Google Home’s new script editor can make smart device automations even more powerful

Google released its redesigned Home app last month, adding routines to give users more control over smart home automations. Now, it’s introducing a new script editor, the company announced in a Google Nest blog post. It gives users even more granular control over automations, letting them do things like “dim lights and lower blinds when the living room TV is on after dark,” to cite one Google example. It does require some basic programming abilities, though, as it uses the YAML data serialization language. 

Building an automation requires three elements: starters, conditions and actions. A starter triggers the automation, for example flipping on the TV in the above example. Conditions, meanwhile, are prerequisites to be met before the script will run; for example the time must be between sunset and sunrise. Finally, actions specify which devices will then be triggered, i.e., lowering the blinds and turning off the lights. 

While Google already offers a decent level of control with routines, you can’t do things like program multiple starters in an automation or set conditions. The script editor, in comparison, allows the use of nearly 100 starters, conditions and actions that can be used for creating custom automations. 

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