Built-in intent handlers

Built-in intents are the intents Home Assistant Core handles itself, like HassTurnOn or HassStartTimer. The sentences that trigger them, in every language, live in the intents repository. The handlers that act on them live in Core.

The full list, with every slot, slot combination, and an example sentence, is on Built-in intents in the Translations area. It follows intents.yaml, the file that defines them. This page covers the side of Core: where the handlers are, and what to keep in mind when you work on them.

Each built-in intent is registered by an integration, and only works while that integration is loaded. Most entity domains register theirs in an intent.py platform, which the intent integration sets up.

Integration	Code	Intents
intent	homeassistant/components/intent/__init__.py	Turning on and off, toggling, state, position, stopping, date, time, indoor temperature, and the conversation intents HassNevermind and HassRespond
intent	homeassistant/components/intent/timers.py	Timers
assist_satellite	homeassistant/components/assist_satellite/intent.py	HassBroadcast
climate	homeassistant/components/climate/intent.py	Setting the temperature and the fan mode
cover	homeassistant/components/cover/intent.py	HassOpenCover and HassCloseCover
fan	homeassistant/components/fan/intent.py	HassFanSetSpeed
humidifier	homeassistant/components/humidifier/intent.py	Target humidity and mode
lawn_mower	homeassistant/components/lawn_mower/intent.py	Mowing and docking
light	homeassistant/components/light/intent.py	HassLightSet
media_player	homeassistant/components/media_player/intent.py	Pause, unpause, next, previous, volume, mute, and search and play
shopping_list	homeassistant/components/shopping_list/intent.py	The shopping list
todo	homeassistant/components/todo/intent.py	To-do lists
vacuum	homeassistant/components/vacuum/intent.py	Starting, returning to base, and cleaning an area
weather	homeassistant/components/weather/intent.py	HassGetWeather

The names of the most used intents are constants in homeassistant/helpers/intent.py, like intent.INTENT_TURN_ON. Use those instead of the strings.

Most intents that act on entities find them with the same slots: name, area, floor, domain, and device_class. The handler matches them against the entities, areas, and floors in the user's Home Assistant. When an assistant like Assist sends the intent, only the entities exposed to that assistant are matched.

When no area is spoken, some slot combinations use the area of the voice satellite that heard the sentence. The translations page marks those as "satellite area".

A few built-in intents have no sentences in the intents repository, so the built-in conversation agent never produces them. Code can still fire them, and some are offered as tools to AI conversation agents. Two of them, HassOpenCover and HassCloseCover, are covered by HassTurnOn and HassTurnOff: use those in new code. The list of intents without sentences has all of them.

• Intents: write your own handler, and fire intents from code or over HTTP.
• Conversation API and LLM API: how text and AI models turn into intents.
• Voice translations: how the sentences behind each intent are written, per language.