Home Assistant Legacy Template Migration

✨ v2 UPDATE: Fixed script now properly handles templates in included files (sensors.yaml, binary_sensors.yaml)!

Automatically migrates legacy platform: template syntax to modern template: syntax in Home Assistant.

What's New in v2

The original script looked only at configuration.yaml, but many Home Assistant configurations use !include directives to split sensors into separate files like:

• binary_sensors.yaml
• sensors.yaml
• packages/*.yaml

v2 fixes:

• ✅ Scans ALL .yaml files in /config/ and /config/packages/
• ✅ Handles - platform: template (list item format with dash)
• ✅ Properly extracts sensors from sensors: blocks
• ✅ Handles multiline templates with > operator
• ✅ Correct indentation for modern template: format
• ✅ Counts sensors correctly from included files

Why Migrate?

Home Assistant is deprecating the legacy platform: template syntax in favor of modern template: syntax. Starting in version 2026.6, the old syntax will stop working.

This script safely migrates all your legacy template definitions:

• Binary sensors (binary_sensor: !include binary_sensors.yaml)
• Sensors (sensor: !include sensors.yaml)
• Packages (if you use /config/packages/)

Features

✅ Safe Migration: Creates timestamped backups before making changes
✅ Automatic Conversion: Converts all legacy fields to modern syntax
✅ Field Mapping:

• friendly_name → name
• value_template → state
• icon_template → icon
• entity_picture_template → picture
• availability_template → availability
• attribute_templates → attributes

✅ Rollback Support: Includes restore script in backup directory
✅ Clean Removal: Removes legacy definitions from original files
✅ Modern Addition: Adds new template: section to configuration.yaml

Installation

SSH Add-on or Terminal

cd /config
wget https://gitea.hideawaygaming.com.au/jessikitty/ha-template-migration/raw/branch/main/migrate_templates.sh
chmod +x migrate_templates.sh
bash migrate_templates.sh

What It Does

1. Scans all YAML files in /config/ and /config/packages/
2. Extracts legacy template definitions
3. Converts to modern syntax
4. Backs up original files to /config/backups/template_migration_TIMESTAMP/
5. Removes legacy - platform: template blocks
6. Adds modern template: section to configuration.yaml

Example Migration

Before (binary_sensors.yaml)

- platform: template
  sensors:
    router_authenticated:
      friendly_name: "Router Authenticated"
      value_template: >
        {{ states('input_text.router_token') not in ['unknown', '', 'unavailable', ''] }}
      icon_template: >
        {% if states('input_text.router_token') not in ['unknown', '', 'unavailable', ''] %}
          mdi:check-circle
        {% else %}
          mdi:close-circle
        {% endif %}

After (configuration.yaml)

template:
  - binary_sensor:
    - unique_id: router_authenticated
      name: "Router Authenticated"
      state: >
        {{ states('input_text.router_token') not in ['unknown', '', 'unavailable', ''] }}
      icon: >
        {% if states('input_text.router_token') not in ['unknown', '', 'unavailable', ''] %}
          mdi:check-circle
        {% else %}
          mdi:close-circle
        {% endif %}

After Running

1. Review the new template: section at end of configuration.yaml
2. Check config: ha core check
3. Restart HA: ha core restart
4. Verify all template entities still work

If Something Goes Wrong

# Restore from backup
cd /config/backups/template_migration_TIMESTAMP
bash restore.sh
ha core restart

Requirements

• Home Assistant OS or Supervised (with SSH add-on)
• Core or Docker installations (adjust paths as needed)
• Bash shell

What Gets Migrated

✅ Template binary sensors
✅ Template sensors
✅ All template fields (value, icon, availability, attributes, etc.)
✅ Multiline templates with > operator
✅ Templates in !include files

Technical Details

• Uses pure bash + awk (no Python dependencies)
• Handles complex YAML indentation
• Preserves template logic exactly
• Safe for large configurations (handles 67+ sensors)

Version History

• v2 (2025-12-23): Fixed to handle !include files and list-item format
• v1 (2025-12-23): Initial release (only scanned configuration.yaml)

License

MIT License - feel free to use and modify!

Support

Issues? Check the Gitea repository or file a bug report.