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Boost Windows

A boost makes chosen chores pay more for a set time: "the next hour, bins and the dishwasher pay double". Children see it coming. Their cards and the wall tablet fill with an orange BOOST! screen when it starts, then show a countdown and a ×2 chip on every boosted chore.

New in v7.1.0

Three Ways to Start One

Way Where Good for
On the spot TaskMate panel → Today → Start a boost "Guests at six, the kitchen needs clearing"
Recurring TaskMate panel → Settings → Boost windows → Recurring boosts "Every Saturday, 09:00 to 11:00, garden jobs pay double"
From an automation The taskmate.start_boost service Anything Home Assistant can trigger: a calendar event, the doorbell, a button

Use whichever suits you. All three produce the same boost, and it looks and pays the same on the cards.

Start a boost

Start a boost

Pick Now or Later today, how much it pays (×1.5, ×2 or ×3), how long it lasts, which chores (or all of them) and which children (or everyone). An optional name such as Guests at six shows on the cards. Tell the children sends the opt-in Boost started push to the children it covers.

Recurring boosts

Each recurring boost has days, a start and end time, a multiplier, chores and children, and an on/off switch. TaskMate starts and ends it by itself. The Today page lists today's recurring boost before it starts, with Skip this one to leave it out for today only.

From an automation

action: taskmate.start_boost
data:
  multiplier: 2
  minutes: 60
  chore_ids: [8a3b2c1d4e5f6789]   # leave out for all chores
  child_ids: []                   # leave out for everyone
  name: Guests at six

starts_at schedules one for later, up to a week ahead. taskmate.end_boost with a boost_id stops one early. Find the IDs in the boosts attribute of sensor.taskmate_overview.

What the Children See

Boost on the child card

  • The moment it starts the child card is covered by an orange BOOST! ×2 screen: the chores, a live countdown and a Let's go! button. It shows once per device per boost.
  • Afterwards a banner at the top counts down, and each boosted chore shows its old points crossed out, the boosted points and a ×2 chip.
  • Before a scheduled boost a line reads Next boost: 16:00 · Bins ×2.

This works in every card design. Switch the full-screen alert off per card with show_boost_alert: false; the banner and chips stay.

On the kiosk tablet

Boost on the kiosk

The kiosk card leaves ambient mode or the photo slideshow and fills the screen with BOOST TIME! until someone taps. After that an orange strip under the top bar counts down. The kiosk card has its own show_boost_alert option.

Waking the Wall Tablet

A sleeping screen can't wake itself: once the display is off nothing in the browser runs. Home Assistant has to tell the device, so TaskMate does that when a boost starts.

TaskMate panel → Settings → Boost windows

Device What TaskMate does
Fully Kiosk Browser (Android), through the Fully Kiosk Browser integration Turns the tablet's Screen switch on, turns its Screensaver off and presses Bring to foreground
Home Assistant Companion app (Android) Sends the command_screen_on notification command

Tick the tablets to wake. Test wake now sends the wake straight away, using the saved choices. TaskMate only ever calls those two kinds of target, and a tablet that doesn't respond never stops the boost.

iPads and iPhones can't be woken remotely. iOS doesn't allow it, so they show the boost the next time someone touches the screen.

How Boosted Points Are Paid

  • A chore completed inside the window earns the boosted points, even if a parent approves it after the window has closed. The approvals queue shows the boosted figure.
  • When two boosts cover the same chore, the bigger one applies.
  • Timed tasks and chores won at auction are never boosted. An auction pays exactly the winning bid.
  • A job logged for an earlier day is not boosted.

Weekends and birthdays

Those days already pay a multiplier (see Bonus Points and Birthday Mode). On the weekend or a birthday decides how a boost combines with it:

Setting Key value A ×2 boost on a ×2 Saturday pays
Highest wins (default) highest ×2. The bigger multiplier applies, the other is dropped
Stack them stack ×4

Settings

Setting Key Default Description
On the weekend or a birthday boost_stacking highest highest or stack
Wake these tablets boost_wake_screens none Fully Kiosk Browser Screen switch entities
Wake these phones and tablets boost_wake_devices none Companion-app notify services (mobile_app_…)

Notification

Type Audience Default
Boost started boost_started The children the boost covers Off

⚡ Boost! Take the bins out pay ×2 for the next 45 minutes.

Events

Event Payload
taskmate_boost_started id, name, multiplier, chore_ids, child_ids, starts_at, ends_at, minutes, rule_id (recurring only), timestamp
taskmate_boost_ended The same, plus ended_early

Both show on the family event entity as Boost started and Boost ended. The notification's own bus event is taskmate_boost_started_notification.

Services

Service Fields Description
taskmate.start_boost multiplier (1.1–5), minutes (1–1440), chore_ids, child_ids, starts_at, name, notify Open a boost now or schedule one. Parent action
taskmate.end_boost boost_id End one early, call off a scheduled one, or skip today's recurring one. Parent action

Sensor

sensor.taskmate_overview carries boosts while any boost is live or coming up today: each has id, name, multiplier, chore_ids, chore_names, child_ids, starts_at, ends_at, minutes, status (active / upcoming) and rule_id for a recurring one.