Up through the end of 2022, communications between a smartthings/aeotec hub and an end device were done with a DTH (“device type handler,“), similar to a printer driver in that it changed a standard smartthings command like “open The blinds“ to the specific format that the device was expecting. DTHs were written in the groovy programming language. Many of these ran in the smartthings cloud.
The new architecture, which is now the only one available, instead uses “edge drivers“ which are written in the LUA programming language and run on your own hub.
Read the first section of the community FAQ on this transition, and it should tell you everything you need to know in this regard.
FAQ: I have no idea what Edge is. Is that a new developer tool? (2022)
As far as Wi-Fi versus Zigbee, either is fine with SmartThings. Do you have a smartthings/aeotec hub? Or intend to get one? Zigbee Devices will require that you have a smartthing/Aeotec hub or their own Zigbee Hub which has a cloud to cloud connection to smartthings. Wi-Fi devices typically do not require a hub, but only some have integration with smartthings.
- most smartthings customers do not have a smartthings/aeotec hub. They can still use many Wi-Fi devices or other devices that provide “cloud to cloud” Integrations with your Smartthings account.
Some of these devices, like Philips hue bulbs and switches, will require their own bridge/hub in order to be able to integrate with smartthings. That’s just something you have to research individually as you look at candidates.
- if you do have a smartthings/Aeotec hub you can also use many Zigbee 3.0 devices connected directly to that hub, or matter over Wi-Fi devices. Some smartthings/aeotec hubs also support thread over matter and some also support zwave devices. So different model hubs give you different candidate devices to choose from.