Allow extracting non-primary entities in websocket command by abmantis · Pull Request #168860 · home-assistant/core

abmantis · 2026-04-22T22:22:35Z

Proposed change

Add a new primary_entities_only attribute to the extract_from_target API to allow extracting non-primary entities.

This is required for triggers that need to target non-primary entities. Frontend gets the info from the trigger description, as show in https://github.com/home-assistant/core/pull/168857/changes#diff-59d5f644bc2db2d5c73c9c6e802e8d3e0f24b4d8cde68c8931b029658eeb2d9cR36

Type of change

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Breaking change (fix/feature causing existing functionality to break)
Code quality improvements to existing code or addition of tests

Additional information

This PR fixes or closes issue: fixes #
This PR is related to issue: Stop filtering battery-related entities out of floor/area/device/label targets #168102
Link to documentation pull request:
Link to developer documentation pull request:
Link to frontend pull request: Target picker respect primaryEntitiesOnly from selector frontend#51677

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home-assistant · 2026-04-22T22:22:43Z

Hey there @home-assistant/core, mind taking a look at this pull request as it has been labeled with an integration (websocket_api) you are listed as a code owner for? Thanks!

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Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds a new primary_entities_only flag to target extraction so callers (notably websocket clients) can optionally include non-primary (config/diagnostic) entities when expanding targets.

Changes:

Extend homeassistant.helpers.target.async_extract_referenced_entity_ids with a kw-only primary_entities_only parameter and thread it through target tracking.
Add primary_entities_only to the extract_from_target websocket command schema and pass it through to target extraction.
Add tests covering the new flag in both helper- and websocket-level test suites.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
`homeassistant/helpers/target.py`	Adds `primary_entities_only` option and uses it to control entity-category filtering during indirect expansion.
`homeassistant/components/websocket_api/commands.py`	Exposes `primary_entities_only` on the `extract_from_target` websocket command and forwards it into extraction.
`tests/helpers/test_target.py`	Adds unit coverage asserting indirect expansion changes when toggling `primary_entities_only`.
`tests/components/websocket_api/test_commands.py`	Adds websocket-level coverage verifying `extract_from_target` includes/excludes config/diagnostic entities based on the flag.

MartinHjelmare · 2026-04-23T05:29:37Z


+    def _include_entry(entry: er.RegistryEntry) -> bool:
+        """Return True if the entry should be included in indirect expansion."""
+        if entry.hidden_by is not None:


Side note: I think it's weird that we let "hidden" influence the target selection. "hidden" is used to hide entities from a dashboard. That should not matter for how the entity is used in automations.

I had to change this setting to allow me to create working automations which was confusing and disappointing.

The thing is that the description specifically mentions this:

So for now we need to keep it.

Yeah, I know. I think the decision to use it like that was wrong.

It's another case where we tied more than a single feature, and the features are semantically distinct, to the same API. That always backfires.

MartinHjelmare · 2026-04-23T06:08:07Z

+    target_selection: TargetSelection,
+    expand_group: bool = True,
+    *,
+    primary_entities_only: bool = True,


I think long term I'd invert this setting. I think it's an edge case where we don't want to include all entities.

The only case I can think of is when controlling area ambient lights and you have some other light setting on a device in the area.

All entities with a device class you would want to include by default in the selection that targets that device class.

For now we only have 1 trigger/condition where we need it, which means that the majority of them don't.
I am not saying that we should not make the default target all, though, but for now lets keep it backwards compatible since that would be a bigger change.

Yeah, we can't change this easily, but I think we should long term. We have created a default rule for the edge case instead of the other way around.

MartinHjelmare · 2026-04-23T06:30:28Z

Waiting for linked frontend PR.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

wendevlin · 2026-04-23T12:01:34Z

Frontend PR:

Target picker respect primaryEntitiesOnly from selector frontend#51677

MartinHjelmare · 2026-04-23T17:50:18Z

Can be merged when frontend PR is approved.

Allow extracting non-primary entities in websocket command

13e2821

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 22, 2026 22:22

abmantis requested a review from a team as a code owner April 22, 2026 22:22

home-assistant Bot added cla-signed core has-tests integration: websocket_api new-feature by-code-owner Quality Scale: internal labels Apr 22, 2026

abmantis added awaiting-frontend and removed by-code-owner Quality Scale: internal labels Apr 22, 2026

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of abmantis April 22, 2026 22:23 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Apr 22, 2026

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Comment thread homeassistant/helpers/target.py Outdated

Comment thread homeassistant/components/websocket_api/commands.py

abmantis mentioned this pull request Apr 22, 2026

Allow targeting non-primary entities in triggers #168857

Merged

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MartinHjelmare reviewed Apr 23, 2026

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MartinHjelmare approved these changes Apr 23, 2026

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MartinHjelmare marked this pull request as draft April 23, 2026 06:30

Update homeassistant/helpers/target.py

db8e4f9

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 23, 2026 10:16

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of abmantis April 23, 2026 10:17 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Apr 23, 2026

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Comment thread homeassistant/helpers/target.py

wendevlin mentioned this pull request Apr 23, 2026

Target picker respect primaryEntitiesOnly from selector home-assistant/frontend#51677

Merged

12 tasks

wendevlin marked this pull request as ready for review April 24, 2026 07:13

wendevlin removed the awaiting-frontend label Apr 24, 2026

wendevlin merged commit 6a57382 into dev Apr 24, 2026
47 of 48 checks passed

wendevlin deleted the extract_from_target_diag branch April 24, 2026 07:13

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abmantis commented Apr 22, 2026 •

edited by MartinHjelmare

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