The butler’s handbook

Make your home a little more helpful.

Practical patterns, readable examples, and the details that make an automation behave the way you expect.

Build a motion light that stays on while a room is occupied, then turns off after a quiet interval.

Use household presence carefully so the last person leaving turns off the lights you choose.

Choose a sun event, an offset, or a measured brightness signal for dependable outdoor lighting.

Create a useful delayed door alert, choose the right notification action, and avoid repeated noise.

Learn the structure of one automation, modern key names, indentation, and where to paste the result.

Separate the event that starts a rule from the checks that allow it and the work it performs.

Modernize an existing automation without changing its entity targets or intended behavior.

Create a simple temperature schedule while respecting thermostat capabilities, units, and manual overrides.