Controlling roller shutters in Home Assistant with custom automations quickly turns into frustration as soon as you need to factor in open windows, lockout protection, or the sun’s position. The custom integration Shutter Pilot takes that work off your hands, adding automated controls right into your sidebar via a dedicated menu—entirely without YAML code or manual scripting. Here is how to set up the system and safeguard your shutters in everyday life.
What you need
- Home Assistant (at least version 2024.6.0)
- Recommended: Home Assistant Community Store (HACS) or the ability to install manually via the file system
- Already working roller shutter or blind actuators (
coverentities) - Optional: Door or window contacts (
binary_sensorentities) as well as an illuminance sensor
1. Download Shutter Pilot via HACS
Open HACS in your Home Assistant sidebar. Click the three-dot menu in the top right corner, select Custom repositories, add the URL https://github.com/fschubi/shutter_pilot with the category Integration, search for Shutter Pilot, and download the integration. Alternatively, you can copy the integration manually as a custom component into the file system.
2. Restart Home Assistant
A server restart is required so the system can load the new integration files into memory. Navigate to Settings > System and click the power icon in the top right corner to restart Home Assistant.
3. Enable the integration in Home Assistant
After the restart, go to Settings > Devices & services > Add integration. Search for Shutter Pilot and confirm the setup. Once added successfully, the new entry Shutter Pilot will appear directly in your left sidebar.
4. Create areas and configure schedules
Click on Shutter Pilot in the sidebar and switch to the Areas tab. Use Add area to set up your rooms or zones (such as living room or bedroom) and select your desired control mode:
- Time: Fixed travel times with separate schedules for weekdays and weekends.
- Brightness: Light-dependent operation via a lux sensor with configurable time windows.
- Sun position: Automatic opening and closing based on sunrise or sunset, including offsets.
- No schedule: No fixed timetable; controls shutters solely via sun protection and ventilation.
5. Link shutters and sensors
Switch to the Shutters tab and click Add shutter to assign your cover entities to the zones. Enter your desired target positions for Open, Closed, and Sun protection. If sensors are installed on the window, link them directly as a window contact. The lockout protection prevents the shutter from closing when a patio door is open, while the catch-up function automatically closes it as soon as the door or window is shut later in the evening.
Does it work?
In the Shutter Pilot panel, the overview dashboard displays all assigned areas and upcoming travel commands. As soon as you open a window contact, a closed shutter automatically moves to the configured ventilation position and returns to its exact previous state once the contact is closed again.
Troubleshooting
- Configuration tabs are missing from the sidebar panel: The panel handles permissions strictly on the server side. Check whether your user account has administrator privileges in Home Assistant; standard users only see control buttons, not configuration tabs.
- Shutter closes completely despite an open window: Check the state of the linked
binary_sensorentity. If the sensor does not reliably report open/closed states, lockout protection will not trigger. - Shutter Pilot cannot be found under integrations: Clear your browser cache after installing via HACS and make sure Home Assistant has been restarted completely.
- Sun protection is not responding: Check the configured sun elevation angle and azimuth. Shutter Pilot only activates shading when both conditions are met simultaneously.
Integrating a Workday sensor in the area setup lets you refine the schedules even further, ensuring public holidays are automatically handled like weekends.
Sources: Forum: Simon42 – Forum, de.wikipedia.org, community.simon42.com, github.com