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The original was posted on /r/homeassistant by /u/DeepCoreSystem on 2026-03-26 11:30:51+00:00.
I must be really thick... But the upcoming change in 2026.4 about device and entity naming throws me on a tangent...
The following write-up is my try to wrap my head around the concept of devices and entities.
According to (home-assistant.io/docs/configuration/entities_domains/) an entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant.
So a smart plug used to measure the power usage or the energy consumption of a do-hickey is a device, right ? Then the thingy that represents the power measure is an entity, right?
Alrighty, then the smart plug for a TV would have smart_plug_tv as device name, wouldn't it? So I would have an entity called smart_plug_tv_power_consumptionin the sensor domain. Full name would besensor.smart_plug_tv_power_consumption
Now, how about having more TVs around the house? smart_plug_tv_living_room, smart_plug_tv_master_bedroom, smart_plug_tv_kitchen ... ? or tv_living_room, tv_master_bedroom, tv_kitchen ?
With the variant where I strip the part of smart_plug I expect to run in some future problems, like implementing the IR integration...
In the Beta release notes, it is written: "In 2025.5, we updated the entity pickers to show device and area context, gradually eliminating the need to include location information in entity names."
But I need to include the location information in the device name, right ?
I AM LOST ...
To me the problem lies in the fact that our language isn't precise enough about naming these objects ofdevice name,entity nameandfriendly name. And then throw inentity ID\
Please help me to not die dumb ...