Home Assistant Conditional Cards: Show What Needs Attention

Researched from current Home Assistant documentation, the 2026.10 release notes, and frontend 20260930.4 source on October 17, 2026. The examples are configuration walkthroughs, not a tested Tara installation. No physical devices or live Home Assistant dashboard were tested. The cover is an illustrative generated scene.

Make the card answer one household question

Home Assistant conditional cards let you show a card only when its conditions match. For a new card, start with its built-in Visibility settings. Keep the dedicated Conditional card for cases such as a card nested inside a stack, where the normal Visibility tab is missing. Both approaches are built in.

For example, a small “Windows: check status” card could appear when either of two selected windows is open or its sensor has lost contact. The usual lights and room controls can stay in their familiar places. A disappearing everyday control is harder for someone else in the house to find.

Start on a separate practice dashboard with two software switches. Once you understand the result, substitute your real window sensors. This changes the display only: it does not close windows, send alerts, or pause heating. If you need a message when you are away from the screen, use the separate door-left-open notification guide. For a lower room temperature target while a window is open, follow the window-open heating walkthrough.

The official card design guidance favors built-in visibility for new cards and keeping routine controls easy to find.

1. Choose what should disappear

A card is one dashboard block. An entity is a named reading or control inside Home Assistant. Decide whether you want to hide the whole block or remove individual rows from a list.

Swipe sideways to read all columns.

The card documentation specifically notes that nested children of vertical stacks, horizontal stacks and grid cards lack the Visibility tab. A grid card is different from the grid layout of a Sections view.

2. Build a harmless practice card

Use an administrator account to create the dashboard and helpers. You need no window sensors for this rehearsal, and the new helpers should not run any existing automation.

1. Open Settings → Dashboards → Add dashboard, choose New dashboard from scratch, and name it “Visibility practice.” This follows the separate-dashboard procedure and leaves your main dashboard alone.
2. Go to Settings → Devices & services → Helpers → Create helper. Create two Toggle helpers named “Card test kitchen” and “Card test study.” These are software on/off switches; leave them disconnected from device actions. See the Toggle helper documentation.
3. Check their entity IDs in each helper’s settings. The example assumes input_boolean.card_test_kitchen and input_boolean.card_test_study. If yours differ, replace both names in the code below.
4. On the practice dashboard, enter edit mode and add an Entities card containing both helpers. Leave this control card always visible, so you can switch either helper on and off.
5. Add a second card using Manual, and paste the following YAML—Home Assistant’s text configuration format. Save it, then select Done to leave edit mode.

Swipe sideways to read the full code.

type: markdown
content: "Practice: at least one test switch is on."
visibility:
  - condition: or
    conditions:
      - condition: state
        entity: input_boolean.card_test_kitchen
        state: "on"
      - condition: state
        entity: input_boolean.card_test_study
        state: "on"

This belongs in a dashboard card’s editor, not configuration.yaml or an automation. You can build the same rule visually: edit the second card, open Visibility, add an OR condition, and put the two entity-state checks inside it.

Home Assistant 2026.10 expanded the available visibility conditions and added current pass/fail feedback. Older releases may show different controls. The examples use the documented entity format, which remains supported; a current editor may save state conditions using entity_id. Do not change a working card merely to make its text match a screenshot. See the 2026.10 release notes and condition configuration reference.

3. Check all four combinations

Use the always-visible helper card to try the following combinations. These are the expected logical results, not measurements from a Tara system.

Swipe sideways to read all columns.

If the card appears only in the last row, the checks probably sit beside each other instead of inside OR. If it never disappears, first confirm you have left edit mode: Home Assistant deliberately shows conditional cards while you are editing them.

Finally, switch both helpers off. The practice message should disappear while the helper control card remains available. You can undo the exercise by removing these two practice cards; no physical device has been changed.

4. Substitute real readings without hiding a missing sensor

For a window binary sensor, the stored state is normally on for open and off for closed. The interface may display friendly or translated labels instead. It can also report unknown or unavailable; neither tells you the physical window position. Check the exact entity and raw state in Developer tools → States, using it for inspection only. The binary-sensor reference explains these values.

Here is an original two-window example. Replace the entity IDs in both the rows and conditions with two working sensors from your home. Add it as a new Manual card:

Swipe sideways to read the full code.

type: entities
title: "Windows: check status"
show_header_toggle: false
entities:
  - entity: binary_sensor.kitchen_window
    name: Kitchen window
  - entity: binary_sensor.study_window
    name: Study window
visibility:
  - condition: or
    conditions:
      - condition: state
        entity: binary_sensor.kitchen_window
        state:
          - "on"
          - "unknown"
          - "unavailable"
      - condition: state
        entity: binary_sensor.study_window
        state:
          - "on"
          - "unknown"
          - "unavailable"

The title deliberately says “check status,” rather than “windows open”: a lost reading also brings the card into view. Both rows remain visible whenever either needs attention, so you can compare their reported states. The Entities card supplies those named rows.

With valid, reporting entities, both closed means hidden; either open means visible; either unknown or unavailable also means visible. For the first real check, use a noncritical interior contact sensor or observe an ordinary window opening when it is safe to do so. Expect its row to change and the card to appear. Do not open a garage door, unlock an exterior door, disconnect sensors, or overwrite real entity states just to test the display.

A sensor can also keep an old “closed” reading without becoming unavailable. This card cannot detect that from the state alone. Keep important alerts independent of dashboard visibility; the unavailable-device notification guide explains the difference between losing contact and an unchanged reading.

5. Filter rows only if that is what you want

If you have many windows and want only the affected ones listed, use the built-in Entity filter card instead. It checks each listed entity and retains matching rows. Its show_empty: false setting hides the whole result when no rows match.

For the same window rule, a state condition can match the list ["on", "unknown", "unavailable"]. That is different from putting visibility on an ordinary Entities card, which shows or hides every row together. Start with the two-window version above if seeing a closed window beside the affected one helps your household interpret the display.

If a card stays hidden or visible

Swipe sideways to read all columns.

On 2026.10, use the Visibility tab’s current-result feedback to locate a failing condition. For a genuine calculation, that release also offers a dedicated Template condition. You do not need it for either example here.

Visibility is a presentation choice

Hiding a camera or lock card does not revoke access to that entity. A non-admin user plus hidden cards, tabs or a kiosk display does not establish room-only permissions. Home Assistant’s view documentation explicitly says a hidden tab’s URL remains accessible; its permission documentation distinguishes entity access from administration rights.

For a child, guest or shared tablet, first read what Home Assistant can actually restrict for each user. A simpler screen can be useful without being an access boundary. Also remember that anyone physically near an unlocked household display may see the information it shows.

Common questions

Do I need HACS or a custom card?

No. Visibility, Conditional, Entities and Entity filter are built-in options. The practice exercise uses only built-in helpers and cards.

Will hiding a card stop its automation?

No. A display condition is not an automation condition. Keep reminders, manual overrides and device actions in their own routines.

Should every control disappear when it is idle?

No. Keep frequently used controls in predictable places. Add a small attention section for temporary information, then check that another household member can still find everyday functions.

If you want help planning the dashboard alongside devices and routines, Tara’s configured Home Assistant setup explains the service path. Choose the household questions first, then decide which cards answer them.