diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d75544f..7be5621 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ entities:
   - <entity>
   - <entity>
 filter:
+  template: <template>
   include:
     - <filter>
     - <filter>
@@ -42,14 +43,15 @@ sort: <sort_method>
 - `card:` **Required.** The card to display. Specify this as you would specify any normal lovelace card, but ommit the `entities:` parameter.
 - `entities:` Any entities added here will be added to the card before any filters are applied.
 - `filter:`
-  - `include:` **Required.** A list of filters specifying which entities to add to the card
+  - `template:` A jinja2 template evaluating to a whitespace- or comma-separated list of entity ids to include
+  - `include:` A list of filters specifying which entities to add to the card
   - `exclude:` A list of filters specifying which entities to remove from the card
 - `show_empty:` Whether to display the card if it has no entities. Default: `true`.
 - `unique:` Whether to remove duplicate values after filtering and sorting. Default: `false`.
 - `sort:` How to sort the entities of the card. Default: `none`. See [Sorting entities for details](#sorting-entities)
 
 ### Filters
-The two filter sections `include` and `exclude` each takes a list of filters.
+The two main filter sections `include` and `exclude` each takes a list of filters.
 
 Filters have the following options, and will match any entity fulfilling **ALL** options:
 
@@ -70,11 +72,17 @@ Special options:
 - `not:` Specifies a filter that entities must *not* match.
 - `sort:` Specifies a method to sort entities matched by *this filter only*.
 
+### Template filter
+The filter section `template` takes a jinja2 template which evaluates to a list of comma- or whitespace separated `entity_id`s which are included.
+
+> Note: Due to how the templating engine of Home Assistant works, this may or may not be as useful as it sounds. See note at templating example below.
+
 ## How it works
 `auto-entities` creates a list of entities by:
 1. Including every entitiy given in `entities:` (this allow nesting of `auto-entities`if you'd want to do that for some reason...)
-2. Include all entities that matches **ALL** options of **ANY** filter in the `filter.include` section. The same entity may be included several times by different filters.
-3. Remove all entities that matches **ALL** options on **ANY** filter in the `filter.exclude` section.
+2. Include every entity listed in a `filter.template` evaluation
+3. Include all entities that matches **ALL** options of **ANY** filter in the `filter.include` section. The same entity may be included several times by different filters.
+4. Remove all entities that matches **ALL** options on **ANY** filter in the `filter.exclude` section.
 
 It then creates a card based on the configuration given in `card:`, and fills in `entities:` of that card with the entities from above.
 
@@ -296,5 +304,42 @@ filter:
             entity_id: this.entity_id
 ```
 
+Example using templates:
+```yaml
+type: custom:auto-entities
+card:
+  type: entities
+filter:
+  template: |
+    {% for light in states.light %}
+      {% if light.state == "on" %}
+        {{ light.entity_id}},
+      {% endif %}
+    {% endfor %}
+```
+> Note: templates won't update automatically on state changes unless they contain the literal entity id of the entity whose state changes.
+> I.e. the example above will not update when a light is turned on or off, unless the view is reloaded.
+>
+> This is a limitation of the Home Assistant template engine, and nothing I can do anything about. There are, however two mitigations you could make.
+>
+> One is to redefine the template, e.g.:
+> ```yaml
+>      template: |
+>        {%if is_state('light.bed_light','on')%}light.bed_light{%endif%}
+>        {%if is_state('light.kitchen_lights','on')%}light.kitchen_lights{%endif%}
+>        {%if is_state('light.ceiling_lights','on')%}light.ceiling_lights{%endif%}
+> ```
+>
+> The other option is to add a list of entities to monitor:
+> ```yaml
+>   filter:
+>     template: |
+>       ...etc...
+>     entity_ids:
+>       - light.bed_light
+>       - light.kitchen_lights
+>       - light.ceiling_lights
+> ```
+
 ---
 <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/uqD6KHCdJ" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/custom_images/white_img.png" alt="Buy Me A Coffee" style="height: auto !important;width: auto !important;" ></a>
diff --git a/auto-entities.js b/auto-entities.js
index afbe127..d7ce746 100644
--- a/auto-entities.js
+++ b/auto-entities.js
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
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+!function(t){var e={};function i(s){if(e[s])return e[s].exports;var r=e[s]={i:s,l:!1,exports:{}};return t[s].call(r.exports,r,r.exports,i),r.l=!0,r.exports}i.m=t,i.c=e,i.d=function(t,e,s){i.o(t,e)||Object.defineProperty(t,e,{enumerable:!0,get:s})},i.r=function(t){"undefined"!=typeof Symbol&&Symbol.toStringTag&&Object.defineProperty(t,Symbol.toStringTag,{value:"Module"}),Object.defineProperty(t,"__esModule",{value:!0})},i.t=function(t,e){if(1&e&&(t=i(t)),8&e)return t;if(4&e&&"object"==typeof t&&t&&t.__esModule)return t;var s=Object.create(null);if(i.r(s),Object.defineProperty(s,"default",{enumerable:!0,value:t}),2&e&&"string"!=typeof t)for(var r in t)i.d(s,r,function(e){return t[e]}.bind(null,r));return s},i.n=function(t){var e=t&&t.__esModule?function(){return t.default}:function(){return t};return i.d(e,"a",e),e},i.o=function(t,e){return Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(t,e)},i.p="",i(i.s=0)}([function(t,e,i){"use strict";i.r(e);const 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s=document.querySelector("home-assistant");(s=(s=(s=(s=(s=(s=(s=(s=(s=(s=(s=s&&s.shadowRoot)&&s.querySelector("home-assistant-main"))&&s.shadowRoot)&&s.querySelector("app-drawer-layout partial-panel-resolver"))&&s.shadowRoot||s)&&s.querySelector("ha-panel-lovelace"))&&s.shadowRoot)&&s.querySelector("hui-root"))&&s.shadowRoot)&&s.querySelector("ha-app-layout #view"))&&s.firstElementChild)&&s.dispatchEvent(t)}}c();function y(t,e){const i=document.createElement("hui-error-card");return i.setConfig({type:"error",error:t,origConfig:e}),i}function m(t,e){if(!e||"object"!=typeof e||!e.type)return y(`No ${t} type configured`,e);let i=e.type;if(i=i.startsWith("custom:")?i.substr("custom:".length):`hui-${i}-${t}`,customElements.get(i))return function(t,e){const i=document.createElement(t);try{i.setConfig(e)}catch(t){return y(t,e)}return i}(i,e);const s=y(`Custom element doesn't exist: ${i}.`,e);s.style.display="None";const r=setTimeout(()=>{s.style.display=""},2e3);return customElements.whenDefined(i).then(()=>{clearTimeout(r),p("ll-rebuild",{},s)}),s}let _=function(){if(window.fully&&"function"==typeof fully.getDeviceId)return fully.getDeviceId();if(!localStorage["lovelace-player-device-id"]){const t=()=>Math.floor(1e5*(1+Math.random())).toString(16).substring(1);localStorage["lovelace-player-device-id"]=`${t()}${t()}-${t()}${t()}`}return localStorage["lovelace-player-device-id"]}();customElements.define("auto-entities",class extends s{static get properties(){return{hass:{}}}setConfig(t){if(!t||!t.card)throw new Error("Invalid configuration");this._config?(this._config=t,this.hass=this.hass):(this._config=t,this.hass=n(),this._getEntities(),this.cardConfig={entities:this.entities,...t.card},this.card=function(t){return m("card",t)}(this.cardConfig)),t.filter&&t.filter.template&&(this.template="",(String(t.filter.template).includes("{%")||String(t.filter.template).includes("{{"))&&function(t,e,i){t||(t=n().connection);let s={user:n().user.name,browser:_,hash:location.hash.substr(1)||" ",...i.variables},r=i.template,a=i.entity_ids;t.subscribeMessage(t=>e(t.result),{type:"render_template",template:r,variables:s,entity_ids:a})}(null,t=>{this.template=t,this._getEntities()},{template:t.filter.template,variables:{config:t},entity_ids:t.filter.entity_ids})),c().then(()=>this._getEntities())}_getEntities(){const t=t=>t?"string"==typeof t?{entity:t.trim()}:t:null;let e=[];if(this._config.entities&&(e=e.concat(this._config.entities.map(t))),!this.hass||!this._config.filter)return e;if(this.template&&(e=e.concat(this.template.split(/[\s,]+/).map(t))),e=e.filter(Boolean),this._config.filter.include){const i=Object.keys(this.hass.states).map(t);for(const t of this._config.filter.include){if(void 0!==t.type){e.push(t);continue}let s=i.filter(h(this.hass,t)).map(e=>JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(new Object({...e,...t.options})).replace(/this.entity_id/g,e.entity)));void 0!==t.sort&&(s=s.sort(g(this.hass,t.sort))),e=e.concat(s)}}if(this._config.filter.exclude)for(const t of this._config.filter.exclude)e=e.filter(e=>"string"!=typeof e&&void 0===e.entity||!h(this.hass,t)(e));if(this._config.sort&&(e=e.sort(g(this.hass,this._config.sort)),this._config.sort.count)){const t=this._config.sort.first||0;e=e.slice(t,t+this._config.sort.count)}if(this._config.unique){function i(t,e){return typeof t==typeof e&&("object"!=typeof t?t===e:!Object.keys(t).some(t=>!Object.keys(e).includes(t))&&Object.keys(t).every(s=>i(t[s],e[s])))}let t=[];for(const s of e)t.some(t=>i(t,s))||t.push(s);e=t}this.entities=e}set entities(t){(function(t,e){if(t===e)return!0;if(null==t||null==e)return!1;if(t.length!=e.length)return!1;for(var i=0;i<t.length;i++)if(JSON.stringify(t[i])!==JSON.stringify(e[i]))return!1;return!0})(t,this._entities)||(this._entities=t,this.cardConfig={...this.cardConfig,entities:this._entities},0===t.length&&!1===this._config.show_empty?(this.style.display="none",this.style.margin="0"):(this.style.display=null,this.style.margin=null))}get entities(){return this._entities}set cardConfig(t){this._cardConfig=t,this.card&&this.card.setConfig(t)}get cardConfig(){return this._cardConfig}updated(t){t.has("hass")&&this.hass&&(this.card.hass=this.hass,setTimeout(()=>this._getEntities(),0))}createRenderRoot(){return this}render(){return r`
     ${this.card}`}getCardSize(){let t=0;return this.card&&this.card.getCardSize&&(t=this.card.getCardSize()),1===t&&this.entities.length&&(t=this.entities.length),0===t&&this._config.filter&&this._config.filter.include&&(t=Object.keys(this._config.filter.include).length),t||1}}),p("ll-rebuild",{})}]);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main.js b/src/main.js
index 1552171..e800f80 100644
--- a/src/main.js
+++ b/src/main.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { getData } from "card-tools/src/devices";
 import { fireEvent } from "card-tools/src/event";
 import { createCard } from "card-tools/src/lovelace-element";
 import { hass } from "card-tools/src/hass";
+import {subscribeRenderTemplate} from "card-tools/src/templates";
 
 class AutoEntities extends LitElement {
 
@@ -28,6 +29,19 @@ class AutoEntities extends LitElement {
       this._config = config;
       this.hass = this.hass;
     }
+    if(config.filter && config.filter.template) {
+      this.template = "";
+      if(String(config.filter.template).includes("{%") || String(config.filter.template).includes("{{")) {
+        subscribeRenderTemplate(null, (res) => {
+          this.template = res;
+          this._getEntities();
+        }, {
+          template: config.filter.template,
+          variables: {config},
+          entity_ids: config.filter.entity_ids,
+        });
+      }
+    }
 
     // Reevaluate all filters once areas have been loaded
     getData().then(() => this._getEntities());
@@ -35,21 +49,28 @@ class AutoEntities extends LitElement {
 
   _getEntities()
   {
+
+    const format_entities = (e) => {
+      if(!e) return null;
+      if(typeof(e) === "string")
+        return {entity: e.trim()}
+      return e;
+    }
+
     let entities = [];
     // Start with any entities added by the `entities` parameter
     if(this._config.entities)
-    entities = entities.concat(this._config.entities)
-    .map((e) => {
-      if(typeof(e) === "string")
-      return {entity: e};
-      return e;
-    });
+      entities = entities.concat(this._config.entities.map(format_entities));
 
     if(!this.hass || !this._config.filter) return entities;
 
+    if(this.template) {
+      entities = entities.concat(this.template.split(/[\s,]+/).map(format_entities));
+    }
+    entities = entities.filter(Boolean);
+
     if(this._config.filter.include) {
-      const all_entities = Object.keys(this.hass.states)
-      .map((e) => new Object({entity: e}));
+      const all_entities = Object.keys(this.hass.states).map(format_entities);
 
       for(const f of this._config.filter.include) {
         if(f.type !== undefined) {