Beginner’s Guide to Automations: 15 Real Automations I Use Every Day

When people hear “home automation”, they often imagine something complicated: dozens of sensors, a server in the cupboard, YAML files, and a weekend lost to debugging. In reality, the best automations are usually the boring ones – the little background workflows that quietly remove friction from your day.

I’ve broken this down into 15 automations I actually use in a small apartment. You don’t need every device under the sun to copy them. A few smart plugs, lights, and sensors are enough to get started.

Morning: Automations That Start The Day Right

1. Gentle Wake‑Up Lights

Trigger: 15–20 minutes before my alarm
Action: Bedroom lights start at 1–2% brightness and slowly ramp up to a warm white.

Why it works: instead of going from pitch dark to blinding tube light, the room “sunrises” gradually. It feels less brutal than a loud alarm and helps you wake up even in winter when it’s still dark outside.

What you need: dimmable smart bulbs or a smart switch that can set brightness levels.

2. “Good Morning” Scene

Trigger: First time I dismiss an alarm or say, “Good morning” to the voice assistant.
Actions:

Turn on the bedroom and hallway lights.
Start a soft playlist on the smart speaker.
Switch on the plug that powers the router if it was off overnight.
Show weather and calendar on the display device (if you have one).

This takes what I’d do anyway and compresses it into one small routine. The key is not to overcomplicate it. If something feels annoying in the first week, remove it.

3. Kitchen Power‑On Without Hunting For Switches

Trigger: Motion sensor sees movement in the kitchen between, say, 6 and 9 a.m.
Actions:

Turn on the counter light.
Power up a smart plug connected to the electric kettle or coffee machine.

You still have to add the water or coffee, but the device is hot and ready by the time you’ve grabbed your mug.

Daytime: Automations That Run While You’re Working

4. Work Mode For The Desk

Trigger: Pressing a single button near the desk.
Actions:

Turn on monitor, desk lamp, and any speakers via smart plugs.
Set light temperature around the desk to a cooler white for focus.
Optionally, start a “lo‑fi beats” routine on your audio setup.

Instead of switching five things every time you sit down, you hit one button. When work is done, the same button can toggle everything off.

5. Auto‑Pause AC When Windows Are Open

Trigger: Window sensor open for more than 2–3 minutes.
Actions:

Turn off the AC smart plug or send off command to the IR blaster that controls the AC.

This one saves a shocking amount of electricity, especially if you live with people who love opening windows “just for fresh air” while the compressor is still running.

6. Sunlight‑Aware Lighting

Trigger: Ambient light sensor or time‑based rule.
Actions:

If it’s cloudy or after a certain time in the evening, increase brightness in the living room.
On bright afternoons, keep artificial lights at minimum.

You don’t need a lab‑grade sensor; you can fake this with time ranges if your city has fairly consistent sunset times. The goal is to avoid living in caves during the day or harsh light at night.

Leaving And Coming Home: Automations That React To Presence

7. “I’m Leaving” Routine

Trigger: Saying “I’m heading out” or a phone leaving a defined home zone.
Actions:

Turn off all lights.
Switch off non‑essential plugs (desk, chargers, TV area).
Set AC and purifiers to off.
Arm cameras or send them into “away” mode.

Even if you forget to do one or two of these manually, the routine catches it. It also cuts down on vampire power usage.

8. Lights On When Someone Returns

Trigger: Phone reconnects to home Wi‑Fi or crosses a GPS geofence.
Actions:

Turn on a warm light in the entry or living room.
Optionally, start a fan or purifier if the air has been stale all day.

Nothing fancy here. You simply stop walking into a completely dark house and fumbling with switches while carrying bags.

9. Door‑Aware Welcome

Trigger: Smart lock unlocked or door sensor opened from outside.
Actions:

If it’s after sunset, turn on hallway and living room lights.
Turn off “away” mode for cameras inside the house.

This is great when multiple people live in the house. It responds to whoever comes in without everyone needing the same phone automation.

Evening: Comfort And “Don’t Forget” Helpers

10. Sunset Scenes For Relaxing

Trigger: Local sunset time, offset by 15–30 minutes.
Actions:

Switch main white lights to warm white or dim them slightly.
Turn on a couple of floor or table lamps.
Lower smart blinds if you have them.

It signals your brain that the “day” part is over and helps you wind down without glaring tube lights making it feel like an office.

11. Motion‑Based Hallway And Bathroom Lights

Trigger: Motion sensor sees movement in the hallway or bathroom at night.
Actions:

Turn on a low‑brightness light for a few minutes.
Turn it off automatically if no motion is detected.

This is one of those automations everyone in the house ends up loving. No one has to blindly search for switches at 3 a.m., and lights don’t stay on for hours because someone forgot.

12. “Did I Leave It On?” Safety Checks

Trigger: Every night at a fixed time (for example, 11:30 p.m.).
Actions:

Turn off all plugs tagged as “appliances”: iron, kettle, non‑smart lamps.
Send a notification if any critical device is still drawing power.

If you have energy‑monitoring plugs, you can make this smarter by checking for usage above a small threshold before deciding whether to cut power.

Night: Automations For Sleep And Quiet

13. Bedtime Routine

Trigger: Saying “Goodnight” or tapping a button on the bedside.
Actions:

Turn off all lights except a small bedside lamp.
Set bedroom AC to a slightly higher temperature after an hour.
Lock smart lock on the main door (or at least remind you to).
Enable Do Not Disturb on phones, except for starred contacts.

The trick is to make this routine simple and predictable. Everyone in the house should know what “Goodnight” does, so there are no surprises.

14. Gentle Night‑Light For Late Bathroom Trips

Trigger: Motion near the bed or in the hallway between, say, midnight and 5 a.m.
Actions:

Turn on a very dim, warm light near the floor.
Turn it off after a couple of minutes.

You could re‑use the same hallway motion sensor from earlier, but with different brightness and timing for night hours. This one sounds minor but feels luxurious once you have it.

15. Auto‑Quiet Devices While You Sleep

Trigger: Bedtime scene or a fixed time every night.
Actions:

Set noisy purifiers or fans to “sleep” mode.
Reduce notification volume on speakers or TVs.
Pause non‑essential automations that might flash lights in the night.

A smart home shouldn’t turn into a disco while you’re trying to sleep. Night profiles make sure background devices still work, but quietly.

How To Build These Without Going Crazy

A few tips if you’re just starting out:

Start with 3–4 automations, not all 15. Pick the ones that solve obvious pain points – usually leaving, arriving, and bedtime.
Use scenes or routines in whatever platform you already have (Alexa routines, Google Home, Apple Home, Home Assistant, etc.). Most of these automations can be built with their built‑in tools.
Test with your family or flatmates. If someone finds an automation annoying in the first week, tweak it or turn it off. A good rule: everyone should still be able to control things manually.
Label and organise your devices. “Bedroom_Light_Main” is easier to automate than “Device 7”.
Think in triggers and actions. Triggers can be time, motion, location, button presses, or voice. Actions are just “turn on/off”, “set brightness”, “play audio”, “send notification”.

Once you have a few of these running smoothly, the house starts to feel genuinely helpful instead of “techy for the sake of it”. And the best part is that you can keep adding layers slowly, based on what you actually miss in your daily routine, not what some spec sheet says you should automate.