🚀 Virtual v0.10.0-alpha.7 — Modern Entity Naming Architecture (ADR-0007)

⚠️ Alpha Release & Community Testing Notice

Virtual v0.10 is an active alpha pre-release.

If you encounter any bugs, regressions, or configuration issues, please open a GitHub issue with your configuration snippet and debug logs.

(Legacy v0.9 documentation is archived in README_v9.md).

🌟 What's New in v0.10.0-alpha.7

1. Home Assistant ADR-0007 Entity Naming Architecture

hass-virtual now fully implements Home Assistant's standard entity naming model (_attr_has_entity_name = True). This eliminates repetitive device name concatenation and simplifies YAML device definitions:

• Clean Single-Entity Devices (Primary Entity):
  • When a device represents a single primary feature (e.g. a light, switch, dimmer, or lock), the entity name parameter can now be omitted completely.
  • Home Assistant assigns the parent device's name as the entity's friendly name without repetition or stuttering.
  • The default entity ID resolves to {domain}.{slugify(device_id)}.
• Concise Multi-Entity Devices (Sub-Entities):
  • For multi-entity devices (like smart locks, multi-sensors, or power outlets), child entities no longer need to repeat the device name in YAML.
  • Simply provide concise names like Battery, Motion, Temperature, Power, or Energy. Home Assistant automatically composes the display name as <Device Name> <Entity Name> (e.g., Front Door Lock Battery).
  • Default entity ID resolves cleanly to {domain}.{slugify(device_id)}_{slugify(name)}.
• Seamless Backward Compatibility & Prefix Stripping:
  • Legacy YAML configurations that still pass name: "Front Door Lock Battery" under Front Door Lock have the redundant device name prefix cleanly stripped before assigning _attr_name, preventing double-prefix stutter in the UI.
  • BlendedCfg performs candidate metadata lookups across existing entries so persistent states (RestoreEntity) and unique IDs in .storage/virtual.meta.json are preserved across upgrades.
  • Sibling entity resolution (linked_switch, linked_power, linked_battery_sensor, linked_entity) automatically searches both global and device-scoped entity IDs.

2. Virtual Device Editor Updates

• Multi-entity templates (Water Heater, Thermal House HVAC, and Security Camera with Motion & Sound) have been modernized to use concise sub-entity names and omit the name on primary entities.
• The web editor form now guides users to leave primary entity names empty and use short names for child entities without repeating the parent device name.

3. Example Configurations

• All example configurations (virtual-examples.yaml, virtual-hue.yaml, virtual-sonoff.yaml, and virtual-zwave.yaml) have been updated to showcase clean ADR-0007 naming.

Example Configuration:

version: 1
devices:
  # 1. Clean Single-Entity Dimmer Light
  Living Room Dimmer:
    - platform: light
      initial_value: "off"
      support_brightness: true

  # 2. Multi-Entity Smart Lock
  Front Door Lock:
    - platform: lock
      initial_value: "locked"
      locking_time: 2
    - platform: sensor
      name: Battery
      class: battery
      unit_of_measurement: "%"
      initial_value: "100"
    - platform: binary_sensor
      name: Low Battery
      class: battery
      linked_battery_sensor: "Battery"
      low_battery_threshold: 15