---
title: "RFID tags & music albums"
description: "## Why this exists"
section: home-assistant
raw: "05-rfid-music-albums.md"
source: ai-generated
tags: home-assistant, home-automation
last-updated: 2026-09-15
---

# RFID tags & music albums

> How to play a music album by tapping an RFID/NFC tag — a physical "remote control" for the music system that anyone in the house can use without a phone or a voice command.

## Why this exists

Voice control needs a working mic and a network; the HA dashboard needs a
phone. A tag taped to a bookshelf, a record, or the side of the music room
door works for everyone, including kids and guests. Tap the tag, and the
album it represents starts playing — no app, no speaking, no configuration.

## Hardware

- **Reader**: a USB or serial MIFARE/NFC reader. The reader is connected to a
  small always-on computer or microcontroller that runs Home Assistant
  (or a companion integration that talks to it over the network).
- **Tags**: cheap MIFARE Classic (1 kbit) sticker tags. Each tag has a unique
  4-byte UID, which is all HA ever needs — the tag contents are irrelevant,
  the UID is the identifier.
- The reader integration exposes each tap as a state change (or event) you
  can trigger on. If the reader is on a separate box, it publishes the UID to
  HA (e.g. via MQTT or a custom component); if it is on the HA box itself,
  the integration handles it directly.

> The practical detail is **where the reader plugs in**. The simplest
> arrangement is a reader on the same machine (or LAN box) that runs the
> music server, so taps are visible to HA without extra wiring.

## Concept: one tag = one album

Each tag's UID maps to exactly one album. The mapping lives in one place —
a YAML dict in the automation (or a template sensor) — so adding an album is
a one-line change:

```yaml
tag_map:
  '04:12:34:56': 'Abbey Road'      # UID -> album
  '04:9a:bc:de': 'Dark Side of the Moon'
```

A small template sensor turns the raw reader state into a readable
"album tapped" value (or `unknown`), which makes testing and the debug log
pleasant: instead of staring at UIDs, the log says *which album*.

## Automation

```yaml
alias: 'Media:Album Tag'
trigger:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: sensor.rfid_reader
    to:
      - '04:12:34:56'   # or: any, if the template sensor does the lookup
condition:
  - condition: template
    value_template: >-
      {{ trigger.to in [ '04:12:34:56', '04:9a:bc:de' ] }}
action:
  - action: media_player.play_media
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.music_room_speakers
    data:
      media_content_id: 'mpd:album:Abbey Road'
      media_content_type: 'music'
mode: single
```

Design points:

- **`mode: single`** — a double-tap should not queue two albums.
- **`play_media`** with the library's URI scheme (e.g. `mpd:album:...` for
  MPD, or a Jellyfin/Plex item ID) — the exact URI depends on which music
  integration serves the library.
- If you want "tap again to stop", check the current
  `media_content_id` / state first: same album playing → `media_player.stop`,
  otherwise start the tapped album.

## Tips & tricks

- **Sticky-note the mapping.** A small printed UID → album table next to the
  shelf makes debugging obvious ("this tag is DSOTM").
- **One tag per album, not per song** — tapping is a coarse interaction; an
  album is a natural unit. If you want songs, that's a job for the phone app.
- **Test with the state change, not the tap.** Reproduce the trigger from
  Developer Tools → Actions by setting the reader sensor to the tag's state;
  it separates "reader not talking to HA" from "automation wrong".
- **Tags are not secure.** Anyone who can read a UID can replay it (a phone
  with NFC can copy a MIFARE Classic UID). That's fine for "play the music";
  do not use the same mechanism for arming/disarming alarms without a second
  factor.
- **Clustering**: if you run an HA cluster, gate the automation on
  `input_boolean.active` so the standby doesn't also start playback — see
  [High Availability](/home-assistant/02-high-availability/).

---

## Related

- [Automating with Google Home & HomeKit](/home-assistant/04-assistant-automations/)
- [High Availability](/home-assistant/02-high-availability/)

---

## Source Disclaimer

- [x] AI Generated
- [ ] Human Generated
- [ ] AI Edited
- [ ] Human Edited