MMM-KitchenTimer - Touch-friendly countdown timer

bwente

Yes. Since you use Home Assistant, MagicMirror can publish an MQTT message when the timer starts, and HA can start a matching Alexa timer on the Echo paired with the Wall Clock.

The catch is they are separate timers, not truly synced. Starting and canceling can be synced, but pausing the MagicMirror timer will not pause Alexa.

Niggich

@bwente

Ok, I try to configure MMM-MQTTbridge to connect the mirror to my HA. I think the connection from Mirror to HA is working but I don’t know how to configure the module to Send Notifications to my HA. Sorry…

bwente

@Niggich On the HA side you would listen for the timer topic.

alias: Start Echo timer from MagicMirror
triggers:
  - trigger: mqtt
    topic: magicmirror/kitchen-timer/started

actions:
  - action: media_player.play_media
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.kitchen_echo
    data:
      media_content_type: custom
      media_content_id: >-
        set a timer for
        {{ trigger.payload_json.remainingSeconds | int }}
        seconds

Niggich

@bwente Ok, thank you. So I don’t need to configure something at the MMM-MQTTbridge just in HA?

edit: I try the whole afternoon, but I don’t know how to do. I also try it with MMM-HomeAssistant.

bwente

@Niggich

Something like this for your MMM-MQTTbridge config on your mirror.

{
  module: "MMM-MQTTbridge",
  disabled: false,
  config: {
    mqttServer: "mqtt://USERNAME:PASSWORD@192.168.1.10:1883",
    stringifyPayload: true,

    mqttConfig: {
      // This example only sends MagicMirror events to MQTT.
      listenMqtt: false,
      interval: 300000,
    },

    notiConfig: {
      listenNoti: true,
      ignoreNotiId: ["CLOCK_MINUTE", "CLOCK_SECOND", "NEWS_FEED"],
      ignoreNotiSender: ["system"],
      qos: 0,
    },
  },
},

then edit

~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-MQTTbridge/dict/notiDictionary.js

var notiHook = [
  {
    notiId: "KITCHEN_TIMER_STARTED",
    notiPayload: [
      {
        notiMqttCmd: ["Kitchen timer started"],
      },
    ],
  },
];

var notiMqttCommands = [
  {
    commandId: "Kitchen timer started",
    mqttTopic: "magicmirror/kitchen-timer/started",
    stringifyPayload: true,
    retain: false,
    qos: 0,
  },
];

module.exports = { notiHook, notiMqttCommands };

after restarting your mirror you should be able to listen for the topic: magicmirror/kitchen-timer/started in Home Assistant developer tools.

Niggich

@bwente Wow, you’re great. My Echo know I want to start a Timer but it’s asking for how long.

bwente

@Niggich said:

My Echo know I want to start a Timer but it’s asking for how long.

Great, now that you’ve confirmed MQTT is working, the next step is to add the Home Assistant automation.

alias: MagicMirror kitchen timer started
triggers:
  - trigger: mqtt
    topic: magicmirror/kitchen-timer/started

actions:
  - action: media_player.play_media
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.kitchen_echo
    data:
      media_content_type: custom
      media_content_id: >-
        set a timer for
        {{ trigger.payload_json.remainingSeconds | int }}
        seconds

I think that will work. I don’t know if it needs to be escaped or not.

Niggich

@bwente I add the automation already and change it again but the echo still asking “for how log should be the timer”… I also try to fix it with ChatGPT but this was not working.

bwente

@Niggich looks like trigger.payload_json.remainingSeconds is empty or double quoted. Can you view just the payload and see?

Niggich

@bwente I’m sorry but where I found trigger.payload_json.remainingSeconds?

sdetweil

@Niggich in an HA. Automation are variable to help you do want you want

One of those is

trigger. - what started the automation

If you go into HA , settings, automations, pick any one,
Look at the traces (3 dot menu). You can see the variables and values for each step of the automation

Niggich

@sdetweil Thank you. I don’t know if I’m right but this is the variable from the traces.

this:
  entity_id: automation.timer
  state: 'on'
  attributes:
    id: '1786549333845'
    last_triggered: '2026-08-13T11:33:26.793052+00:00'
    mode: single
    current: 0
    friendly_name: MagicMirror kitchen timer started
  last_changed: '2026-08-14T20:14:37.860754+00:00'
  last_reported: '2026-08-14T20:14:37.860754+00:00'
  last_updated: '2026-08-14T20:14:37.860754+00:00'
  context:
    id: 01M00YK2S42QSK0Q9WAEN19ACF
    parent_id: null
    user_id: null
trigger:
  id: '0'
  idx: '0'
  alias: null
  platform: mqtt
  topic: magicmirror/kitchen-timer/started
  payload: >-
    {"status":"running","remainingSeconds":60,"endsAt":1786738603487,"durationSeconds":60,"elapsedRatio":0}
  qos: 0
  description: mqtt topic magicmirror/kitchen-timer/started
  payload_json:
    status: running
    remainingSeconds: 60
    endsAt: 1786738603487
    durationSeconds: 60
    elapsedRatio: 0

sdetweil

@Niggich so

trigger.payload.remainingSeconds

Niggich

@sdetweil No, it is not working.

sdetweil

@Niggich sorry, this is case sensitive and I had lower case s, see my edit

Niggich

@sdetweil No, it’s not working. This is the automation

alias: MagicMirror kitchen timer started
triggers:
  - trigger: mqtt
    topic: magicmirror/kitchen-timer/started
actions:
  - action: media_player.play_media
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.echo_show_kuche
    data:
      media:
        media_content_id: >-
          set a timer for {{ trigger.payload.remainingSeconds | int }}
          seconds
        media_content_type: custom
        metadata: {}

sdetweil

@Niggich if you examine the traces , what error is reported?

Niggich

@sdetweil sagte:

if you examine the traces , what error is reported?

This Error is shown: “Error rendering data template: UndefinedError: ‘str object’ has no attribute ‘remainingSeconds’”

When I change the trigger back to trigger.payload_json.remainingSeconds is no Error reported an the Echo asks for how long should be the timer.

The traces-Log says this.

params:
  domain: media_player
  service: play_media
  service_data:
    entity_id:
      - media_player.echo_show_kuche
    media_content_type: custom
    media_content_id: set a timer for 60 seconds
  target:
    entity_id:
      - media_player.echo_show_kuche
running_script: false

sdetweil

@Niggich ok. Good info

I need to test this myself, but won’t be able to til tomorrow sometime. I also need to use my echo device which is currently not used

Niggich

@sdetweil Ok, don’t worry. I’m happy you help me. Thank you!

EDIT:

I made a copy of the automation and put a custom number of seconds to trigger. The Echo still asks for how long. The I changed from seconds to minutes an the timer starts.

EDIT2: When I change the trigger to German language like this starte einen {{ trigger.payload_json.remainingSeconds | int }} sekunden timer the Timer starts. The only thing is that the Echo almost 4 seconds need to start the timer.