In the smart home world, an automation is a routine (or series of commands) that a smart hub app executes on the user’s behalf. For example, you could tell the app to: At sunset, turn on the porch light; when the temperature sensor is above 80 degrees, turn on the fan. One of the most flexible hubs is Google Home, and you can set up these routines through the Automations tab in the Google Home app. Here’s how.

Google assumes you like some routines around waking up and going to sleep, so in the automations you’ll see options for “Good morning” and “Good night.” Tapping them will pre-populate the actions so you can customize them, like which sleep sounds to play (Google has an impressive range of sounds, from white noise to ocean or forest sounds), which lights to turn off, or whether to show your day’s appointments. Using these pre-made automations is a helpful way to better understand how automations work.

Before you get started, decide what action you want to happen and what you want to trigger it. We’ve talked about IFTTT (“if this, then that”) before on Lifehacker , which is another automation platform. But the broader premise of IFTTT is really helpful for understanding automation. The name is literally “If this, then that,” as in “if _____ happens, then do ______.” So start by filling in the blanks: a time, a condition, or a specific day. For the first automation, we’re going to focus on specifying a time to trigger the automation, so think of something you want to happen every day. For example, turn on the living room lights at sunrise. The key thing is that all the devices you want to affect need to be connected to Google Home, either through a smart plug or the device itself.

Under the automation tab, click the blue plus button to start a new routine. Since we’re setting something to run at a specific time, we’ll choose “personal” instead of “household.” The screen will refresh to show a title you can edit and two panels, one for “starters” and one for “actions.” You may also see a panel asking if you want to set up a daily routine. Tap “no” for now.