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The original was posted on /r/homeassistant by /u/Rude-News-8416 on 2026-05-10 19:34:15+00:00.
The standard way to add conditions to a device in HA is to include them in an automation. The automation has a trigger, a condition block, and an action. The conditions are checked when the automation fires, and only then. If the conditions are not met, the action is skipped.
This works for most situations. It fails when the rules are vital enough that a sloppy script, a voice command, or a stray tap on a dashboard can ignore them. These manual overrides walk right past your safeguards and leave your hardware in a state it was never meant to handle.
I was presented with this particular problem with my Motion Blinds. If a shade is closed on an open window, the Loja breeze catches the shade like a kite, damaging it instantly.
The solution is to stop treating safety like an afterthought and start treating it like a filter. A guarded entity acts as a suspicious middleman standing in between the command and the device. No matter where the command comes from, a voice assistant, a dashboard tap, or an automation, it has to clear the guard first. The guard inspects the request and either grants passage, edits the instruction to keep things safe, or drops the command entirely.
I will use my motorized shades as the primary example because the failure is so easy to visualize. But this same blueprint works for door locks, smart appliances, and thermostats. It applies to any device where you want to put a set of hard rules in front of the "execute" button.
The shade case is simple. If a window is open and a strong gust comes in, a partially closed shade can catch the wind and damages the fabric or the motor. The shade should not be allowed to go below its safety limit while the window is open. That rule has to hold whether the command came from the dashboard, a voice assistant, or an automation.
The implementation is a template cover that wraps the real cover. Hide the real entity from your dashboard and your voice assistant. Expose only the wrapper.
Below is the version I run for my living room shades. The real entity is cover.living\_shades. The window sensors are the two window contacts. The disable toggle is an input_boolean for manual override. The wrapped entity I expose is cover.living\_shades\_guarded. My safety limit is 62, but you set whatever number works for your shades.
template:
- cover:
- name: "Living Shades Guarded"
unique_id: "living_shades_guarded"
device_class: shade
state: "{{ states('cover.living_shades') }}"
position: "{{ state_attr('cover.living_shades', 'current_position') }}"
availability: "{{ has_value('cover.living_shades') }}"
open_cover:
- if:
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.disable_living_room_shades
state: 'on'
then:
- action: script.do_nothing
else:
- action: cover.open_cover
target:
entity_id: cover.living_shades
close_cover:
- if:
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.disable_living_room_shades
state: 'on'
then:
- action: script.do_nothing
else:
- if:
- condition: template
value_template: >-
{{ not is_state('binary_sensor.window_living_room_left_contact', 'off')
or not is_state('binary_sensor.window_living_room_right_contact', 'off') }}
then:
- action: cover.set_cover_position
target:
entity_id: cover.living_shades
data:
position: 62
else:
- action: cover.close_cover
target:
entity_id: cover.living_shades
set_cover_position:
- if:
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.disable_living_room_shades
state: 'on'
then:
- action: script.do_nothing
else:
- if:
- condition: template
value_template: >-
{{ (not is_state('binary_sensor.window_living_room_left_contact', 'off')
or not is_state('binary_sensor.window_living_room_right_contact', 'off'))
and position | int(100) < 62 }}
then:
- action: cover.set_cover_position
target:
entity_id: cover.living_shades
data:
position: 62
else:
- action: cover.set_cover_position
target:
entity_id: cover.living_shades
data:
position: "{{ position }}"
stop_cover:
- action: cover.stop_cover
target:
entity_id: cover.living_shades
script.do\_nothing is a one-line script with an empty sequence. It exists so the disable toggle has somewhere to send commands when you want the wrapped cover to ignore everything.
What the wrapper does:
open\_cover opens the real cover unless the disable is on. Wind cannot damage a blind that is going up.
close\_cover checks the windows. If either is open, it sets the position to the safety limit instead of fully closing. If both windows are closed, it closes the shade normally.
set\_cover\_position is the safety-critical handler. If the windows are open and the requested position is below the safety limit, it clamps to the safety limit. Otherwise it passes the requested position through.
stop\_cover always passes through. A stop is never unsafe.
The conditions live on the entity. Every command path has to go through them. There is no race condition, no watchdog automation racing the wind, no path that bypasses the safety check.
The same wrapper structure works for almost any entity in HA where you want a layer of protection between the dashboard and the device. A door lock you do not want HA to unlock when nobody is home. A smart plug for a space heater that should refuse to turn on if there is nobody in the room. Hide the real entity. Expose the wrapper. Put your conditions on the entity, not in a watchdog automation.
