Scripts with shell_command | Home Assistant | Page 1

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 1:42 AM

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I have a script, which fires two shell commands. The first shell command (these are ssh commands) that the script calls fires correctly. There is then a short delay (2 seconds, but I've also tried 5 and 10) and then a second shell command fires to turn off what the first one turned on. I have tried a few different commands that do the same thing, and none of them work.

HOWEVER all lines of the script work when fired manually, by selecting the "three-dot menu" and selecting "run" on the lines in question.

I have tested the ssh command from the homeassistant docker container using the advanced ssh and terminal plugin, as per this extensive post: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/sshing-from-a-command-line-sensor-or-shell-command/258731

shell_command:
  cleanup_alert: ssh sparkyvison@192.168.1.11 -i /config/.ssh/id_rsa 'mpv -loop-file /media/alerts/alert13.mp3 &'
  cleanup_alert_off: ssh sparkyvision@192.168.1.11 -i /config/.ssh/id_rsa 'pkill -f mpv'

And here is the script

sequence:
  - action: shell_command.cleanup_alert
    continue_on_error: true
    data: {}
  - delay:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 0
      seconds: 5
      milliseconds: 0
    enabled: true
  - action: shell_command.cleanup_alert_off
    continue_on_error: true
    data: {}
alias: Cleanup done alert sound
description: ""
mode: restart

At first I thought perhaps I had error codes which might be interfering, but I enabled continue_on_error to get around that.

Home Assistant Community

SSH'ing from a command line sensor or shell command

I’ve noticed there’s a significant number of posts looking for help on this topic and the posters all seem to struggle with a few common issues. I realized I’ve been almost copying and pasting my responses on these topics so it seemed like a good case for a community guide. What will this cover This guide will walk through the process of getti...

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Again, I've confirmed the both ssh commands work, both via "real" ssh and from the homeassistant docker container that I can switch into via the Advanced SSH and Web Terminal plugin.

The command does throw an error code of 1 into the HA console, but again, it works via the Advanced SSH and Web Terminal plugin CLI, AND it works when I manually fire that line in the script.

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 6:09 PM

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Bump, I guess, if that's allowed here.

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:08 PM

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I have, in fact, done further testing, asking that script to call a separate script that runs the second ssh command, and that doesn't work either. At this point it makes me think I'm misunderstanding / not writing scripts correctly.

river condor Mar 10, 2025, 11:12 PM

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I don't know much about Advanced SSH plugin but are you sure that's running in the same container and as the same user as a script command?

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:13 PM

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Pretty sure, if that guide that I followed was correct. I used

docker exec -it homeassistant bash

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And ran the commands to make sure ssh accepted the remote server fingerprint, which it did.

river condor Mar 10, 2025, 11:14 PM

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oh wait you said the individual shell_commands work correctly?

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missed that

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:14 PM

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They are

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Within the script, even! They work when I run them manually.

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The script just doesn't script.

river condor Mar 10, 2025, 11:15 PM

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what does "not working" look like?

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did you review the Trace?

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:17 PM

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I did, the trace shows, if I'm reading it correctly, that it never gets around to firing the command.

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I can post a screenshot in a moment.

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(Those runs are from me manually running the lines. The command makes an alarm go off in my kitchen that annoys everyone.)

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But, why is it waiting any amount of time more than 2 seconds?

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There are errors from the "cleanup_alert_off" ssh command in the logs, but not the "cleanup_alert" command.

river condor Mar 10, 2025, 11:24 PM

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you can share the entire trace json. I think from that it looks like it's running both commands?

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:25 PM

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You mean this?

2025-03-10 18:19:03.303 ERROR (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.shell_command] Error running command: `ssh craig@192.168.1.11 -i /config/.ssh/id_rsa 'pkill -f mpv'`, return code: 1

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Oh, no, you don't mean that

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One sec

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Here we go.

📎 message.txt

river condor Mar 10, 2025, 11:35 PM

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hmm I'm not sure. It seems like everything ran, but the first command took 18 seconds to return

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maybe the run in background thing doesn't work there

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:35 PM

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It would’ve taken infinity to return, it only advance because I went ahead and manually ran the third line.

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(Testing this script makes my family hate me. 🙂 )

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A more detailed log would be very helpful here, but I’m not sure where to find one

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Do those "running_script: false" statements suggest something?

zenith summit Mar 10, 2025, 11:49 PM

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I don't think your background command does anything over ssh, you can use -f 2) then pkill with a non-existent process returns status 1

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-f actually keeps the session running, so probably not

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:51 PM

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Background command?

zenith summit Mar 10, 2025, 11:51 PM

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mpv -loop-file /media/alerts/alert13.mp3 &

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What are you attempting to do there?

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the & means run the command in the background

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:52 PM

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I would like the remote system to play a sound, wait two seconds, and then stop playing that sound. I looked into doing this with a variety of media server solutions, none made as much sense as just sending a simple mpv command.

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:52 PM

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zenith summit the `&` means run the command in the background

Oh I see

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I know there are different ways to do this, but I want to be able to both turn it on and turn it off, rather than only having a play once. Loop is something I want to be able to do here.

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Anyhow, I can remove the & and see if that does anything

zenith summit Mar 10, 2025, 11:54 PM

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I don't think the shell command is running in the background though

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:54 PM

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How do you mean?

zenith summit Mar 10, 2025, 11:55 PM

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The sequence step doesn't wait for the command to finish? I'm actually not sure there.

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:56 PM

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Oooh, as in, you think it's not advancing because it's waiting for the command to finish, so ssh is just sitting there while mpv does its thing?

zenith summit Mar 10, 2025, 11:56 PM

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Yes. It's supposed to timeout after 60 seconds

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:57 PM

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Okay. That makes some sense. Is there a way to make it execute then disconnect?

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Could I make it a shell script on the remote machine?

zenith summit Mar 10, 2025, 11:58 PM

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Can you just do:

cleanup_alert: ssh sparkyvison@192.168.1.11 -i /config/.ssh/id_rsa 'timeout 2 mpv -loop-file /media/alerts/alert13.mp3

?

thick furnace Mar 10, 2025, 11:58 PM

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I wasn’t aware there was such a command as timeout

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However, that doesn’t solve the use case where I would like it to loop indefinitely until it receives a command to stop

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Or does that?

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It does. Nevermind

zenith summit Mar 11, 2025, 12:00 AM

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You can maybe use nohup

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cleanup_alert: ssh sparkyvison@192.168.1.11 -i /config/.ssh/id_rsa 'nohup mpv -loop-file /media/alerts/alert13.mp3 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null &'

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or for bash shortened to

cleanup_alert: ssh sparkyvison@192.168.1.11 -i /config/.ssh/id_rsa 'nohup mpv -loop-file /media/alerts/alert13.mp3 &>/dev/null &'

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:05 AM

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Hm, okay....first I must feed several hungry children, then I will try this 😄

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:28 AM

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Alright, hrm. The question is whether nohup will keep the ssh terminal alive.

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Let's find out

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@zenith summit That indeed solved the issue.

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Thank you for the help.

To anyone coming after, scripts using ssh shell_commands need to terminate before the script will move on, regardless of script run settings.

sweet frost Mar 11, 2025, 12:34 AM

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you could probably stick the call in a separate script and call it with script.turn_on, in which case that action will run in parallel with the rest of the original script

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:36 AM

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I tried that, actually.

I have, in fact, done further testing, asking that script to call a separate script that runs the second ssh command, and that doesn't work either.

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I also thought that would work.

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I must say, though, that I'm a little confused as to why that method failed

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Oh I undertand what you're saying.

Call script.2_second_delay_then_fire_off_command
alarm_on

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That feels hacky 😛

zenith summit Mar 11, 2025, 12:46 AM

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One script starts the loop, the other stops it.

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:47 AM

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But in that solution, the stop script has to be started first to avoid the ssh "not listening" condition

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I mean, it's listening, it's just waiting for the command to finish

zenith summit Mar 11, 2025, 12:47 AM

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I'm not following that logic, sorry

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:48 AM

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Sorry, my cat is head-butting my hands while I'm trying to type.

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The issue is that once started, the script waits for the SSH shell it starts to be "done"

zenith summit Mar 11, 2025, 12:49 AM

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script.turn_on script.that_loops_mpv --> wait some time -> script.turn_on script.that_stops_mpv

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:49 AM

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So if you start a script ahead of time that has a countdown to issuing the "off" command, you can sidestep that.

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Right, it never gets there because the scripting engine waits. At least, without nohup, which sidesteps the issue entirely.

zenith summit Mar 11, 2025, 12:50 AM

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script.turn_on does not wait

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:50 AM

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But, isn't that what nohup is solving?

zenith summit Mar 11, 2025, 12:50 AM

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How are you calling the script?

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:50 AM

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Hang on...you saw that we're solved, right?

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Your method works

zenith summit Mar 11, 2025, 12:51 AM

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Yeah but we're talking about the other option now. We can stop if you want.

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:51 AM

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No, it's okay. I like trying to wrap my head around what I did wrong.

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:52 AM

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zenith summit script.turn_on does not wait

Isn't the script waiting what our ultimate issue was? It never moved on because -loop-file meant that the ssh shell stayed "open" somewhere, forcing the script to wait?

zenith summit Mar 11, 2025, 12:52 AM

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there's action: script.<name_of_script> and then action: script.turn_on

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:52 AM

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Those are separate?

zenith summit Mar 11, 2025, 12:53 AM

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https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/script/#waiting-for-script-to-complete

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The former waits, the latter does not.

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So which are you using?

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:54 AM

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For some reason I thought continue_on_error made it not wait, but apparently I was misinformed.

sweet frost Mar 11, 2025, 12:54 AM

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It's not an error

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:55 AM

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No, I suppose it isn't

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Anyway, I was calling the script directly.

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So that would also be the issue

zenith summit Mar 11, 2025, 12:55 AM

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Yep

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Also, you're still limited to a max of 60 seconds that way

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 12:56 AM

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Starting the looped file on the remote server makes that irrelevant, though, I don't actually need to keep the ssh connection alive that long.

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So, in the second solution suggested here, my turn on script would use turn_on to activate another script with the ssh command?

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Then it would continue as normal?

sweet frost Mar 11, 2025, 1:00 AM

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Yes

thick furnace Mar 11, 2025, 1:00 AM

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Scripty

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I like altering the SSH command. It feels cleaner, somehow

#Scripts with shell_command