Device management - Spook 👻 a scary powerful toolbox for Home Assistant.

A device in Home Assistant represents a physical device in your home but can also represent a web service, like one that provides weather information. Devices are logical grouping for entities. Spook provides you with a few actions to manage devices.

Actions¶

The following device management actions are added to your Home Assistant instance:

Disable a device¶

This action allows you to disable a device on the fly.

Screenshot of the Home Assistant disable device action on the Tools page.

Open your Home Assistant instance and show the Actions tool with a specific action selected.

Action properties
Action	Disable a device 👻
Action name	`homeassistant.disable_device`
Action targets	No
Action response	No response
Spook's influence	Newly added action.
Tools	Try this action

Action data parameters
Attribute	Type	Required	Default / Example
`device_id`	string \| list of strings	Yes	`dc23e666e6100f184e642a0ac345d3eb`

Finding a device ID

Not sure what the device_id of your device is? There are a few ways to find it:

Use this action in the Actions tool, in the UI select the device you want to disable and select the Go to YAML mode button. This will show you the device ID in the YAML code.

Alternatively, you can visit the device page in the UI and look at the URL. The device ID is the last part of the URL, and will look something like this: dc23e666e6100f184e642a0ac345d3eb.

Example action in YAML

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action: homeassistant.disable_device
data:
  device_id: "dc23e666e6100f184e642a0ac345d3eb"

Or multiple devices at once:

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action: homeassistant.disable_device
data:
  device_id:
    - "dc23e666e6100f184e642a0ac345d3eb"
    - "df98a97c9341a0f184e642a0ac345d3b"

Enable a device¶

This action allows you to enable a device on the fly.

Screenshot of the Home Assistant enable device action on the Tools page.

Action properties
Action	Enable a device 👻
Action name	`homeassistant.enable_device`
Action targets	No
Action response	No response
Spook's influence	Newly added action.
Tools	Try this action

Action data parameters
Attribute	Type	Required	Default / Example
`device_id`	string \| list of strings	Yes	`dc23e666e6100f184e642a0ac345d3eb`

Finding a device ID

Not sure what the device_id of your device is? There are a few ways to find it:

Use this action in the Actions tool, in the UI select the device you want to enable and select the Go to YAML mode button. This will show you the device ID in the YAML code.

Alternatively, you can visit the device page in the UI and look at the URL. The device ID is the last part of the URL, and will look something like this: dc23e666e6100f184e642a0ac345d3eb.

Example action in YAML

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action: homeassistant.enable_device
data:
  device_id: "dc23e666e6100f184e642a0ac345d3eb"

Or multiple devices at once:

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action: homeassistant.enable_device
data:
  device_id:
    - "dc23e666e6100f184e642a0ac345d3eb"
    - "df98a97c9341a0f184e642a0ac345d3b"

Update a device¶

Updates an existing device in your Home Assistant instance. Anything you leave out keeps the value it already has, so you can rename a device without moving it to another area.

Only what you can change on a device in the UI is offered. Everything else, like its manufacturer or model, belongs to the integration that made the device, and it would write its own values back the next time it sets up.

Setting name_by_user to null gives the device back the name its integration gave it, and setting area_id to null takes it out of its area. The labels you give replace the ones the device has, and an empty list removes them all. Setting disabled_by to user disables the device, setting it to null enables it again, the same way the disable and enable device actions above do.

Action properties
Action	Update a device 👻
Action name	`homeassistant.update_device`
Action targets	No
Action response	No response
Spook's influence	Newly added action.
Tools	Try this action

Action data parameters
Attribute	Type	Required	Default / Example
`device_id`	string	Yes	`dc23e666e6100f184e642a0ac345d3eb`
`name_by_user`	string or `null`	No	`Living room speaker`
`area_id`	string or `null`	No	`living_room`
`labels`	string \| list of strings	No	`["battery_powered"]`
`disabled_by`	`user` or `null`	No	`user`

Example action in YAML

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action: homeassistant.update_device
data:
  device_id: "dc23e666e6100f184e642a0ac345d3eb"
  name_by_user: "Living room speaker"
  area_id: "living_room"

Blueprints & tutorials¶

There are currently no known blueprints or tutorials for the enhancements Spook provides for these features. If you created one or stumbled upon one, please let us know in our discussion forums.

Feature requests, ideas, and support¶

If you have an idea on how to further enhance this, for example, by adding a new service, entity, or repairs detection; feel free to let us know in our discussion forums.

Are you stuck using these new features? Or maybe you’ve run into a bug? Please check the page on where to go for help.