Set up Google Nest and compatible-device automations in the Google Home app: open Add → Automation, name the automation, then choose a starter, optional conditions, and actions before saving and testing. The improved editor is the best starting point for most households; use Help me create for guided setup or the YAML script editor when the visual controls cannot express your logic.
What you need before creating an automation
- Install or update the Google Home app on Android, iPhone, or iPad, and sign in with a Google Account.
- Add each Nest or compatible third-party device to the intended Google Home. Confirm that it is online, has a clear name, and is assigned to the correct room. Google’s device setup guidance is at Google Home device setup.
- Check that the product is compatible with Google Home or Matter. Compatibility can be partial: a light may expose on/off control but not brightness or color in automations. Review the controls offered after selecting the device rather than assuming every product feature is available. See Google Home compatibility information.
- For presence rules, enable Presence sensing and grant the Google Home app the required phone-location permission. Older Nest-account users must migrate to a Google Account for presence-based automations.
- Be an eligible Home member. Household automation management is generally limited to admins or members who have the required settings permission.
Household automations are shared-home rules. They are different from Personal Routines, which are associated more closely with an individual account and follow a separate workflow. Google documents the improved editor and permissions at https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/16214649.
How Google Home automations work
Every automation is built from three pieces:
| Part | What it does | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Begins the automation when an event occurs. | A time, sunrise or sunset, someone arriving, everyone leaving, a voice phrase, a device-state change, a sensor threshold, or a supported camera event. |
| Condition | Restricts when a starter is allowed to run; it normally does not start the automation by itself. | Only when someone is home, only when everyone is away, only on selected days, or only while another device is on or closed. |
| Action | Defines what Google Home does after the starter and conditions are satisfied. | Switch lights, set a thermostat, lock a compatible lock, play media, send a notification, broadcast a message, or wait before a later action. |
The current editor accepts multiple starters. Any one of them can begin the automation. With multiple conditions, choose whether any selected condition or all selected conditions must be true. Supported starters, conditions, and actions vary by device, account, language, geography, editor and, for some camera features, subscription. The complete list changes as Google updates the editor: Google Home automation actions and starters.
How to create a basic automation
- Open the Google Home app.
- Tap Add.
- Tap Automation.
- Tap Add name and use a specific name such as “Porch light after sunset,” not a vague label such as “Rule.”
- Add one or more starters.
- Add optional conditions, selecting whether any or all must be true when that choice is offered.
- Add the desired actions. Select each device and confirm which controls Google Home actually exposes.
- Review the trigger, restrictions, devices, timing and order of actions.
- Tap Save.
- Test with a noncritical light, plug or notification. Then test the real trigger under normal conditions.
Example: turn off lights when everyone leaves
- Starter: Everyone is away.
- Conditions: None.
- Action: Turn off the living-room lights.
First verify Presence sensing, then manually select Away in Google Home where available or leave the home and observe the result. Do not begin testing with locks, heating equipment or anything that could create a hazard.
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Example: turn on a porch light after sunset
- Starter: Sunset with a 10-minute offset.
- Condition: Optional selected days of the week.
- Action: Turn on the porch light.
Schedules can use exact times, recurring days, sunrise, sunset, offsets and dates. One-time automations created through Help me create can specify “only once” or “the next time” and are deleted after starting.
Useful Google Nest automation ideas
Leaving home
Starter: Everyone is away. Actions: Turn off selected lights and plugs, set a supported thermostat mode or Eco Temperature, and pause selected media. Check every device’s available controls before saving.
Arriving home
Starter: Someone arrives. Condition: A time window, if you do not want the rule running overnight. Actions: Turn on entry lights and broadcast a welcome message. Presence is an inference from phone and eligible-device signals, not a guaranteed identity check.
Morning schedule
Starter: A weekday time. Actions: Set a supported thermostat temperature and play media on a selected speaker. Confirm that the speaker and thermostat are online before relying on the schedule.
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Starter: A supported person, package, animal, vehicle or motion event. Actions: Turn on a porch light or send a notification. Event categories differ by camera model and setup, and detection can be affected by lighting, weather and camera position. Familiar-face automation starters require Google Home Premium, and familiar-face detection is not available on Nest Cameras used in Illinois.
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- Keep your home comfortable – Control compatible smart devices like lights and thermostats, even while you're away.
- See more with the built-in camera – Check in on your family, pets, and more using the built-in camera. Drop in on your home when you're out or view the front door from your Echo Show 5 with compatible video doorbells.
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Leak response
Starter: A compatible leak sensor event. Actions: Notify household members and, only if explicitly supported, close a compatible water valve. Treat this as an additional alert, never as the sole emergency response.
Bedtime
Starter: A voice phrase or scheduled time. Actions: Dim supported lights, set the thermostat and lock a compatible lock. Test the sequence while awake and keep a manual control available.
How to set up Home and Away automations
- Open Google Home and tap your profile picture or initial.
- Tap Home settings, then Presence sensing.
- Enable the phone and any eligible home devices that should contribute to presence.
- Grant the Google Home app the required location permission. Phone location can be shared through Google Home or the Nest app, not both simultaneously.
- Create an automation using Someone is home or Everyone is away as a starter or condition.
Google can infer presence from phone location, Wi-Fi and GPS-related signals, and sensors in supported home devices. If only one household member shares phone presence, “everyone is away” may depend largely on that phone. Ask every relevant member to enable their phone, and remember that some third-party products cannot contribute. Manually choosing Home or Away can also start presence-based automations. Details: current Presence sensing setup, presence data and permissions, and Home and Away automations.
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Improved editor, Personal Routines and Help me create
Use the improved household-automation editor for ordinary schedules, presence rules and device reactions. Personal Routines remain a separate feature, so look in the Automation area for shared-home rules rather than in an individual routine list.
Help me create lets you describe the desired behavior in natural language. Availability depends on account, language, geography and current editor rollout, and Google says Help me create requires Google Home Premium. Treat its output as a draft:
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- Describe the starter, timing, devices and desired result precisely.
- Inspect every generated starter, condition, device name and action.
- Correct room assignments or duplicate device names.
- Review or validate the automation.
- Test it with a harmless device before enabling a consequential action.
Google also documents experimental Help me script, which generates YAML from a natural-language request in Google Home for web as part of Public Preview. Generated scripts can differ from your intention, so never activate one without checking it. See Help me script and automation creation guidance.
Advanced automations with the script editor
Choose the script editor when the visual picker lacks a required starter or condition, or when you need more complex state logic, offsets, suppression windows or precise YAML control. Google documents it as a Public Preview feature.
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- In Google Home, open Automations, tap Add, and choose Household or the available script-editor option.
- Draft the YAML using autocomplete and the current syntax documentation.
- Tap Validate and fix every error.
- Save, then confirm whether activation is on. A valid saved script activates automatically unless you turn activation off.
On the web, go to https://home.google.com/automations, select the scripted automation, edit it, validate it and save. iPhone and iPad users can view, edit, deactivate and run scripts in the app, but Google currently documents creation of new scripted automations through Google Home for web instead.
Illustrative YAML
metadata:
name: Turn on porch light when everyone arrives after sunset
description: Turns on a compatible porch light when presence changes to home
automations:
starters:
- type: home.state.HomePresence
state: homePresenceMode
is: HOME
condition:
type: time.between
before: 11:00 PM
after: sunset
actions:
- type: device.command.OnOff
devices:
- Porch light - Front Door
on: trueThis is an illustration, not a universal copy-and-paste recipe. Replace the device name and use only traits supported by that device and your current schema. Check script syntax and device states and script-editor instructions.
Why an automation is not working
It will not save
- Confirm every device is in the intended Home and online.
- Check that your Home-member role permits household-automation changes.
- Configure Presence sensing if the rule uses Home or Away.
- Remove unsupported device controls or starter-condition combinations.
- For scripts, correct YAML and validate again.
Presence runs at the wrong time
Check each household member’s phone presence, Google Home location permission, whether location is being shared through Nest instead, eligible home-device signals, and whether someone manually selected Home or Away. Also distinguish “someone is home” from “everyone is away.”
It runs twice or unpredictably
Look for two automations issuing conflicting commands, multiple starters independently launching one rule, a device-state starter that changes repeatedly, fluctuating presence signals, delayed third-party state reports, or a one-time rule accidentally made recurring. Google specifically warns about conflicting rules, such as one turning lights off while another turns them on at the same time.
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A camera event never triggers
Verify that the camera is set up in Google Home, supports the selected event, has detection enabled, is online and powered, and has any required Google Home Premium plan or wired configuration. Lighting, weather, placement and detection confidence can change results; familiar-face limits may apply in your jurisdiction.
A script validates but does not run
Validation checks syntax, not the real-world network or device. Recheck indentation, exact device names, capitalization, state values, supported starter and action types, Presence sensing, activation status and whether the selected device exposes the requested trait. Validate again after every edit.
Pause instead of deleting
Use the automation’s deactivate or pause control when you may need it later. Google says deleting a routine or automation is permanent: script and automation management.
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Presence rules use location and eligible-device signals, while camera rules use event detection that can be imperfect. Automations also depend on working internet, Wi-Fi, Google services and, often, third-party services. They may fail to start or stop.
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- Do not use an automation as the sole control for door security, medical or safety equipment, smoke or carbon-monoxide response, water emergencies, or heating and cooling where failure could create dangerous temperatures.
- Keep manual controls and independent alarms available.
- Test with lights or notifications first, then introduce locks, thermostats or appliances only after observing several normal runs.
When Google Home is not enough
Consider a third-party automation platform if Google Home cannot expose the device state you need, combine the required conditions, run a desired local or offline workflow, integrate a particular brand, or provide enough logging and debugging. Creation and capabilities remain controlled by that service; some third-party app automations may appear in Google Home on Android without being editable there. Google’s overview is at third-party app automations.
Choose the platform only after checking the exact devices, local-network requirements, account permissions and failure behavior. A different platform is not automatically more reliable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I create a new Google Home script on an iPhone or iPad?
Google currently documents iPhone and iPad support for viewing, editing, deactivating and running scripts, but recommends Google Home for web to create a new scripted automation.
Do all Nest cameras support person, package and face automation starters?
No. Supported events vary by camera model and setup. Detection can also be affected by lighting, weather and camera position; familiar-face automation starters require Google Home Premium and have an Illinois limitation for Nest Cameras.
Are Google Home automations safe for security or emergency response?
No automation should be the sole safety or security control. Google says automations can fail because of internet, Wi-Fi, Google or third-party service problems, so retain independent alarms and manual controls.
The Bottom Line
For most homes, start with the Google Home app’s improved editor: one clear starter, only the conditions you need, and verifiable device actions. Configure Presence sensing separately, inspect any AI-generated result, validate scripts, and test every rule before trusting it.
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