Helpers

Helpers are the building blocks of automations: the Guest Mode toggle, the heating-target slider, the laundry timer. They’re normally UI-only — these two services open all eight storage-backed types to Claude and to automations, so “build me a manual heating override” creates the helper and the automation in one conversation.

Type-specific options (min/max for input_number, the options list for input_select, duration for timer, weekday blocks for schedule) pass through to the helper’s own schema, so validation errors match what the UI would say. Helpers defined in YAML are refused — those belong to your configuration files.

Create helper

brain.create_helper

Create a helper of any storage-backed type: input_boolean, input_number, input_select, input_text, input_datetime, counter, timer, or schedule. Type-specific options pass through and are validated by the helper’s own schema. Returns the new helper’s id and entity_id as response data.

Field	Type	Required	Description
helper_type	select	yes	Which kind of helper to create.
name	text	yes	Name of the new helper.
options	list of objects	no	Type-specific options, e.g. min/max/step for input_number, options list for input_select, duration for timer, has_date/has_time for input_datetime.

service: brain.create_helper
data:
  helper_type: input_number
  name: Heating Target
  options:
    min: 15
    max: 25
    step: 0.5
    unit_of_measurement: °C

🗣️ “Build me a manual heating override: a target-temperature slider and a boolean to turn it on.”

Delete helper

brain.delete_helper

Delete one or more UI-created helpers of any storage-backed type. Helpers defined in YAML are refused with a clear error.

Field	Type	Required	Description
entity_id	entity (list)	yes	Helper entities to delete.

service: brain.delete_helper
data:
  entity_id:
    - input_boolean.old_test_toggle

🗣️ “Clean up the test helpers I made last month.”