Dutch Flag Instruction (Vlaginstructie Nederland)

A Home Assistant integration that fetches the official Dutch flag instruction from the Government of the Netherlands.

It tells you when to raise the Dutch flag, whether it should be flown at half-mast, and when to use the orange pennant.

Features

• Today's flag instruction: sensor.vlaginstructie_today
• Tomorrow's flag instruction: sensor.vlaginstructie_tomorrow
• Next upcoming flag day: sensor.next_flag_day
• Binary sensors for today and tomorrow:
  • binary_sensor.vlag_uithangen_today
  • binary_sensor.vlag_halfstok_today
  • binary_sensor.vlag_uithangen_tomorrow
  • binary_sensor.vlag_halfstok_tomorrow
  • binary_sensor.oranje_wimpel_today
  • binary_sensor.oranje_wimpel_tomorrow
• Automatically calculates variable days such as Veteranendag and Prinsjesdag
• Caches the official government flag instruction page

Installation

HACS custom repository

1. Open HACS in Home Assistant.
2. Go to Integrations.
3. Open Custom repositories.
4. Add this repository as an integration.
5. Search for Vlaginstructie Nederland and install it.

Manual installation

1. Download this repository as a ZIP.
2. Copy custom_components/vlaginstructie/ into your Home Assistant custom_components/ directory.
3. Restart Home Assistant.

Configuration

This integration uses the Home Assistant UI.

1. Go to Settings > Devices & services.
2. Select Add integration.
3. Search for Vlaginstructie Nederland.
4. Finish the setup flow.

No configuration.yaml setup is needed.

Entities

Sensors

• sensor.vlaginstructie_today
• sensor.vlaginstructie_tomorrow
• sensor.next_flag_day

Each sensor exposes these attributes when a flag instruction exists:

Attribute	Description
reason	The occasion, for example Dodenherdenking or Koningsdag
date	The ISO date of the flag instruction
scope	Whether the instruction is nationwide or specific
wimpel	true if the orange pennant should be used
halfstok	true if the flag should be flown at half-mast

Binary sensors

• binary_sensor.vlag_uithangen_today
• binary_sensor.vlag_halfstok_today
• binary_sensor.vlag_uithangen_tomorrow
• binary_sensor.vlag_halfstok_tomorrow
• binary_sensor.oranje_wimpel_today
• binary_sensor.oranje_wimpel_tomorrow

The oranje_wimpel_* sensors are on on days where the official instruction includes an orange pennant, such as Koningsdag and birthdays of members of the Royal House.

Lovelace example

Markdown card

type: markdown
title: Vlaginstructie
content: |
  **Today ({{ states('sensor.vlaginstructie_today') }})**
  - Reason: {{ state_attr('sensor.vlaginstructie_today', 'reason') }}
  - Date: {{ state_attr('sensor.vlaginstructie_today', 'date') }}
  - Half-mast: {{ state_attr('sensor.vlaginstructie_today', 'halfstok') }}
  - With pennant: {{ state_attr('sensor.vlaginstructie_today', 'wimpel') }}

  **Tomorrow ({{ states('sensor.vlaginstructie_tomorrow') }})**
  - Reason: {{ state_attr('sensor.vlaginstructie_tomorrow', 'reason') }}
  - Date: {{ state_attr('sensor.vlaginstructie_tomorrow', 'date') }}
  - Half-mast: {{ state_attr('sensor.vlaginstructie_tomorrow', 'halfstok') }}
  - With pennant: {{ state_attr('sensor.vlaginstructie_tomorrow', 'wimpel') }}

  **Next flag day ({{ states('sensor.next_flag_day') }})**
  - Reason: {{ state_attr('sensor.next_flag_day', 'reason') }}
  - Date: {{ state_attr('sensor.next_flag_day', 'date') }}
  - Half-mast: {{ state_attr('sensor.next_flag_day', 'halfstok') }}
  - With pennant: {{ state_attr('sensor.next_flag_day', 'wimpel') }}

Entities card

type: entities
title: Vlaginstructie
entities:
  - entity: sensor.vlaginstructie_today
    name: Today
  - entity: sensor.vlaginstructie_tomorrow
    name: Tomorrow
  - entity: sensor.next_flag_day
    name: Next flag day

Special rules

On 4 May (Dodenherdenking), the flag is flown at half-mast until 18:00. After 18:00, the half-mast binary sensor turns off.

Troubleshooting

• Requires Home Assistant 2025.7.0 or newer.
• If fetching the government page fails, the last cached data is used.
• If the government page structure changes, the integration logs a warning and keeps using cached data when available.

Credits

Data source: Government of the Netherlands.