, but we want it to be sub-1sec. to do so do the following:

  a: click Add action

  b: Click Communicate and Annonce

  c: Choose Make an annoncment

  d:  Select Announce on Device that started the routine and then for the message enter an upsidedown question-mark like this ¿ and save. It's usually used in the spanish language at the start of sentence that is a question but by some happy accident when you tell google to say something and the only thing is the ¿ she just stays silent for about a qtr or a sec or so. (never timed it) while google's language is set to English. I've used this as a workaround for routines that have race condition issues due to laggy hardware...

d: Now create another new action and set it to turn the virtual switch ON

e: and now another announcement of ¿
f: and now turn the vritual swtich off....

g: announce ¿ 

Now you just simply "rinse and repeat" and basically duplicate 

Note: if you want to add more delay in between actions just add another announcement action right after the one you added already. there is no limit afaik

Enjoy

[Dolkin]

Idea : Notifications on Google Home application.

Exemple : If i'm not at home, I want to receive a notification on my smarphone if my door is open, or if my fire siren detect fire, or if my camera detect a motion, or if the temperature of my bedroom reach 24°, etc... 

[jgolliher]

Idea: HTTP requests action

Example Automation: I say, "Hey Google, start climate in the Tesla" and it sends an HTTP request to Tessie to start the climate in my car.

[ggunning1984]

Idea: Expose more entities for android media players. I used to have a chromecast with google tv and I could see the status (playing, paused, stopped) in google home but it broke and I replaced with a shield. But I can only tell if it is on or off.  I can also see in google home when something is playing on the shield so entities must be exposed somewhere.

Example automation: While watching the shield the lights will dim to set value, when I pause they will get a bit brighter, when I stop they will get brighter again.

[sammers]

Idea: support loops

Example Automation: if washer has finished, alert if dryer has not started by 9pm 

If between 7am-8pm and washer run

then

if dryer started exit loop

else if 9pm, make announcement "wet clothes in the washer"

[Not_that_smart]

Add an option to select all devices in one room instead of selecting all items individually

select * from room x

[ha11sy]

This would be great especially with lights, for context, if motion detected, turn lights on in the kitchen instead of turn Kitchen 1, kitchen 2, kitchen 3 etc on

[dimab]

Idea: Add isUnlatched to LockUnlock state data

Example automation: Trigger an action when a door that was initially unlocked but latched (and therefore unopenable from the outside in spite of its isLocked state to be false) is being opened.

[Lhnemec]

I have my coffee pot on a smart plug which Google Home can control. I want Google to turn off the coffee pot 10 minutes after I tell it to turn on the coffee pot. Add a time sequence into the automation would be a great help for cooking etc. Ten minutes after the plug is turned on, Google could announce that the coffee is done and turn off the plug.

[Cathal_S]

@Lhnemec 

This is already possible using the personal 'automations' section of the Google Home app.

Have a look at the screenshot automation below where I use my smart plug that's plugged in to my Xbox.

[ha11sy]

Alarm being cancelled on a specific device as a trigger, just like when creating automations in the Google Home app on android

Idea and Example automation: My kid struggles with getting up but he does not have his own mobile phone, I would like to setup a script where if he cancels his alarm on his nest hub in his room, his lights turn on, then reminds him to make his bed, brush his teeth etc.

[Cathal_S]

@ha11sy 

Have you tried to set up a personal automation that does this on his device?

[ha11sy]

I have yes, but if it's a trigger on the google home app, why can it not be a trigger in the script editor? 

[Cathal_S]

I don't know why it's not included in the script editor yet, I don't work for Google I'm just an average user.

It's a very recent addition so I assume more features will be included soon.

What you was trying to achieve looks like it can be done using a personal automation within the Google Home app.

[ha11sy]

Yes, I agree, I do not know why either, I am more inclined to use the script editor over the GUI in the app, it's just the way my brain works, I know they will be coming, but I thought I should put it here anyway as it isnt available yet

[ha11sy]

Not so much an Automation / Integration idea, but how about the ability to toggle the automations status (Enabled / Disabled) from the list of Automations without having to go into the script for each one? It would provide an easy way to turn them on or off.

I had an automation fail to run this morning, and I thought maybe I turned it off last night by mistake when editing it, so I open up the webapp, need to open the actual automation, only to find it is indeed enabled, would be good to see from the outset.

[ha11sy]

I swear, everyone is going to hate me, Google should not have released this, I have been awake all night with ideas.

What I would like to do is have an alternating time schedule, we have two bins, one for rubbish and one for recycling, every Friday, the rubbish bin needs to be placed at the kerbside, but the recycle bin only goes out bi-weekly. Would be great to have one script which manages the Broadcast reminder for this so every second Friday, it says 'Put the red and yellow bin on the kerbside' and on the other week it simply says 'Put the red bin on the kerbside'

I hope this makes sense.

[Pat_]

Wouldn't it be easier to set up a routine in Google Calendar? The waste management dept. in our area even provides calendars that you can adopt in GCal. But the rules you have are straight-forward, so it seems rather easy.

Another idea: If you want other family members to know about that, too, set up a new Google account (eg "ha11sy_Calendar") assign reading/writing rights and set up the routine there.

The calendar might as well be used for events that concern your family. Since they all can read and write, they will receive notifications and can add new events, too.

I've been doing that for some years now and it works like a charm.

[ha11sy]

Show a run history of Automations and include if it succeeded or failed.

I have a use case for this right now, where I would like to know if the Broadcast went through OK. I have a current script set to Broadcast a message when the Deadbolt on the front door is jammed so someone goes and rectifies it. Deadbolt jammed and was jammed for 3 hours today when I was out of the house and the kids are saying 'heard nothing dad'

[Cubkyle]

Idea: Add a target brightness to device.command.LightEffectSleep and device.command.LightEffectWake, or a new action device.command.LightEffectFade with a duration and target brightness.

Example Automation: Have lights come on, or dim, gradually, finally stopping at a target brightness instead of going full on or full off.

The proposed new action of device.command.LightEffectFade would be better for this purpose, as it could either get brighter or darker, based on what the starting point is, instead of having to write separate commands based on the state of the light. (e.g. If my fade value is 50 brightness, and the lamp is off, then it will gradually come on to 50, or if the lamp is on at 100 brightness, then it will gradually dim to 50.)

[jstutz]

• Idea: Allow device.state.MediaState  to work with Nest Audio and the other google home speakers
• Example automation: If music is playing on a certain speaker turn on certain lights.

I posted this earlier but realized it was in the wrong format!

[Beberd]

Idea: Add the ability to select a group of Device

Example automation: When i'm away from home, Turn off the lights

[chaybee]

I can create a script to turn on my nest cameras individually within a singe voice command, however, I have not found a way to turn on ALL my nest cameras at the same time via voice command within that script.  It would save a lot of time having to write numerous "type-on-device" for each camera.  Am I missing a way that this can be done? 

[15624980]

Yes, look at an example script below that you can use, just go down a line of devices and put one - and say which devices you want to turn on or off at the same time.

starters:

      - type: assistant.event.OkGoogle

        eventData: query

        is: 

    actions:

      - type: device.command.OnOff

        on: true

        devices:

          - Device - room

          - Device  - room

          - Device - room

          - device - room

          - device - room

          - device - room

[chaybee]

Didn't work.  Gives me an error. 

Script instructions say to duplicate "-type" sections under "actions" which I did 27 times for my lights and cameras and that worked.  I would just prefer a group of devices or rooms or something like that. 

[ha11sy]

Hi, 

Can you copy and paste your code into a reply window?

[James28]

• Idea: Person detected as a starter 
• Example automation: If a specific person is detected at the doorbell, open the door automatically.

I have a disability and a powered automatic door, and this would make my life much easier, so that I don't have to use my device (I already have it set up to open the door remotely, but I have to either use the app or speak to Google Assistant to activate it). It would also be really cool to just have the door open for my caregivers and trusted contacts.