From Rule Machine to Core or WebCore

I’m an old Rule Machine user. I’m able to get around and create “rules” in a flash. But knowing there is no support for it and no future enhancements I’ve dove into webCore recently.

My concern or observation is mainly one item so far (I haven’t gone very far yet).

  1. I have to create/change these rules/pistons in a web interface. It seemed cumbersome just to get to the point where I can work with these things with codes and such. Am I missing something or is this web interface the only way to create these pistons? No way to use the standard app interface to create a quick “piston”?

I created a quick rule last night in about 1 minute and maybe even less. I don’t see me doing that with webCore with what I know right now. I’m asking the team if I’m missing something.

Thanks!!!

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To do what, though?

If I’m doing super simple stuff then I just use the Smart Lighting app to handle it as it can do most simple things rather easily. However, if you want to more complex stuff then I think the web interface works much better. it can run on any device though, so technically you can still access it from your phone…though I think it looks better on the bigger screen.

One other thing to consider though is that WC offers a great ability to both duplicate your existing pistons and then simply edit them for a new task (major time saver). Also you can use “import codes” to import in what other people have done and make modifications to that. Which should also save you a ton of time.

There’s an entire examples section on the WC Forum and all the pistons in there can just be imported and edited. So there are ways to save time putting things in. I don’t find the web interface slows me down at all.

Just my 2c worth…

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Thanks for that reply … it’s still early for me, so I’m just getting use to it.

Actually the rules I did last night were not really super simple. I was looking at a temperature and then if it was between two certain times I would turn on a switch (to a heating element) until the temperature got above where I wanted it to. So not really a normal simple task, but it didn’t take me long through the app interface.

In case your wondering, it was for helping control the temperature in a tank that holds my wife’s bearded dragon she got just before Christmas. I’m kind of automating much of the environmental controls.

Thanks again for the reply.

Brad

I also recently migrated from rule machine to WebCoRE. I find the web interface generally easier to use than the in-app interface that RM had.

Yes webCoRE is better than RM but it works in a web based interface so if your internet is down you have nothing. For this reason I am planning to move from WebCore to RM

Actually, webcore runs in the smartthings cloud, like all other custom code for SmartThings, including the original Rule Machine. The web interface is just to create the rules in the first place.

Rule machine is no longer available for SmartThings, as the author withdrew the code a couple of years ago.

Both are available for Hubitat ( and both run locally on that platform) , which may be where the confusion lies.

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Yes in smartthings the local functionality is very limited that is way I am planning to move from smartthings WebCore to Hubitat and use their rule machine. So what you say is that now WebCore works well in Hubitat? I have read every where that is not recommended to use WebCore in Hubitat as it can cause problems. Has that changed?

I understand that there is now a new version, but you should ask in the Hubitat forum, people there will know the details.

Ok will do. Do you know if ST have any plans to move everything to local? I would really like to avoid the pain of migrating…

They haven’t said they are planning that.

Ok good reason to migrate. tks

Those in the US get a huge benefit from hubitat because it allows you to run all the Lutron devices locally, and the pico button controllers work with Hubitat but are invisible to the official smartthings Integration. ( you still need to use the Smartbridge pro with Hubitat, but the connection is local, not cloud cloud). And while smartthings can only integrate with one Lutron SmartBridge, Hubitat can handle several seamlessly. You’ll see people with dozens of the quite inexpensive Lutron pico wallmount devices, for example. Very fast, reliable, and local.

There are even some US community members who have added a Hubitat just for the Lutron controls, while keeping most of their existing smartthings setup.

However, since the SmartBridge devices are not offered in the UK, it’s a very different calculation for UK members. :sunglasses:

Any reason? Looks like rule machine 3.0 have most of WebCore capabilities and further more I just found out that they natively support chromecast which allows to have TTS something not possible in ST. (Currently I have to use in ST NODE JS for this purpose which is not working as should be because the server would stop working very often having to press start every2 or 3 days). Take a look, I found lot of people migrating

I only used ST for a month or so once I moved off IRIS, and then switched to Hubtitat and find it suits my needs much better. As you have experienced, ST on it’s own is very limited as to what you can do, and when you start using Webcore, or even several of the simple lighting apps, things go to the web, and you get a variable latency that pops up from time to time, which I found made automating things to be of questionable value. The hubitat hub is quite consistent. The version of Rule Machine on Hubitat is significantly improved over the old version that was available on ST. While I only briefly toyed with Webcore, I didn’t really see where you could do much with it that you can’t do with RM 3.0. I so far been able to easily get RM to do anything I’ve wanted it to do.

Google home integration is virtually identical on both platforms, with the exception being you can cast to Google home devices using Hubitat without other devices involved. I personally prefer using a computer, or at least laptop and haven’t found the lack of an app to be an issue with Hubitat, but do find the new app in ST to be an issue. It doesn’t even work reliably with the hub, as the new app has insisted the hub was disconnected while everything worked fine.

Finally, running both hubs using something like hubconnect is always an option. That way you can have the best of both worlds, and of course the bad of both comes with it. Options however seem to keep life more interesting.

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Is there an integrated app in Smartthings that can now let us use google voice devices to do TTS ??? I am currently using an app that needs NODE JS. Is there something simpler?

I worded that to where it was confusing. Using the hubitat hub you can cast directly to google home with no middleman. Using Smartthings, you have to have an intermediary, such as NODE JS. The reference to the new app in ST was in regards to the so called “New Smarthings app”, compared to the classic app, and the fact that new app keeps crashing on me. I find this to be problematic because we spend a lot of time on the road, and certain parts of my home automation are important during those times. Many apologies for letting my mind ramble way ahead of what I was typing, resulting in something resembling gobblygook.

With the the V3 version of smartthings hub, you need the “New” app and the classic app to set things up and get it working. The New app then periodically decides to cause you issues.

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Just a quick note: because these posts hang around for years, and we do have people who keep reading the old stuff, we’re now, in the forum, trying out calling the current “new” app the V3 app. It was released in the same year as the V3 hub and is required to install the V3 hub. It’s easy to write and to say.

There are posts in the forum, for example, which refer to what is now called the “classic” app as “the new app.” Because of course once upon a time it was. :sunglasses:

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