💡 Light Groups

The Light Groups feature in Magic Areas helps you organize and automate your lights intelligently and contextually—starting with automatic light group creation and adding state-aware behavior for smarter automation.

✅ Basic Functionality

At its simplest, this feature automatically creates a Home Assistant light group for each area using all light entities assigned to it.

Warning

No group will be created if there are no light entities in the area.

🌈 Available Light Groups

You can classify your lights into predefined groups for specific purposes:

• Overhead Lights – Main ceiling lights for general illumination.
• Accent Lights – Decorative or highlight lighting (e.g., under cabinets, wall sconces).
• Task Lights – Focused lights for workspaces, desks, or reading.
• Sleep Lights – Dim lighting suitable for nighttime or bedtime use.

Each of these groups—when populated—automatically gets a dedicated light.group in Home Assistant. They can also be linked to an area's secondary states (e.g., sleep, accented, extended) for smarter automation.

Warning

🧠 To enable automation, turn on the Light Control ($Area) switch created by Magic Areas.

⚙️ Configuration Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
Overhead lights	entity list	blank	Lights assigned to this group.
States which this group should be on (Overhead lights)	list	occupied	Area states that trigger this group.
When should we control this light? (Overhead lights)	multi-choice	occupancy + state	occupancy triggers on clear → occupied; state triggers on secondary state changes.
Sleep lights	entity list	blank	Lights assigned to this group.
States which this group should be on (Sleep lights)	list	occupied	Area states that trigger this group.
When should we control this light? (Sleep lights)	multi-choice	occupancy + state	Same behavior explanation as above.
Accent lights	entity list	blank	Lights assigned to this group.
States which this group should be on (Accent lights)	list	occupied	Area states that trigger this group.
When should we control this light? (Accent lights)	multi-choice	occupancy + state	Same behavior explanation as above.
Task lights	entity list	blank	Lights assigned to this group.
States which this group should be on (Task lights)	list	occupied	Area states that trigger this group.
When should we control this light? (Task lights)	multi-choice	occupancy + state	Same behavior explanation as above.

💡 Control Timing Notes:

• Occupancy only: Light group reacts when entering the room (clear → occupied) but not if the area enters a secondary state while already occupied.
• State only: Light group reacts when a secondary state changes but not when first entering the room.
• Both selected (default): Reacts on room entry and secondary state changes.

🔁 Automatic Control

Magic Areas can automatically turn lights on or off based on:

• Primary presence state: occupied or clear
• Secondary states: dark, extended, sleep, etc.

🌒 The dark State

If a dark sensor is configured:

• Lights turn on only when the area is both occupied and dark.
• Otherwise, lights turn on anytime the area becomes occupied.

Note

✅ If the area becomes dark while already occupied, lights will turn on immediately.

Dark State Behavior Matrix

Area State	Dark Configured?	Dark State	Lights Will…
occupied	❌ No	N/A	Turn on
occupied	✅ Yes	off	Do nothing
occupied	✅ Yes	on	Turn on
clear	❌ No	N/A	Turn off
clear	✅ Yes	off	Turn off
clear	✅ Yes	on	Turn off

💡 Automatically Turning Off Lights

When an area becomes clear, all lights are turned off, regardless of secondary state. Disable Light Control to override.

🚀 How it Works

Light groups are tied to area states:

• States: Each group activates only when the area is in selected states (primary or secondary).
• Control timing: Decide if groups react on occupancy, secondary state changes, or both (recommended).

Example: - Sleep Lights set to occupancy only: will turn on when you enter a bedroom at night, but not if sleep state activates while already inside. - Accent Lights set to state only: will turn on whenever the extended state is activated, even if already inside.

🧠 Usage Examples

🛋️ TV ambiance with accent lights

• Group: Accent Lights
• State: accented
• Trigger Mode: state (media player, for exmaple)
• Why: Soft lighting during movie nights or relaxing evenings.

💤 Nighttime routine in bedrooms

• Group: Sleep Lights
• State: sleep
• Trigger Mode: occupancy
• Why: Turn on softer lights when entering the room at night.

🎚️ Brightness and Color Temperature

Magic Areas does not control brightness or color temperature. Use integrations like:

• Adaptive Lighting
• Circadian Lighting

These handle brightness/temperature better and are fully compatible with Magic Areas.