Home Assistant Categories: The Ultimate Guide for 2026

Updated on February 8, 2026

Organization is the cornerstone of a truly efficient smart home. In Home Assistant 2026, categories have cemented themselves as an indispensable tool, evolving from their introduction in 2024 to become a fundamental pillar for managing devices in Home Assistant. Alongside labels, floors, and areas, categories allow us to build a coherent, easy-to-manage system, no matter how many devices we have. This feature is a clear testament to Home Assistant’s commitment to deep customization and user experience.

If you’re looking to master how to organize Home Assistant, you’ve come to the right place. In this definitive 2026 guide, I’ll show you not only how to set up Home Assistant categories but also how to take them to the next level. We’ll explore everything from the basics to advanced tricks for integrating them into automations, dynamic dashboards, and smart notifications. Get ready to transform your Home Assistant instance from a simple collection of devices into a perfectly orchestrated ecosystem tailored to your life.

What Are Home Assistant Categories (And Why Are They Essential in 2026)?

In essence, Home Assistant Categories are a classification system that allows you to group entities (devices, automations, scripts, etc.) by their function or purpose, regardless of their physical location (Area) or secondary characteristics (Labels). Think of them as thematic, logical folders for your smart home.

For example, you might have several lights in the “Living Room” (their Area), but functionally, some could be “Main Lighting,” others “Ambient Lighting,” and an LED strip behind your TV could belong to the “Entertainment” category. This granularity is what gives you unprecedented control.

The main advantage is streamlined management. With a single command or click, you can interact with all entities in a category. Want to turn off everything related to leisure? Just switch off the “Entertainment” category. Activating security mode? Just enable the “Nighttime Security” category. This approach dramatically simplifies the creation of complex scenes and automations.

Tutorial: How to Set Up Home Assistant Categories Step-by-Step

Implementing categories is a straightforward process done directly from the user interface. Here’s a hands-on Home Assistant categories tutorial to get you started organizing your system today.

Access Configuration: Navigate to Settings > Labels & Categories in your Home Assistant dashboard. You’ll see two tabs at the top. Select “Categories.”
Create Your First Category: Click the “+ Create Category” button in the bottom-right corner. A dialog box will pop up where you can give it a name (e.g., “Security”) and optionally assign an icon for quick visual identification.
Assign Entities to Your Category: Now for the key part. Go to the settings of any entity you want to organize. For instance, go to Settings > Devices & Services and select a device. Within the device card, you’ll see its entities. Click on an entity (like a door sensor) and then click the gear icon to access its advanced settings.
Select the Category: In the “Category” field, a drop-down menu will appear with the categories you’ve created. Simply select the appropriate one (in this case, “Security”). That’s it! The entity now belongs to that category.
Repeat and Organize: Repeat this process for all the entities you want to group. My advice is to start with the obvious ones: group all your lights, smart plugs, security cameras, etc. As you get more comfortable, you can create more specific categories like “Energy Saving” or “Morning Routine.”
Review and Refine: Your smart home is a living system. I recommend reviewing your categories every few months to ensure they still make sense and are useful for your current lifestyle.

Supercharge Your Automations with Home Assistant Categories

This is where categories truly shine. Instead of listing dozens of entity IDs in an automation, you can target an entire category. This not only makes your YAML code cleaner and more readable but also far easier to maintain.

Imagine you want to turn off all lights and entertainment devices when you activate the “Movie Night” scene. Without categories, you’d have to list every single `entity_id`. With categories, the action is much simpler:


action:
  - service: light.turn_off
    target:
      category_id: main_lighting
  - service: switch.turn_off
    target:
      category_id: entertainment

Another practical example is for security. You can create an automation that sends you a notification if any sensor in the “Perimeter Security” category is triggered while you’re away:


trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - binary_sensor.front_door
      - binary_sensor.living_room_window
      # ... and so on for every sensor
    to: 'on'
# The above code is greatly simplified by using categories in service call targets.
# While direct use in triggers can still require advanced templates, 
# the benefit in actions and conditions is immediate and massive.

For notifications, it’s incredibly powerful. For example, a notification that alerts you if you left something on in the “High Consumption” category:


action:
  - service: notify.mobile_app_my_phone
    data:
      message: "Heads up: A high-consumption device was left on at home."

To learn more about advanced automations and notifications, check out my guide on mastering advanced Home Assistant automations.

Practical Category Examples for Your 2026 Smart Home

To help you get started, I’ve compiled a list of categories that I’ve found extremely useful in my own setup and for my clients. Feel free to adapt them to your needs.

Home Management & Efficiency

Energy Saving: Group smart plugs with power monitoring, thermostats in eco-mode, and automations that shut down unnecessary devices. This is key for managing energy in Home Assistant.
Automated Cleaning: Robot vacuums, air purifiers, and their corresponding schedules and automations.
Smart Kitchen: Coffee makers, ovens, and any other connected appliances.
Lawn & Garden: Sprinkler controllers, soil moisture sensors, and landscape lighting.

Security & Comfort

Perimeter Security: All exterior door and window sensors.
Interior Security: Motion sensors, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors.
Surveillance Cameras: Group all your cameras, like Reolink or other RTSP models, for quick access.
Climate Control: Thermostats, smart AC units, and fans. A great integration like Airzone can be centralized here.

Entertainment & Lifestyle

Home Theater: LED strips, projectors, sound systems, and automations that set the perfect movie mood.
Multi-Room Audio: All your smart speakers for easy group control.
Morning Routine: Lights that fade in, shades that open, and the coffee maker that starts brewing.
Focus & Work: Desk lighting, monitor power plugs, and automations that minimize distractions.

Tech & Connectivity

This category is especially useful for technical management and troubleshooting.

Zigbee Devices: All devices using this protocol. If you’re having network issues, you can easily target them. Essential if you’re using ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT.
Wi-Fi Devices: Entities from Wi-Fi-connected devices, helpful for diagnosing network problems.
Matter Devices: As the Matter standard expands, having a dedicated category is crucial.
ESPHome Devices: For all your DIY projects running on ESPHome.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Home Assistant Categories

What’s the difference between Areas, Categories, and Labels?: This is the number one question. Think of it this way:
– Area: Where a device is physically located (e.g., “Kitchen”).
– Category: What its primary function is (e.g., “Main Lighting”).
– Label: What else it’s used for or what other traits it has (e.g., “Voice Controlled,” “Low Power”). An entity can only have one Area and one Category, but multiple Labels.
Can an entity belong to more than one category?: No. In the current Home Assistant 2026 architecture, an entity can only be assigned to a single category. If you need multi-dimensional classification, that’s what labels are for.
I assigned a category, but I don’t see it in my automation. What’s wrong?: Make sure you’ve reloaded your automations or, when in doubt, restart Home Assistant. Also, double-check that the `category_id` in your YAML exactly matches the name you gave the category (all lowercase, with spaces replaced by underscores).
How can I see all entities in a specific category?: The easiest way is to go to Settings > Labels & Categories > Categories. Clicking on a category in the list will display all the entities assigned to it.

Conclusion: Your Next Step Toward a Perfectly Organized Smart Home

Home Assistant Categories are much more than a simple organizational tool; they represent a fundamental shift in how we interact with and automate our homes. By investing a little time in setting up categories in Home Assistant, you’ll not only get a cleaner interface but also unlock more powerful, flexible, and maintainable automation potential.

My recommendation as a long-time smart home professional is clear: don’t underestimate the power of good organization. Start experimenting with categories today. Define your own rules, build a structure that makes sense for you, and watch your smart home management become more intuitive and satisfying than ever before.