I bought a Thingshield at the beginning of the year (when I first saw this thread), knowing I’d end up putting it into storage for some months while moving house. I’m now ready to get this setup, but it seems dangerous to implement something that a) can’t be replaced if it fails, and b) relies on code that there’s dwindling demand for.
Shame 
What I think is crazy is that this is not being spoken that much in the main forum. I would think that everyone would be up in arms with this. Am I missing something. Many projects like this will cease to exist without this board.
Matt,
As the author of ST_Anything, and as an owner of many ThingShields, I can assure you that I will be continuing to support and develop the ST_Anything library. Plus, it is all open-source and available on my Github repository. So you should feel alright from that perspective (i.e. you can always modify the code yourself if necessary! 
)
As for the hardware itself, my experience is that it has been rock-solid. I have not had any failures of the ThingShield boards.
All that being said, I completely understand where you’re coming from. I am already thinking about how I can remove the dependency on the ThingShield, and replace the Zigbee communications with Ethernet. This would allow all of the re-usable ST_Anything library components to work with either the ThingShield, or an Ethernet/WiFi shield. You could probably also run it on a ~$10 Node-MCU ESP8266 with built-in WiFi. Thus, users would have a path off of the ThingShield while maintaining their investment in the Arduino hardware, software, and associated wiring, enclosures, etc…
I think a lot of folks are waiting for “ok then what next”. Like maybe they will finally come out with something consumer ready.
But, If that proves to be a big ol’ “nothing next” then I can see folks pretty bent outta shape. Heck I chose ST for this reason. Especially with Dan supporting to this day.
-S!
I’m very disappointed with this decision. This is one of the few things that ST has that no other hub has. Heck, until Dan’s library, it was largely useless to the masses and they still kept the board alive. Now that there is a demnad, they kill it?
We need a petition! (ST used to care about their user’s opinion… Time to see if they still do!)
-Todd
I solely bought the smartthing hub recently so that i could hookup my security system to it, knowingly that i may have to wait for the shield since it was out of stock,been nice if you all stated on your website that it will be discontinue…this is not good for your name,.also, not confident as a customer to buy or to recommend your products anymore…I made a fool of myself towards my family and friends on how i was going to use your products for my security needs… . I fire Sony, because of their flat screen TV issues…should I, has a customer fire this company, too…and quit buying your products…I smell a dead fish.
@ashutosh1982 dotalarm?
Thanks for the reply Dan! Feeling reassured now 
Part of the fun is adapting, upgrading, reacting to new standards, products, etc., but the fact that the Thingshield even existed is part of what drew me to SmartThings - showing that hacking/developing isn’t just permitted, but is actively encouraged.
I am a professional security system specialist for over three decades. I installed my security system to a standard that is way above professional recommended syandards. The reason I bought smartthings is to have my security connected to it with out paying for third parties . The option you gave to me is not an option and it does not clean the slate that smartthings had done by discontinuing smartshields…when I bought your hub, smart shield was out of stock, did not mention it was to be discontinued. Perfer you don’t give me a a solution by sending me to a third party, applying that’s my solution,believe you sent that to insult me…Also, had plans for 3 projects to automate my HVAC system and anther project, needed about 14 smartshields… Smartthings to me just rename them themselves to dumberthings. Now Vera is planning to open source their platform, perhaps they will have their own shield in the future. I love competition…
im assuming you are developer. why not just make your own? i believe many have done with spark core
While I still haven’t had a chance to get my ESP8266 devices fully integrated into SmartThings (I try to poll it which isn’t great for contact sensor)… I highly recommend using them (or variants like Adafruit Huzzah/Feather, SparkFun Thing, NodeMCU $4, etc). They are cheap, have Wifi and run Arduino without needing shields. I just haven’t figured out the whole Oauth so it can notify ST of events, hope to have time some day 
I bought a thinksheild the day they were launched and it failed on me about a year later. I just got on board to buy a new one for my ADT Integration and found out that it’s a no go
Makes me wonder when ST is going to pull the plug on custom device handlers. 
Ok guys.
We are not “pulling out” of hacker or custom DHs/SmartApps. What we are doing is re-evaluating where and how we spend our time. The ThingShield was a device that had zero support from us because of other priorities. I am working on some potential plans for a suitable replacement for the ThingShield but it might be a little bit before there is something concrete (no guarantees).
Stay tuned but also be patient.
I do have one question…
Would you guys be sad whatever we do lost the ZigBee chip? (This is the part that makes it really hard to support)
Meaning would it be cool if we had a device that could be plug-and-play(ish) but was local/cloud?
there’s already wifi/IP solutions out there, ZigBee is what made me purchase these in the first place…
Thank you for the reply.
A couple of questions.
Todd
A typical residential wifi router can support many fewer devices than a typical zigbee home automation coordinator. I would be concerned about any system which is based on the addresses assigned by such a router. It’s just not a great fit for home automation and it’s an even worse fit for barrier monitoring in a home security system. It lacks the scalability.
Why bother spinning custom hardware? All you need to do is release official support for NodeMCU. You can’t beat the price anyway.
Why pull a product if you weren’t supporting it anyway and have no replacement? The community has been a great support mechanism for this so it shouldn’t be any additional burden to SmartThings to continue selling it until you find a suitable, supportable replacement. Besides it’s a continued revenue stream for your company.
Put a disclaimer on your shop stating this is being sold as a convenience and that ST produces no support and to use the community for any assistance.
IMO the problem is that CEL had discontinued its ZICM357P2 (ZigBee chip used on the shield) and keeping the board would probably involve hw redesign. I’d like to see an alternative Arduino shield for many enthusiasts who don’t have the time or skills to build their own hardware pipeline. As somebody else’s said, being “maker ready” was the main reason why I chose ST over other platforms. NodeMCU / ESP8266 libraries would be a great addition! but not a substitute for an Arduino shield. I don’t feel strongly about keeping ZigBee, because, on the shield, we’re giving away the advantage of being low-power… any protocol would do if it’s as stable as the original shield.