High Risk →

automation

Manage Home Assistant automations. List all automations, toggle on/off, or trigger manually.

How to control automation ↓

What automation does on HomeAssistant MCP

AI agents invoke automation to trigger actions in HomeAssistant MCP. What it does depends on the arguments the agent supplies, and its effects often reach beyond the immediate call — builds kicked off, notifications sent, workflows started.

High Risk

Why automation needs a policy

This tool permits triggering automations, which executes code/logic flows with side effects external to the tool itself. An AI agent misusing this could trigger automations that lock doors, disable security systems, adjust thermostats, or perform other irreversible physical actions.

From the tool's definition Tool description states: 'Manage Home Assistant automations... toggle on/off, or trigger manually.' Triggering automations executes external operations (e.g., turning off lights, locking doors, activating scenes) whose effects depend on which automation is…

Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access automation gives an agent:

How to control automation

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and HomeAssistant MCP, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for automation:

policy.json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "automation": {
      "limits": [
        {
          "counter": "automation_rate",
          "window": "minute",
          "max": 10,
          "scope": "grant"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

automation stays usable, but rate-capped — a runaway agent can't fire it dozens of times a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

  1. Create a free account and register HomeAssistant MCP — nothing to install.
  2. Add this policy — paste it, or build it visually.
  3. Point your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, anything) at your gateway URL.
RATE-LIMIT THIS TOOL →

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Related tools and policies

Go deeper

Questions about automation

What does the automation tool do? +

Manage Home Assistant automations. List all automations, toggle on/off, or trigger manually. It is categorised as a Execute tool in the HomeAssistant MCP MCP Server, which means it can trigger actions or run processes. Use rate limits and argument validation.

How do I enforce a policy on automation? +

Register the HomeAssistant MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for automation: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches HomeAssistant MCP. Nothing to install.

What risk level is automation? +

automation is a Execute tool with high risk. Execute tools should be rate-limited and have argument validation enabled.

Can I rate-limit automation? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the automation rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.

How do I block automation completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for automation. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.

What MCP server provides automation? +

automation is provided by the HomeAssistant MCP server (jango-blockchained/advanced-homeassistant-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policy on every HomeAssistant MCP tool call.

Start from HomeAssistant MCP, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.

Free to start. No card required.

13 HomeAssistant MCP tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.

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