With the help of Gemini for Home, Help me create makes it easier to create automations for your home. In the Google Home app, you can describe your desired automation. Help me create will generate an automation for you, and if needed, you can customize it further before saving.
For example, you can type or say “Turn on all lights at sunset,” and get an automation created in seconds. Help me create also offers suggestions based on what's possible with your devices. You could try “Help me sleep better” or “Save energy while I’m away.”
Automations generated through Help me create are different from Personal Routines. To learn more about Personal Routines, go to Create and manage Routines in Google Home.
Important: Some devices and features aren’t supported for Help me create yet. Google is adding support for more devices and features over time. You can always access past supported features through the previous automation editor or script editor.Who can use Help me create
Important:
- You need a Google Home Premium subscription to use Help me create.
- To start using Help me create, you need to acknowledge the Gemini for Home disclosures.
- Currently, the feature is only available in:
- English: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, and US
- French: Canada
- Help me create is only available to home admins who are not minors.
Members of homes with a Google Home Premium subscription can create and edit automations with Help me create. These automations may impact all devices and members of the home.
Use Help me create
Automations generated with Ask Home, Help me create, and the improved automation editor in the Google Home app have 3 components.
- Starters: These tell the automation when to begin. An automation can include more than one starter, and any one of them can start the automation.
- Conditions: These are optional restrictions on when your automation can begin. Conditions are checked each time an automation starts.
If an automation has multiple conditions, you can set it to start in 2 ways:- Any: The automation starts if any of the selected conditions are met.
- All: The automation starts only if all of the selected conditions are met.
- Actions: What the automations will do once the starter is triggered and conditions are met.
Important:
- Be sure that any automations you create work properly before you rely on them.
- Help me create is expanding its capabilities. Not all devices, behaviors, and functionalities are supported at launch. To find out what's currently supported, go to Supported automation starters, conditions & actions.
- Supported cameras: Help me create only works with Nest cameras set up or migrated to the Google Home app. Learn more on how to transfer devices to the Google Home app.
- Open the Google Home app
.
- Tap Add
Automations
- Describe the automation you want to create in English through a spoken or typed command. You can also tap one of the suggestions and edit the prompt it generates in the text field.
Sample prompts:
- “Turn on the lights at 7 AM every morning.”
- “Turn off the lights when the home is unoccupied.”
- “Tell everyone when it's time for dinner through the speaker.”
- “Lock all the doors when everyone’s away.”
- “In the evening, lock all doors.”
- “At bedtime every night, dim all lights to 40%.”
- “At sunset each night, send a notification with a reminder to lock the doors and close the windows.”
- "Set up meditation time."
If you're not able to generate a helpful automation, use a more specific prompt.
- Tap Create
and wait for the short automation overview.
- Once the automation overview appears, you can rate the automation.
- To go back, tap Ask again
- To review and save the automation, tap Continue.
- Edit the generated automation’s title, description, starters, conditions, and actions.
- Tap Save or Done to confirm any changes and return to the automation overview.
- Tap Save to apply the behaviors and create your automation.
- Once you save the automation, you can turn it on or off.
- You can check and edit your saved automations in the Automations tab anytime.
Tip: Automations with errors can be saved as inactive automations. They can't be activated until all errors are fixed. To check and understand the errors, refer to Troubleshooting Help me create automations.
Important:
- An automation requires at least one starter and one action for it to be valid.
- If an automation has multiple conditions, you can start an action when all conditions are met or when at least one condition is met.
- To find out what behaviors are supported, go to Supported automation starters, conditions & actions.
- Open the Google Home app
- Tap Automations
.
- Select the automation you created with Help me create that you want to edit.
- Add or edit the title and the description.
- Tap the name of the automation or tap Menu
.
- Enter the name and description in the designated fields.
- Tap the name of the automation or tap Menu
Tip: Your automations must have unique names. If the name is already in use, the app automatically adds a number to the end of the name to create a unique name for you.
- Find the starter, condition, or action that you want to add, edit, or remove.
- Add a new behavior: Tap Add
next to the type of behavior you want to create.
- Edit an existing behavior: Tap its tile. You can also change the devices linked to each behavior.
- Remove an existing behavior: Swipe left on its tile or select and tap Delete
.
- Add a new behavior: Tap Add
- Tap Save or Done to confirm the changes and return to the automation overview. To avoid potential errors and conflicts in your automation, review each behavior before you save your changes.
- Tap Save to apply the changes, or select Back
to return to the previous screen.
- To discard the changes, tap Discard.
Tip: Automations with errors can be saved as inactive automations. They can only be activated when all errors are fixed. To check and understand the errors, refer to Troubleshooting Help me create automations.
Reorder an action
You can only reorder actions that start in a sequence. Actions that start simultaneously can be reordered in the app but will still start at the same time regardless of order.
- Touch and hold the behavior you want to move.
- Drag it to the desired position.
- Release to place the behavior.
Important: You might experience a known issue that hasn't been resolved. Learn more about known issues.
| Error message | Troubleshooting |
|---|---|
|
“Can’t generate an automation based on your prompt. Try another prompt.” Help me create may not be able to generate the automation if:
|
To address this, tap Ask again and rephrase your prompt. Provide clear instructions, with devices and details specific to the automation you want to create. |
|
“Couldn’t connect. Try again.” This error can happen due to factors like server timeouts, network issues, or excessive requests. |
Before you try again, ensure you have a stable internet connection, or wait a moment to avoid making frequent requests. |
|
“Can’t generate an automation based on your prompt. Some features may not be available yet. Try another prompt.” The prompt may contain unsupported starters, conditions, or actions. |
To address this error, tap Ask again and try another prompt with currently available behaviors. Refer to Supported automation starters, conditions & actions. |
|
“Something went wrong. Try again later, or delete the automation and create a new one.” An unexpected error occurred while processing your request. |
If this happens, make sure your Google Home app is updated to the latest version. |
Tip: You may also encounter the message “This automation contains errors. Continue to review or edit this automation” when using Help me create.
This message may indicate multiple issues, such as a generated automation that wants to use devices you don’t have, or permissions you haven’t granted yet.
| Automations error | Troubleshooting steps |
|---|---|
| Missing address: Automations generated by Help me create may require your home address to work. |
Change or add the home address of your devices. Important: When you change the home address, it only affects the devices in the home you selected. You can edit or delete this address anytime.
|
| Missing device or behavior: You may be missing a device, or you may have a device that you haven't added to the Home app yet. | Verify that the devices you want to use are already added to your Home app. If not, make sure to add them and check if they’re compatible with the automation you want to create. Refer to Supported automation starters, conditions & actions. |
| May require additional device settings: This warning means you may have to grant the necessary permissions for your apps and devices to work together.
Examples:
|
Make sure that you’ve granted the necessary permissions to control your devices within the Google Home app. This may include completing initial setup steps or enabling specific features in your app settings. For example, you might need to set up Home & Away or grant the Home app permission to access your location and time zone. |
| Requires compatible action or value: Automations created by Help me create may contain behaviors or values that aren't compatible with your devices’ capabilities. |
Double-check the configuration of your starters, conditions, and actions to ensure that the values set for each device and behavior are within their supported range. Consider using another compatible device. |
If you continue to encounter issues, make sure that your app is updated and consider providing feedback.
Provide feedback
Help me create is regularly updated and improved. Your feedback helps improve its ability to generate more accurate automations.
To give feedback on Help me create:
- After submitting a prompt through Help me create, tap Thumbs up
or Thumbs down
to rate the generated automation. You can also rate the automations generated by Help me create through the automation overview.
- Once you rate the generated automation, a feedback form with a standard question appears on your screen. You can provide more detailed feedback through this form or choose from the available quick feedback options.
- Tap Submit once finished.