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BytesAgain β€Ί Skills β€Ί Home Assistant CLI
πŸ¦€ ClawHub

Home Assistant CLI

by @joneschi

Advanced Home Assistant control using the official hass-cli tool. Features auto-completion, event monitoring, history queries, and rich output formatting. Alternative to the curl-based homeassistant skill - choose this if you want a more interactive CLI experience with better discovery and formatting.

Versionv1.0.0
Downloads4,567
Installs20
Stars⭐ 12
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TERMINAL
clawhub install homeassistant-cli

πŸ“– About This Skill

name: homeassistant-cli description: Advanced Home Assistant control using the official hass-cli tool. Features auto-completion, event monitoring, history queries, and rich output formatting. Alternative to the curl-based homeassistant skill - choose this if you want a more interactive CLI experience with better discovery and formatting. homepage: https://github.com/home-assistant-ecosystem/home-assistant-cli metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "🏑", "requires": { "bins": ["hass-cli"] }, "install": [ { "id": "pip", "kind": "pip", "package": "homeassistant-cli", "bins": ["hass-cli"], "label": "Install Home Assistant CLI (pip)", }, { "id": "brew", "kind": "brew", "formula": "homeassistant-cli", "bins": ["hass-cli"], "label": "Install Home Assistant CLI (brew)", }, ], }, }

Home Assistant CLI

Control your Home Assistant smart home devices using the official hass-cli tool β€” a feature-rich command-line interface with auto-completion, event monitoring, and flexible output formatting.

Why This Skill vs. homeassistant (curl-based)?

Choose homeassistant-cli if you want:

  • βœ… Auto-completion for entity IDs and services (bash/zsh/fish)
  • βœ… Event monitoring in real-time (hass-cli event watch)
  • βœ… History queries (hass-cli state history)
  • βœ… Better output formatting (table/YAML/JSON with one flag)
  • βœ… Interactive exploration (easier to discover entities and services)
  • βœ… Comprehensive documentation with examples and troubleshooting

    • Choose homeassistant (curl) if you want:

  • βœ… Zero dependencies (curl + jq are pre-installed)
  • βœ… Lightweight and fast
  • βœ… Better for scripting and automation
  • βœ… No Python requirements

    • Both work great β€” this skill is for users who interact frequently with Home Assistant and want a richer CLI experience.

    Setup

    Before using hass-cli, configure authentication:

    1. Generate a long-lived access token in Home Assistant: - Navigate to your profile: https://your-homeassistant:8123/profile - Scroll to "Long-Lived Access Tokens" - Create a new token

    2. Set environment variables (add to shell config for persistence): 

       export HASS_SERVER=https://homeassistant.local:8123
   export HASS_TOKEN=

    3. Test connection: 

       hass-cli info

    Common Commands

    List Entities

    # List all entities
hass-cli state list
    Filter by domain
    
hass-cli state list light
hass-cli state list switch
hass-cli state list sensor
    Get specific entity state
    
hass-cli state get light.living_room

    Control Devices

    # Turn on/off lights
hass-cli service call light.turn_on --arguments entity_id=light.living_room
hass-cli service call light.turn_off --arguments entity_id=light.living_room
    Set brightness (0-255)
    
hass-cli service call light.turn_on --arguments entity_id=light.bedroom,brightness=128
    Turn on/off switches
    
hass-cli service call switch.turn_on --arguments entity_id=switch.fan
hass-cli service call switch.turn_off --arguments entity_id=switch.fan
    Toggle any device
    
hass-cli service call homeassistant.toggle --arguments entity_id=light.kitchen

    List and Call Services

    # List all services
hass-cli service list
    Filter services
    
hass-cli service list light
hass-cli service list 'home.*toggle'
    Get service details (YAML output)
    
hass-cli -o yaml service list homeassistant.toggle

    Work with Scenes

    # List scenes
hass-cli state list scene
    Activate a scene
    
hass-cli service call scene.turn_on --arguments entity_id=scene.movie_time

    Monitor Events

    # Watch all events
hass-cli event watch
    Watch specific event type
    
hass-cli event watch state_changed
hass-cli event watch automation_triggered

    History

    # Get state history (last 50 minutes)
hass-cli state history --since 50m light.living_room
    Multiple entities
    
hass-cli state history --since 1h light.living_room switch.fan

    Output Formats

    Control output with -o or --output:

    # Table (default)
hass-cli state list
    YAML
    
hass-cli -o yaml state get light.living_room
    JSON
    
hass-cli -o json state list light
    No headers (for scripting)
    
hass-cli --no-headers state list

    Tips

  • Entity discovery: Use hass-cli state list to find entity IDs
  • Service discovery: Use hass-cli service list to find available services
  • Auto-completion: See references/autocomplete.md for shell setup
  • Troubleshooting: See references/troubleshooting.md

    • Examples

    See references/examples.md for common automation patterns and use cases.

    πŸ’‘ Examples

    See references/examples.md for common automation patterns and use cases.

    βš™οΈ Configuration

    Before using hass-cli, configure authentication:

    1. Generate a long-lived access token in Home Assistant: - Navigate to your profile: https://your-homeassistant:8123/profile - Scroll to "Long-Lived Access Tokens" - Create a new token

    2. Set environment variables (add to shell config for persistence): 

       export HASS_SERVER=https://homeassistant.local:8123
   export HASS_TOKEN=

    3. Test connection: 

       hass-cli info

    πŸ“‹ Tips & Best Practices

  • Entity discovery: Use hass-cli state list to find entity IDs
  • Service discovery: Use hass-cli service list to find available services
  • Auto-completion: See references/autocomplete.md for shell setup
  • Troubleshooting: See references/troubleshooting.md