Bear with me being new here. I have a network with a Aeotec hub Firmware .045.00011 V3
I have inner smart plugs and sonoff DIY switches. on my phone smart things app says there connected to the hub but in smart things IDE some show cloud execution! Im using them in a automation to come on at sunset and off at midnight. should this all be local control? should it work without internet?
Thank You.
what is the Type field show for those devices in IDE? If they show Placeholder then those devices are using Edge Drivers and they will show as Cloud in IDE when they are actually running local. IDE was designed for groovy so it does not properly display the correct data for Edge Drivers.
IDE will only be available until Dec. 31st.
Hi and welcome.
It’s complicated right now because we’re smack in the middle of Samsung doing a major re-architecture of the entire platform.
In the IDE, if your devices are listed with a device type of placeholder then you cannot really trust anything else in the IDE for that device. This indicates that the device is being run by an Edge driver which runs locally on the hub.
Check your automations in the app for a house icon, that’s a reliable indicator of local execution.
At some point all supported devices will be run using Edge drivers. With the old architecture only Samsung-written device handlers ran on the hub. I don’t know enough about your specific devices to comment but if you search the forums you should be able to find an Edge driver for them.
Just wanted to mention that on the SmartThings platform these are two very different questions.
In SmartThings, anything using an Edge Driver is eligible to run local, meaning direct communication between the hub and that device won’t require the cloud. BUT SmartThings is still a largely cloud based system. The architecture assumes that the HUB has an active connection to the internet.
For example, The SmartThings app ALWAYS requires an active connection to the SmartThings cloud, even if it’s on the same local WiFi as the hub. (They didn’t have to design it that way, but they did.)
Some automations also require an active cloud connection, although there’s no documentation on exactly which ones. At one point SmartThings Home Monitor required the cloud even to arm and disarm. But there are other automations that require the cloud as well.
If you want to be able to operate home automation without the internet (with a few exceptions like third party voice control), then SmartThings is not a match to that requirement. There are quite a few competitors to choose from that do run mostly local after initial setup, including Hubitat, Homeseer, Apple HomeKit, Home Assistant, and Ikea Dirigera. But it’s just not how SmartThings was designed.
Here’s the official schematic for the new (2023) architecture.
So the transition to Edge Drivers will automatically bring more local processing to SmartThings, particularly for zwave, Zigbee, and Thread devices, but you don’t really need to worry about it—that will all happen behind the scenes.
But you don’t get the kind of cloudfree operation you get from many of the other platforms.
The main stuff that will run locally for hub connected devices in SmartThings are simple pre-created automations like having a motion sensor trigger a light switch or having a handheld remote control a smart bulb. But nothing through the app, no notifications, nothing that doesn’t communicate through the hub, and not all automations.
it is what it is. 
BTW, every platform has pluses and minuses. SmartThings’ hybrid architecture means you can add almost any device to the platform, although it may require custom code and an additional bridge device to do so.
SmartThings also lets even non programmers create quite complex rules, although you may need to add a third party app to make this easy.
Both of those are strengths of the platform. Whether that balances out its cloud-dependency is an individual assessment. Different things will work for different people. 
