Timers

Built-in sentences for timers only work on ESPHome and Wyoming voice satellites.

You can control timer helpers previously created in HA with other voice assistants, however.

To use intent scripts you have to install the intent script integration.

Start timer

Custom sentence

language: "en"
intents:
  CustomTimerSet:
    data:
      # All times
      - sentences:
          - "(start|set) [(a|the)] timer (for|to) {hours} (hour|hours) [and] {minutes} (minute|minutes) [and] {seconds} (second|seconds)"
      # All one hour
      - sentences:
          - "(start|set) [(a|the)] timer (for|to) {hours} (hour|hours)"
        slots:
          seconds: 0
          minutes: 0
      # All one minute
      - sentences:
          - "(start|set) [(a|the)] timer (for|to) {minutes} (minute|minutes)"
        slots:
          seconds: 0
          hours: 0
      # All one second
      - sentences:
          - "(start|set) [(a|the)] timer (for|to) {seconds} (second|seconds)"
        slots:
          minutes: 0
          hours: 0
      # Minutes and seconds
      - sentences:
          - "(start|set) [(a|the)] timer (for|to) {minutes} (minute|minutes) [and] {seconds} (second|seconds)"
        slots:
          hours: 0
      # Hours and minutes
      - sentences:
          - "(start|set) [(a|the)] timer (for|to) {hours} (hour|hours) [and] {minutes} (minute|minutes)"
        slots:
          seconds: 0
      # Halves
      - sentences:
          - "(start|set) [(a|the)] timer (for|to) half a minute"
        slots:
          hours: 0
          minutes: 0
          seconds: 30
      - sentences:
          - "(start|set) [(a|the)] timer (for|to) {minutes} and a half minutes"
        slots:
          hours: 0
          seconds: 30
      - sentences:
          - "(start|move) [(a|the)] timer (for|to) {hours} and a half hours"
        slots:
          minutes: 30
          seconds: 0
lists:
  seconds:
    range:
      from: 0
      to: 120
  minutes:
    range:
      from: 0
      to: 120
  hours:
    range:
      from: 0
      to: 24

Intent

CustomTimerSet:
  action:
    - action: script.voice_timer
      data:
        duration: "{{hours | int(default=0)}}:{{ minutes | int(default=0) }}:{{ seconds | int(default=0) }}"
    - action: script.tts_response
      data:
        tts_sentence: "{{ states('sensor.finished_phrase') }}. Timer started."

Script

sequence:
  - action: timer.start
    metadata: {}
    data:
      duration: "{{ duration }}"
    target:
      entity_id: timer.voice_timer
fields:
  duration:
    selector:
      time: {}
    name: duration
    default: "00:00:00"
    required: true
alias: Voice timer

Notes

Most of the work here is done in the custom sentence, which tries to cover every possible permutation needed to deliver hours, minutes and seconds to the intent. The intent itself is quite simple - it just launches a script to set the timer. Using a script makes maintenance easier, particularly if you prefer to use the UI.

{{ states('sensor.finished_phrase') }} is a random phrase equivalent to "OK, done that."

---

Stop timer

Custom sentence

language: "en"
intents:
  CustomTimerCancel:
    data:
      - sentences:
          - "(stop | cancel) [the] timer"

Intent

CustomTimerCancel:
  action:
    - action: script.voice_timer_cancel
    - action: script.tts_response
      data:
        tts_sentence: "{{ states('sensor.finished_phrase') }}. Timer cancelled."

Script

sequence:
  - action: timer.cancel
    metadata: {}
    data: {}
    target:
      entity_id: timer.voice_timer
alias: Voice timer cancel

---

Pause timer

Custom sentence

language: "en"
intents:
  CustomTimerPause:
    data:
      - sentences:
          - "(pause | hold) [the] timer"

Intent

CustomTimerPause:
  action:
    - action: script.voice_timer_pause
    - action: script.tts_response
      data:
        tts_sentence: "{{ states('sensor.finished_phrase') }}. Timer paused."

Script

sequence:
  - action: timer.pause
    metadata: {}
    data: {}
    target:
      entity_id: timer.voice_timer
alias: Voice timer pause

---

Resume timer

Custom sentence

language: "en"
intents:
  CustomTimerResume:
    data:
      - sentences:
          - "start [the] timer again"
          - "(restart | resume) [the] timer"
          - "carry on [with] the timer"

Intent

CustomTimerResume:
  action:
    - action: script.voice_timer_resume
    - action: script.tts_response
      data:
        tts_sentence: "{{ states('sensor.finished_phrase') }}. Timer started again."

Script

sequence:
  - action: timer.start
    metadata: {}
    data: {}
    target:
      entity_id: timer.voice_timer
fields: {}
alias: Voice timer resume

---

Timer finished automation (optional)

The event trigger will fire whenever any timer finishes, so if you have several you will need to find a way of distinguishing between them. One simple approach is to create an input_boolean flag for each one, to be turned on by the intent script that starts the timer, and off at the end of this automation.

alias: Voice timer finished
triggers:
  - trigger: event
    event_type: timer.finished
conditions: []
actions:
  - action: script.chime
    metadata: {}
    data: {}
  - delay:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 0
      seconds: 2
      milliseconds: 0
  - action: script.tts_response
    metadata: {}
    data:
      tts_sentence: Your timer has finished
mode: single