Action

An Action card is a simple one-tap shortcut. It sends a selected Home Assistant action, opens an Option Select picker, or runs a registered local device action when you tap it.

Use Action cards for shortcuts such as running a scene, starting a script, triggering an automation, pressing a Home Assistant button entity, changing a helper, or calling a custom action registered on the panel itself.

Setting Up an Action Card

1. Select a card and change its type to Action.
2. Set a Label - this is the text shown on the card.
3. Choose an Action.
4. Enter the Entity for the thing you want the action to use.
5. If you choose Set Number Helper, enter the value.
6. Choose an Icon.
7. If you choose Run Script, optionally add Fields if the script needs inputs, and turn on Confirmation Required if accidental taps would be a problem.
8. Optionally turn on Show State if a Home Assistant-backed Action card should show a separate Home Assistant state.

Run an Existing Home Assistant Script

Use Run Script when you already have a Home Assistant script and want a card to run it directly. This avoids creating a separate automation just to connect the panel button to the script.

For example, to run a script called script.mettre_de_la_musique:

1. Set the card Type to Action.
2. Set Action to Run Script.
3. Set Entity to script.mettre_de_la_musique.
4. Set Label to the text you want on the panel, such as Music.
5. Choose an icon.

When you tap the card, EspControl sends script.turn_on to Home Assistant with that script as the target entity. The label is only what appears on the panel, so it can be different from the script name.

If your script defines fields, add them in Fields, one per line:

room: kitchen
mode: night

EspControl sends those values with script.turn_on, so Home Assistant receives them as the script's field values.

For safety-sensitive scripts, turn on Confirmation Required. The card will open the same confirmation popup used by Switch cards before it sends script.turn_on. You can customise the popup message and the confirm/cancel button text.

Supported Actions

Action	Example entity	Extra field
Run Scene	scene.movie_mode	None
Run Script	script.goodnight	Fields
Trigger Automation	automation.goodnight	None
Press Button	button.restart_router	None
Press Input Button	input_button.doorbell	None
Toggle Helper	input_boolean.guest_mode	None
Set Number Helper	input_number.target_level	Value
Option Select	select.wled_preset or input_select.house_mode	Opens option list
Local Action	Registered local action key	Runs on the panel

Option Select

Choose Option Select inside the Action card when you want the panel to show and change a live select or input_select value.

When you tap the card, EspControl opens the option list reported by Home Assistant. Choosing an option sends select.select_option for select entities or input_select.select_option for input_select helpers.

This is useful for WLED presets, room modes, house modes, and similar helpers where you want to pick from the current list rather than hard-code one option into the card.

Local Action

Choose Local Action inside the Action card when the action should run directly on the ESP32 instead of going through Home Assistant.

Local actions are registered in your device's on_boot lambda using register_local_action(). The key must be unique per device and is used to match the card to the callback.

esphome:
  on_boot:
    - priority: 700
      then:
        - lambda: |-
            register_local_action(
              "tv_off",
              "TV Off",
              [=]() { id(ir_blaster).transmit_nec(0x04FB, 0x08F7); }
            );

When the setup page can reach the device, it shows a dropdown of registered local actions. If the device cannot be reached, enter the Action Key manually.

Show State

Action cards are normally stateless: they flash when tapped, then return to their normal colour.

Turn on Show State when an action should behave like a shortcut but still show whether something is active. For example, an Action card might run a scene called scene.movie_mode, while State Entity watches input_boolean.movie_mode.

Show State has three display modes:

• Icon — keeps the normal action icon, and can show a separate On Icon while the state entity is active.
• Numeric — shows a live sensor value, with optional Unit, Unit Precision, and Large State Numbers on larger cards.
• Text — shows the live state text where the card label normally appears.

When the state entity is active, Icon mode highlights the card. Numeric mode highlights the card when the live value is greater than zero, which is useful for counters and count-based indicators. If the state entity is unavailable, the card keeps its normal appearance and clears or falls back from the live state display until Home Assistant reports a usable value again.

How It Works on the Panel

When you tap an Action card:

• The card briefly flashes the highlight colour.
• The selected Home Assistant action is sent with the configured entity. Run Script cards with Confirmation Required ask first.
• Local Action cards run the registered callback on the panel itself.
• If Show State is off, the card does not stay highlighted.
• If Show State is on, the card display follows the state entity you chose.

When to Use a Scene or Script

If you want a shortcut that does several things, create a scene or script in Home Assistant first, then point the Action card at that scene or script. This keeps the panel setup simple and makes the behaviour easier to test inside Home Assistant.

Use a script for locks that require a PIN or code. EspControl does not store lock codes on the panel.

Use an Action card when the panel should directly run something that already exists in Home Assistant, or when it should run a registered local panel action. Use a Webhook card when the panel should call a URL directly without Home Assistant. Use a Trigger card when you want the panel to fire a custom event that a Home Assistant automation responds to.

Use the dedicated card types for richer controls:

• Use Cover for blinds, shutters, and covers.
• Use Lock for locking and unlocking doors.
• Use Lights for light switching, brightness, and colour temperature.
• Use Media for media player playback, volume, and now-playing controls.
• Use Climate for thermostat and HVAC controls.
• Use Vacuum for robot vacuum status and cleaning controls.

Requires Home Assistant actions

Home Assistant-backed Action cards send Home Assistant actions from the panel. If tapping one of those cards does nothing, check Enable Actions. Local Action mode runs on the panel and does not need Home Assistant.