Noob Question: Can I use the SmartThings API without writing an app?

You may want to ask your provider if they have any information on the integration. Also, maybe you can find technical people using SmartThings near you.

I would look into WebCore (https://wiki.webcore.co/) which is pseudo programming with a great community to help to learn it. I think it easily makes complex steps work.

This might also be useful … [RELEASE] Simple Event Logger