SmartThings Edge News & Resource Links!

Updated: Apr 7

Before I get into the content of today’s update let me mention that I will provide you with a comprehensive list of Edge Driver information and channel links at the end of today’s article. This information will be invaluable if you have installed a lot of Custom Device Type Handlers and you need to find Edge Drivers to replicate the capabilities found in those Custom DTHs. So be sure to stay through the end of the video if this situation is applicable to you.

Well SmartThings has released yet another update about the transition from the legacy Groovy IDE platform to the SmartThings Edge environment. Most notably they have moved the date for the shutdown of the Groovy IDE from October 15th to December 31, 2022. Quoting SmartThings, “Beginning September 30, 2022, we will start migrating devices and Smart Apps from legacy Groovy technology to our new technology we call SmartThings Edge. They went on to say that they have been working diligently with their partners and user community to migrate devices and they expect that a majority of supported devices to be fully migrated by December 31, 2022. I translate “Supported Devices” to mean Standard Device Type Handlers, not to be confused with Custom Device Type Handlers which I will discuss next.

They then gave a reminder which was directed to users that have installed Custom Device Type Handlers. These are device handlers which you can find listed under the “My Device Handlers” tab in your Groovy IDE. Users with Custom Device Handlers are urged to take action on these devices before December 2022 to prepare them for migration and avoid any loss of features.

Now if you have little or no Custom DTHs then you should not be overly concerned because most of the Standard DTHs will be seamlessly migrated. But for those of you who need to migrate several Custom device type handlers, the article provides six options for converting these devices to edge. Here is a link that Q&A article if you would like to review the provided options. I will also provide a resource link to a list of Custom Lua Edge Drivers which you can use to source available Custom Edge Drivers.

SmartThings reported that there is no published schedule for when particular devices will be migrated, nor will you receive a notification that the migration has occurred. You can identify whether a device is using an Edge driver in your SmartThings app by opening your SmartThings app and selecting a device. Next, choose the More Options link in the upper right corner of your app. If your device is Edge-enabled, the dropdown menu will list the word “Driver” as an option. When you click on the Driver link you can review the driver information.

The article also states that the SmartThings Groovy IDE will begin losing some of its functionality beginning on October 15, 2022. After this date, the IDE will no longer allow for the creation or debugging of Groovy DTHs and Smart Apps. SmartThings has stated that once they are confident that most users have had time to move away from legacy Groovy DTHs and Smart Apps, they plan to deprecate most features in the SmartThings Groovy IDE. After deprecation on December 31, 2022, SmartThings may allow very limited functionality in the Groovy IDE, if necessary, but will fully shut off the tool sometime in early 2023.

If you need to access your SmartThings devices via a web browser after the termination of the Groovy IDE, SmartThings recommends using the SmartThings Web at my.smartthings.com. A link is provided in the description below this video. To find news and information about custom Edge drivers and integrations, ST recommends that you access the SmartThings Community and Developer Portal. I’ll provide these links in the description for these resources as well.

Based on the request of my Subscribers and for my own needs, I have accrued a significant list of Edge Driver Channels and Information Sources which I will make available to you in the description below. You will find these links under the heading “Edge Driver Resources”.

The first item in this list is a help guide that explains How to enroll in a shared driver channel and also provides instruction for installing the shared drivers. The next item is titled “Quick Browse Links for Edge Drivers”. This is a comprehensive list of Edge Drivers put together by community contributors to help users migrate devices with custom device handlers. In addition to these resources I provide multiple driver information links as well as Edge Driver Channel links. Included in this list are drivers for Aeotec, Dome, Inovelli, SmartThings, TAustin’s Virtual Edge Driver Creator, Xiaomi, Aqara,Tuya and Zooz Edge Drivers. And finally, at the very bottom of the Edge Driver Resource list, I have included a link to a ST Community article titled: “How to Post Requests for Edge Drivers”. This will be useful if you have a device that is not found within the resources I provided in today’s episode. I encouraged to go to the SmartThings Community, (link below) and ask for the community for guidance. I have found community members to be very responsive and helpful.

I am certain that you appreciate the value in these information and resource links. That being true, give this video a quick like. Also be sure to subscribe and set notifications to ensure you receive an email about future updates. Until my next episode, keep automating and God Bless.

SmartThings Article: https://tinyurl.com/2yn7tyy5

List of Custom Lua Edge Drivers: https://tinyurl.com/4fctj484

my.smartthings.com: https://my.smartthings.com/

SmartThings Community: https://community.smartthings.com/

Developer Portal: https://smartthings.developer.samsung.com/

Edge Driver Channel (Beta Program): https://tinyurl.com/3bubhvs8

Edge Driver Resources:

How to Enroll a Shared Channel and Install Drivers: https://tinyurl.com/8var8k9d

Quick Browse Links for Edge Drivers: https://tinyurl.com/3ncf7jke

Aeotec Edge Drivers Help Desk: https://tinyurl.com/3wh5pmnw

Aeotec Edge Driver Channel 1: https://tinyurl.com/yc52th4d

Aeotec Edge Driver Channel 2: https://tinyurl.com/6ppy6vnu