DTH = Device Type Handler. Part of the original smartthings architecture written in the groovy programming language. See the old community FAQ for more about those and smartapps and Terminology.
The original FAQ information in this thread refers to the original smartthings architecture, which was in place through the end of 2022 and a little beyond. Custom code was written in the groovy programming language and ran in the smartthings cloud.
As of May 2023, you can no longer add new Groovy DTH‘s or smartapps to your smartthings account. So if you came here because of a link in an old forum thread, or on another site, I’m afraid the Groovy information is no longer usable.
All of this was replaced by a new architecture. Cloud to cloud integrations use the smartthings API. Hub connected devices, mostly Zigbee and zwave, now use “Edge Drivers,” written in the LUA programming language. Here’s the official announcement on those:
The process for using a custom Edge Driver in the new …
All of this will be replaced soon in the new architecture. Instead of DTHs in groovy, there will be Edge Drivers written in the Lua programming language. And the biggest change is that the edge drivers will run on the local hub, not in the cloud. Here’s the official announcement on those:
Last year, we told you that we are transitioning to an API-first SmartThings Platform . As a part of this, we started investing deeply in improving stability and security. Today we are announcing the beta release of SmartThings Edge - a new architecture for Hubs that use Device Drivers and Rules to execute Hub Connected devices with lower latency, higher reliability, and… local execution.
Lua© based Device Drivers and our Rules API to control and automate devices connected directly with a SmartThings Hub. This includes Zigbee, Z-Wave, and LAN devices as well as Automations triggered by timers and other Hub Connected devi…