Template Switch

The template switch platform allows you to create simple switches out of just actions and an optional value lambda. Once defined, it will automatically appear in Home Assistant as a switch and can be controlled through the frontend.

# Example configuration entry
switch:
  - platform: template
    name: "Template Switch"
    lambda: |-
      if (id(some_binary_sensor).state) {
        return true;
      } else {
        return false;
      }
    turn_on_action:
      - switch.turn_on: switch2
    turn_off_action:
      - switch.turn_on: switch1

Possible return values for the optional lambda:

  • return true; if the switch should be reported as ON.
  • return false; if the switch should be reported as OFF.
  • return {}; if the last state should be repeated.

Configuration variables:

  • name (Required, string): The name of the switch.
  • lambda (Optional, lambda): Lambda to be evaluated repeatedly to get the current state of the switch.
  • turn_on_action (Optional, Action): The action that should be performed when the remote (like Home Assistant’s frontend) requests the switch to be turned on.
  • turn_off_action (Optional, Action): The action that should be performed when the remote (like Home Assistant’s frontend) requests the switch to be turned off.
  • restore_state (Optional, boolean): Sets whether ESPHome should attempt to restore the state on boot-up and call the turn on/off actions with the recovered values. Defaults to no.
  • optimistic (Optional, boolean): Whether to operate in optimistic mode - when in this mode, any command sent to the template cover will immediately update the reported state. Defaults to false.
  • assumed_state (Optional, boolean): Whether the true state of the switch is not known. This will make the Home Assistant frontend show buttons for both ON and OFF actions, instead of hiding one of them when the switch is ON/OFF. Defaults to false.
  • id (Optional, ID): Manually specify the ID used for code generation.
  • All other options from Switch.

switch.template.publish Action

You can also publish a state to a template switch from elsewhere in your YAML file with the switch.template.publish action.

# Example configuration entry
switch:
  - platform: template
    name: "Template Switch"
    id: template_swi

# in some trigger
on_...:
  - switch.template.publish:
      id: template_swi
      state: ON

  # Templated
  - switch.template.publish:
      id: template_swi
      state: !lambda 'return true;'

Configuration options:

  • id (Required, ID): The ID of the template switch.
  • state (Required, boolean, templatable): The state to publish.

Note

This action can also be written in lambdas:

id(template_swi).publish_state(42.0);