Hey Google Nest Community,
Today we're excited to roll out a variety of new home automation capabilities in the Home app for all our users, and new capabilities in the script editor (currently in Public Preview) tailored to our more advanced users, which we'll discuss in this post.
In June, we released the new script editor in Public Preview, and were floored by the incredible discussions and script sharing that’s been happening over in the Home Automation forum. We mentioned that new features were on the way (and we know many of you have asked for these features as well), and we are excited to share that the first set of new features are now available.
As of today, you can now use camera event types as starters, get creative with custom notifications, leverage starter suppression, and better understand and debug your automations with automation logs.
Camera events as automation starters
You can use even more camera events generated by your Google Nest cameras to start your home automations. This will allow you to create a more secure and personalized home, as well as greater peace of mind. Here are a few example starters that can now initiate automations, and actions that you can try.
- Package delivered starter: When a package is detected, you can, for example, make an announcement on your speakers and pulse your hallway lights.
- Familiar face detected starter: When a familiar face is detected, you can turn on the lights or play music to welcome your loved one home.
- Dog detected: When a dog is detected, you can play calming music to help your dog relax. You can also set up your Chromecast with Google TV to play a dog-friendly TV show.
Learn more about camera event starters (and any required subscription).
To get started with camera events as automation starters, you'll need to:
- Make sure you’ve set up your cameras and enabled the camera events you want to use in your automation.
- Go to home.google.com/automations/create and add a new automation script.
- Create a script that uses a camera event as a starter, such as “package detected”
- Test, validate and save your script and make sure it works the way you want it to.
Custom notifications
You can now create notifications that are tailored to your needs, as part of your automation’s actions. You can generate your own rules to trigger a notification, and you can customize the text to include any information you want.
Get notified of important events with custom notifications, and write the notifications your way:
- Kids come home: Get notified when your kids come home from school, so you can know they're safe. (i.e. “The kids are home! Time to make some dinner”)*
- Energy usage reminder: Get notified if you left any smart plugs turned on when you leave home so you can turn them off to save energy. (“Your air fryer is still plugged in and on!”)
- Security system is triggered: Get notified when your compatible security system is triggered, so you can quickly respond to any security issues. (i.e. "The burglar alarm is going off! Don't worry, I'll scare them away!")
* Familiar Face requires a Nest Aware subscription
Starter suppression
Starter suppression is a new feature that allows you to prevent your automation from triggering again for a certain period of time after it has already triggered once.
- For example, let's say you have an automation that chimes your bell every time someone walks past your door after sunset. If you enable starter suppression, the automation will not chime the bell again for one minute after it has first chimed. This prevents the automation from chiming the bell every time someone walks past your door, which could be annoying or disruptive.
- As another example, let's say you have an automation that opens all of your blinds in the morning when you walk through your hallway. If you enable starter suppression, the automation will not open the blinds again for 20 hours after it has first opened them. This prevents the automation from opening the blinds every time you walk through your hallway.
Automation logs
With Google Home for web, you can also access Automation logs 
Get started
Try out these new features with the script editor and check out our Help Center article for help writing scripted automations.
After you’ve had a chance to try out the features, join us in the discussion on the Home Automation forum to talk about the update and share what you’ve created!
Thanks,
Prafulla Rawal, Senior Product Manager, Google Home
