OPTION 1: WRITE AND HOST YOUR OWN SMARTAPP, CONNECTING THROUGH THE ST API
Edge is not an app platform. There are still smartapps, for people who want to write them, but you have to host it yourself and communicate with smartthings through the API.
Here is the official schematic for the new architecture. You see the smartapp in the lower right? You host it yourself and connect it through the smartthings API.
In contrast, Edge Drivers live on the smartthings hub which is in the upper left.
@taustin has written one of these for his MQTT integration, for example.
Integration Solutions using MQTT
OPTION 2: USE THE OFFICIAL RULES API. NO HOSTING NEEDED. STILL IN BETA
You can also write your own “recipes“ using the rules API and those will not need a separate host. some of them will have functionality similar to old smartapps. But right now the rules API is still in beta and the interface is pretty hard to use if you’re not a programmer. Hopefully they will come up with something more like Webcore for that in the future, but no promises. But that’s the option that will be able to run without providing your own host.
While the schematic diagram above doesn’t show the rules API, we have been told that some of it will be able to run locally, meaning some recipes will run on your own hub also. Others will run in the smartthings cloud.
OPTION 3: USE SHARPTOOLS, A THIRD PARTY RULES ENGINE AND DASHBOARD
Another alternative that some people will find useful is the third-party app, sharptools. There is a free tier if you just need a few rules or it is $30 a year if you want full features. It has a nice rules engine which you can access from a browser and supports more complex rules then basic smartthings routines. They are currently running a beta version which works with the new architecture, so I think it will be ready in time for the cutover. It also provides a dashboard if you like. But for the purposes of this topic we are talking about the rules engine.
It doesn’t run local, of course, but then neither did Groovy smartapps.
