homebridge-minimal-http-lightbulb-brightness

What is it?

homebridge-minimal-http-lightbulb-brightness is a minimalistic HTTP lightbulb brightness management plugin for homebridge.

The features:

• You can control your own lightbulb's brightness with four minimalistic HTTP requests.
• The control is not a simple binary on/off: it support percentages. You can turn on your lightbulb at 50% or 65% for instance.
• Your lightbulb can still be manually operated. As long at the get_brightness_url returns the right value, this plugin will update iOS Home app in real time.

Who is it for?

Anyone who, just like me, don't know much about homebridge but still want a straightforward way to communicate with your own home-made Raspberry Pi or Arduino lightbulb brightness thingamagic.

How to use it

1] Install it into your homebridge instance

The installation instructions differs depending on how you installed homebridge.

Usually, it's something like "add this to your homebridge's install.sh"

npm install -g homebridge-minimal-http-lightbulb-brightness

2] Minimal configuration

Here is an homebridge's config.json with the minimal valid configuration:

{
    "bridge": {
        "name": "DemoMinimalisticHttpLightbulbBrightness",
        "username": "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF",
        "port": 51826,
        "pin": "123-45-678"
    },
  
    "description": "DEV NODEJS MACBOOK",
  
    "accessories": [
        {
            "name": "Kitchen Lightbulb",
            "accessory": "MinimalisticHttpLightbulbBrightness",

            "get_on_off_url": "http://127.0.0.1:9000/get/on_off/",
            "set_on_off_url": "http://127.0.0.1:9000/set/on_off/%on_off%",
            "get_brightness_url": "http://127.0.0.1:9000/get/brightness/",
            "set_brightness_url": "http://127.0.0.1:9000/set/brightness/%brightness%
        }
  
    ],
  
    "platforms": []
}

Beware, I'm a lazy ass!
These four parameters are not checked!
(get_brightness_url, set_brightness_url, get_on_off_url, set_on_off_url)
If you forgot to write them in your accessory, the module will crash.

Also, in the:

• set_brightness_url parameter, the placeholder %brightness% will be replaced by the brightness selected in the iPhone's Home App. (between 0 and 100)
• set_on_off_url parameter, the placeholder %on_off% will be replaced by the on/off state selected in the iPhone's Home App. (either 0 or 1)

3] More configuration

There are more configuration options.
The names are self-descriptive.
Here are them all with their default values.

{
    "is_dimmable": "true"

    "get_on_off_expected_response_code": "GET",
    "set_on_off_expected_response_code": "POST",
    "get_brightness_expected_response_code": "GET",
    "set_brightness_expected_response_code": "POST",
    
    "get_on_off_expected_response_code": "200",
    "set_on_off_expected_response_code": "204",
    "get_brightness_expected_response_code": "200",
    "set_brightness_expected_response_code": "204",
    
    "get_on_off_polling_millis": "500",
    "get_brightness_polling_millis": "500"
}

4] Protocol requirements

The three URLs specified in the accessory configuration must have the following data formats:

4.1] get_on_off_url

This URL must return the on/off status of the lightbulb, in plaintext.
It must be either 0 or 1. (0 being off and 1 on)

4.2] set_on_off_url

This URL must trigger the lightbulb on/off switch.
(That's the part you've done with your Raspberry Pi or Arduino)
This value is, once again, an integer being either 1 or 0. Please note that is passed directly in the URL. (It's the %on_off% placeholder)

Yep, that's it.
Not a single trace of json.
Are we barbarians or are we not?

4.3] get_brightness_url

This URL must return the current brightness of the lightbulb, in plaintext once again.
It must be between 0 and 100.

Please note that EVEN IF YOUR LIGHTBULB IS TURNED OFF, this URL must return the last brightness of your lightbulb.
This way, if you turn off your lightbulb from your iPhone using siri, the brightness value will be kept when you turn it on again.

4.4] set_brightness_url

This URL must change the lightbulb brightness.
(That's the part you've done with your Raspberry Pi or Arduino)
This value is, once again, an integer between 0 and 11. Please note that is passed directly in the URL. (It's the %brightness% placeholder)

---

Click here to see an example implementation of this HTTP server.

That's all

Enjoy