FAQ: What is WebCoRE? (And what was CoRE?)

People have been asking for a rules engine since SmartThings was first built over two years ago.

Maybe we’ll get one with the TV version, but it doesn’t seem to be part of the corporate philosophy. So I think if we get an official one, it will be a nice surprise, but if you need layered conditionals I would go with core for now. :sunglasses:

If you happen to have an iOS phone and are willing to pay $10 for a third-party app , there is another very simple alternative, which is SmartRules. It’s easy, graphical, and does give you a “while” condition. You definitely don’t need to be technical to use it – – you just download it from the App Store like any other app. But it costs money and it’s much less powerful than CoRE.

http://smartrulesapp.com

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Definitely learn CoRE, you can still be lazy!

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=CoRE

I am doing all kinds of cool stuff that I never really thought that I could/would be doing with Smartthings. Hell, I just wanted to save a little on the electric bill but now, my life is just simpler once I learned CoRE.

Here’s another one:

Smartthings multi sensor on dryer. If dryer starts and is on for at least 20 minutes, when dryer stops, wait 1 hour, if dryer door is not opened within that 1 hour and time is between 10am and 8pm then flicker the lights and turn off power to PlayStation!!!

Send notification that clothes needs to be put away!

Once dryer door is opened and closed, wait 15 minutes and then turn on power to PlayStation!

Laundry now takes 1 day instead of 1 week!

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Talk about good timing! I’m currently on my computer in the basement & wondering if the dryer is done on the 2nd floor. That would be a lot of steps to go up there and check if it’s done for a lazy guy! The “boss” still works and got orders to do her delicates this morning.

I tried a ST’s multi sensor and a Aeotec smart plug on the washer & never had any luck. Looks like I’m gonna have to go for it. My goal will be to announce over my Sonos when both are done.:grin:

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I agree. I downloaded CoRE last week and have since converted all of those random Smart Apps into Pistons and they work much more reliably now. It took a bit of learning, but following the examples shown below it was not too hard. Worth the time and effort.

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My washer is a Samsung “Top” Loader (no agitator inside). It barely makes any noise or movement and I didn’t think the sensor would work well on it. But, the sensor on the dryer has worked flawlessly since setting it up. It senses the vibrations, temperature and open/close of door. :slight_smile:

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3 posts were merged into an existing topic: CoRE - Get peer assistance here with setting up Pistons

Thanks JDRoberts. I’ll do that this weekend.

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So… ST is not a virtual parent! LOL

How do I access CoRE in my iphone?

Please ask detailed CoRE questions, Including what can I do and how do you access it, in the Core detail threads. This particular thread is just intended as a starting point to explain the general concept.

In your case, see the following thread. The first post should answer your question and you can ask any follow up questions there. ( this is a clickable link)

Looking through ST documentation, I came across CoRE. At first glance, it looks pretty neat. A quick (and naive) question. What is the difference between CoRE and IFTTT? Is CoRE simply logic blocks for a specific device vs IFTTT will help you interact with multiple devices?

Thank you in advance!

CoRE is a rules engine for SmartThings that was developed by a community member. It can be complicated to work with but allows for extremely powerful control over your devices and automations.

IFTTT is a completely separate service that allows you to link connected devices and web services that are not otherwise a part of ST to devices that are controlled by ST. But the integration generally allows for far more limited control of ST devices than what CoRE can do.

They’re complimentary, really.

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To add a little to what Mark said…

Core is written for the SmartThings platform and is a scripting language that lets you set up stacked conditionals and very complex rules for devices attached to your SmartThings account.

IFTTT is an independent service. Many different companies sign up to have “channels” on IFTTT. It is up to each company what features of their devices/services they make available through IFTTT. Users of IFTTT are able to create “applets” in an “If This, then that” format which lets you take an event from one channel and use it to trigger an event on another channel. This allows for integration between devices that don’t have a direct integration.

For example, there might be an air-conditioner that didn’t have any direct integration with SmartThings. But if it had an IFTTT channel, then you could use the SmartThings channel as the “if” and the air-conditioner channel as the “that” and get indirect integration that way. But the logic available for rules in IFTTT is much simpler than the logic available in core.

So Core was created by a SmartThings customer, runs in the SmartThings cloud, and let you create very complex rules to control devices attached to your SmartThings account.

IFTTT is an independent service and was created to allow many different companies to offer simple “if this then that” integration in a standardized format. It is primarily used to link together two devices that otherwise cannot communicate, with IFTTT as the “man in the middle” passing the messages around.

As Mark also said, these often end up being complementary. For example, you might want a rule to turn off the air conditioner if The bedroom window was open for more than two minutes. And again, we’re assuming an air conditioner that doesn’t have any direct integration with SmartThings, but does have an have an IFTTT channel. But you would create all of the control logic in SmartThings, perhaps using core, and then the very last step would be to do something that would trigger an IFTTT applet with the air-conditioner channel as the “that.”

So core is a rules engine for setting up complex rules for your SmartThings account. IFTTT is a third party service offering a simple “if this then that” structure that can be used with devices from many different companies that normally cannot talk to each other. Since SmartThings does have an IFTTT channel/service, you can take advantage of the additional integration possibilities that IFTTT offers. :sunglasses:

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That is an excellent and very detailed answer. Exactly what I was looking for. Appreciated it very much JD!

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I cant install this on my account because when I sign in I end up here
https://graph-eu01-euwest1.api.smartthings.com/ide/apps
and there is no github integration or settings tab ???

Steve

I’m sure that’s very frustrating. :disappointed_relieved:

The people in the webcore forum will be glad to help you.

Just starting to use CoRE. Got it all setup using the Web App Portal on Smarthings.com and on my iOS device (copy/paste the code etc). Just starting to write some rules using the iOS app however I am starting to see the comments on webCoRE.

Is CoRE going to continue as a Smart App option? I would actually prefer to design these rules on my Mac with the larger screen and keyboard/mouse.

My understanding is that core has been deprecated in favor of webcore, but you should ask your questions in the webcore forum as that’s where the core/webcore experts hang out these days. :sunglasses:

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Did you see my reply to your other post?

Thanks Mark (and JD) but maybe I’m getting too old and jaded with SPAM but the post had nothing specific to my post and a link in it, so first reaction was just to ignore it. I did eventually got into looking at WebCoRE and will get started with it shortly. Both CoRE and WebCoRE look amazing, just what was needed with SmartThings beyond the simple rule definition in the ST app.

I’m an old Unix/Windows programmer but have been in senior positions for the last 20 years and this looks like fun again. Gonna get going with CoRE/WebCoRE and then try my hand at writing a simple SmartApp for fun.

BTW, my wife is sick of me turning the lights on and off. Sound familiar to anyone?

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