Updating or Hiding Discovered Entities

[PLACEHOLDER: Editing and Entity Reference]

One of the most powerful features of the Discovery system is the ability to choose exactly which components of the system are exposed to Home Assistant. You can add or remove groups of entities at any time to keep your dashboard clean and relevant.

Updating an Existing Discovery

The primary controller stores your previous settings in a discovery.json file. This allows you to modify your entity list without creating duplicates in Home Assistant.

Modifying Entity Groups

Navigate to the Discovery page in the Integrations menu.
Your previously selected groups will be pre-populated.
Check any additional groups you wish to add, or uncheck groups you wish to remove.
Click the UPDATE DISCOVERY button.

💡 Device Name Limitation
The Device Name is used to generate unique MQTT discovery topics. Because of this, you cannot change the Device Name once Discovery is enabled. To change the name, you must first Remove Discovery and then recreate it with the new name.

The Update Button

When you click UPDATE DISCOVERY, the system immediately sends “clearance” messages for any removed groups and “discovery” messages for any new ones.

⚠️ Dashboard Warning
If you remove an entity group that is currently in use on a Home Assistant dashboard or in an automation, those items will show as “Unavailable” or may break entirely.

Handling Hardware Changes and Firmware Upgrades

Because Discovery relies on a unique string (Device Name + MAC Address), certain hardware events require attention:

System Reset (Same ESP32): If you perform a factory reset but use the same hardware and the same Device Name, running Discovery again will simply “take over” the existing entities in Home Assistant.
New ESP32 / Different Name: If you replace the controller or change the name, Home Assistant will treat it as a brand-new device. In this case, it is best to delete the old device from the Home Assistant Devices page to avoid clutter.
Firmware Updates: Some firmware updates may introduce new features like LED effects that might require an update to Discovery. If needed, this will be noted in the release notes for the updated version.

If you make any hardware changes to your system after Discovery is enabled (e.g. different sensor types, switching between wired and wireless, etc.), you will need to update or remove/reenabled your Discovery to reflect these changes. Some created entites may have different properties based on whether it is PIR or ToF.

If you are making permenant hardware sensor changes, then the recommendation is to completely remove and then reenable Discovery. This assure the correct type of entities and properites are created for the hardware changes.
If you just want to change the exposed entities, you just make your selected changes and update the Discovery. A complete removal and reenable of Discovery isn’t needed just to change exposed entities.

Entities Created Reference Table

The following table lists the entities created in Home Assistant based on your selections. Note that settings, such as the number or type of sensors used, will also impact the entities created.

Note: device_name refers to your specified Discovery Device Name (converted to lowercase with underscores).

Entity Group	Entities Created	Friendly Name
Controls	`light.device_name_led_strip` (Includes brightness, color & effect attributes) `switch.device_name_sensor_override`	LED Strip Sensor Override
Sensors*	`binary_sensor.device_name_sensor_1_motion_state` `binary_sensor.device_name_sensor_2_motion_state`	Sensor 1 Motion State Sensor 2 Motion State
Configuration*	`switch.device_name_sensor_1_action_toggle_off` `select.device_name_sensor_1_attribute_effect` `number.device_name_sensor_1_attribute_speed` `text.device_name_sensor_1_color_primary` `text.device_name_sensor_1_color_seconday` `switch.device_name_sensor_2_action_toggle_off` `select.device_name_sensor_2_attribute_effect` `number.device_name_sensor_2_attribute_speed` `text.device_name_sensor_2_color_primary` `text.device_name_sensor_2_color_seconday`	Sensor 1 Toggle Off Sensor 1 Effect Sensor 1 Speed Sensor 1 Color: Primary Sensor 1 Color: Secondary Sensor 2 Toggle Off Sensor 2 Effect Sensor 1 Speed Sensor 2 Color: Primary Sensor 2 Color: Secondary
Diagnostics	`sensor.device_name_ip_address` `sensor.device_name_mac_address` `button.device_name_controller_restart`	IP Address MAC Address Controller Restart

Addtional Notes

*If your system is only configured for one sensor then all _sensor_2 entities will be omitted and not created.
To control the LEDs manually via the Light entity or via automations, then assure you first enable the Sensor Override switch. See more information on manually controlling the system under the MQTT and API topics. Toggle this setting back off to reeanble automatic system use.
The sensor Toggle Off setting refers to the option to have a sensor toggle LEDs off if on. It is not related to the state of the sensors. If you wish to send a sensor detection to the system, you must use MQTT or the API.

💡 Customization
You can safely rename these entities or change their icons directly within the Home Assistant UI without affecting the controller’s firmware. But note that future Discovery updates may overwrite your changes or create duplicate entities.

<- Previous: Enabling and Disabling Discovery Next: Manually Creating MQTT Entities ->