This is very minor tip, but also very useful. Using groups can make your automations a lot cleaner, and as an added bonus, make it much easier to replace devices.

In the past I’ve had a couple of sensors die because I was using indoor-rated sensors on my patio and in my garage, and Denver winters were not kind to them. Replacing them was a pain because I was using those sensors to trigger multiple automations.

Enter groups.

If you put sensors (or even just one sensor) in a group, you can have all your automations read what they need from the group instead of the actual sensor. Sensor dies? Just add a new one to the device group, and every automation that reads from that group works without you touching any of them.

To create a group, Settings -> Devices and Services -> Helpers -> Create Helper, then select Group. Pick a type and start adding devices to it.

Then refer to the group in your automation triggers and you’re good to go.