I noticed this was never answered. The advanced User App, is really well done, and growing in abilities. My concern is that I do not want to invest in “Rules API” if it is heading to an exit ramp on the overall roadmap.
Currently I got a few year old" C# codebase Samsung API wrapper running", but the rules are broken and I have not chased down the why. This uses tokens to access the cloud infrastructure.
The point is I do a see need for more than just IF-THEN conditional logic. I have noticed that the “precondition” is not exactly stable, IMHO. Of course, it could be my limited knowledge of proper usage.
Like being able to set “when all conditions are met” per trigger event. Otherwise you have to write another rule with the “not” condition.
It’s all good, as I have been able to fully automate a “Sensi Thermostat” to use outside temp to better manage “old fashion” thermostat of only hitting a certain inside temp then constantly holding “cycling the A-C/heat equipment” the entire house to just that inside temp.
Instead, I let the house cool or heat up some, which allows for many nights where the outside temp slowly cools off or warms the house, without using any power.
With all this stated I need more control over the Automations. Back to the main focus, Rules API roadmap? Exit ramp or super-highway. With the super-highway being the recently announced “Smart Home Platform”
The advanced user app where you first posted is a community built utility.
The Rules API is an official SmartThings feature. So I’ve moved your post over to the forum section about the rules API, where hopefully you’ll get more responses.
OK, that said, I think the short answer is that SmartThings rarely tells us in advance what their roadmap is, so nobody here knows about the future of the rules API. My guess is that The public facing features will eventually be deprecated just because they seem to be going to a “simple as possible“ model, which does meet the needs of the vast majority of their users.
Power users do have quite a few other options, though. If you’re willing to set up a separate server device, MQTT is a possibility or you can use node red as The following project report discusses:
So if you want to protect your time investment, I’d go one of those two routes rather than the rules API. But that’s just me.
Yet another alternative is to use Webcore on hubitat and then tie it back to SmartThings with one of the community-built integrations between the two platforms. That would require less programming skills than node red or MQTT, so some people might prefer it. Especially if you already know Webcore.
The following thread gives an overview of the various options right now:
Yes, I do have some exposure to MQTT as I am certified Azure Developer with focus on microservice architect etc… Semi-retired electronics and software developer with 4 decades of tech background starting with Naval Helicopters and jets, then offshore oil SCADA/PLC … so on and so forth… Only have a slight clue…
What this background has taught me is, there are a lot of rabbit holes, so you need to make your choice wisely which one you choose to invest into.
Node-Red is interesting… It is also hosted on Azure, have to see the costs etc… I do build Arduino from time to time, when I cannot find a stable or reasonably priced device for a need.
I did start looking into the “Rules API” and will loop around with further research.
Again thanks for your support here. As for Rules-API I will be sure to post here…
It was never really formulated as a question but as a ‘sensation’ that a user had regarding the future of the Rules API. We could continue making other suppositions in that way and never finish.
Having said that, as a user of Rules I can’t help feeling that it’s been left out on its own for a long time now. As @JDRoberts says nobody knows, and I personally have started using Node-red(with MQTT) as a complement to rules. Always a plan B.
If you use MQTT through Node-red, using for example @TAustin ’ s great MQTT devices driver, you can keep everything local. I’ve kept away from the Smartthings node-red integration as I’ve always understood that it goes through the cloud.
