QSesame: Homebridge plugin (Siri + HomeKit integration)

brendan 2017-06-12 05:39:52 UTC #1

QSesame

QSesame is a Homebridge plugin that allows you to control Sesame smart locks with Siri by integrating with HomeKit.

Currently these features are supported:

Lock the Sesame
Unlock the Sesame
Check the current state
Check the battery level
Battery low warning

In order to use QSesame you must have:

A Sesame smart lock with API access enabled
The Vritual Station app or WiFi Access Point
NodeJS and NPM installed
Homebridge installed (with accessory added to config.json)

Installation

You can install QSesame via NPM by issuing the following command:

sudo npm install -g homebridge-qsesame

Then you should update your Homebridge config.json with an accessory entry for each Sesame.
{ "accessory" : "QSesame", "name" : "LOCK_NAME", "username" : "EMAIL_ADDRESS", "password" : "SESAME_PASSWORD" }
Where LOCK_NAME is the name of your Sesame as it appears in the Sesame app, EMAIL_ADDRESS is the email you use to login, and SESAME_PASSWORD is the password.

brendan 2017-06-12 06:22:50 UTC #2

Know Issues

This is a very early version, but I wanted to share because it works...

Lock state is not accurate (because of a problem with the API)
Error message are not always clear and sometimes return vars
Token is renewed on Homebridge startup only. I'll update it to get a new token every 30 days, but my hope is that we can just request long term tokens in the future
Serial number (device_id) is not consistently reported in the Home app

esung 2017-06-12 07:06:55 UTC #3

This is very promising. Thank you for sharing. Is this the solution Candy house is mentioning regarding Homekit compatibility?

brendan 2017-06-12 07:18:57 UTC #4

Jerming had posted a video before showing HomeKit integration, but this is a separate effort. I'm not sure when / if CANDY HOUSE will be able to offer it officially.

To use Homebridge plugins like QSesame you need an "always on" computer, server, or Raspberry Pi etc.

esung 2017-06-12 08:04:24 UTC #5

Thanks.
I'm following your steps but got stuck at editing config.json file. Where is the file located?

Thanks

brendan 2017-06-12 08:17:37 UTC #6

You need to create it using a text editor like BBEdit (or nano in the command line). I included a sample in the package.

It should be created at ~/.homebridge/config.json

NodeJS and Homebridge must already be installed.

cim 2017-06-12 08:38:29 UTC #7

@brendan This is awesome, and we'd love to share it on our social media and on the CANDY HOUSE Developer Site. How would you like to be attributed? You can also give us your preferred social media/website link and we'll add it to your name. Let us know, thanks! - CANDY HOUSE, Inc.

esung 2017-06-12 19:24:22 UTC #8

I installed both, but in the homebridge directory there are two sub directories called accessories (empty) and persist which contains accessoryInfo.*****...json and identifuireCache.****....json. I'll try manually creating one.

Looking forward to seeing Sesame + HomeKit working! Thanks a lot.

brendan 2017-06-12 20:07:26 UTC #9

That's good those are supposed to be there (it's how Homebridge remembers the accessories after being restarted).

Just make the config.json in the same directory as those folders. Are you running from terminal? Does it show an error in the shell?

esung 2017-06-13 07:58:52 UTC #10

There was no config.json file made, so I took the example file and modified and now works! I can lock/unlock with my apple watch home app and siri!

brendan 2017-06-13 09:09:46 UTC #11

That's great! Let me know if you have any issues or suggestions

esung 2017-06-15 06:05:53 UTC #12

I'm quite surprised how well it works now. It's dependent on beta app and beta virtual station, so I expected the success ratio of knock knock feature (which never really worked for me) but I can tell Siri to open the door faster than Sesame doing the auto unlock. I was losing my hopes on homekit in general but this really makes me take a second look at it. I'm now trying to figure out homebridge-wink and smartthings.

allen.krys 2017-06-17 17:47:31 UTC #13

Hello,
I installed your plugin and when homebridge starts everything seems fine.. it connects to the virtual station and even gets the status of the lock, however when I send an unlock command I get this error:

[6/17/2017, 5:46:06 PM] [Kitchen Door] Set state to unlock
[6/17/2017, 5:46:06 PM] [Kitchen Door] https://api.candyhouse.co/v1/sesames/***device_id_was_here***/control
[6/17/2017, 5:46:06 PM] [Kitchen Door] unlock
[6/17/2017, 5:46:07 PM] [Kitchen Door] Error 'null' setting lock state. Response: [object Object]

Any idea what the problem is?

edit** Also im just noticing that it seems the plugin always thinks that the sesame is locked even when it is not, the battery detection is accurate though.

[6/17/2017, 5:50:20 PM] [Kitchen Door] Lock battery is 45
[6/17/2017, 5:50:20 PM] [Kitchen Door] Lock state is true
[6/17/2017, 5:50:21 PM] [Kitchen Door] Lock state is true

Thanks in advance

brendan 2017-06-17 18:27:26 UTC #14

Interesting. Did you install the beta Sesame app and enable cloud integration? Does it work over wifi from the Sesame app itself?

allen.krys 2017-06-17 20:06:05 UTC #16

I installed the beta "Virtual Station" app, is that what you are talking about?

Yes from my iphone using wifi the lock works using the virutal station.

brendan 2017-06-17 21:23:01 UTC #17

Also need to install the beta version of the Sesame app and enable cloud integration. Take a look at the instructions on the CANDY HOUSE developer site.

jerming 2017-06-19 18:37:26 UTC #19

Hi @brendan,
Do you see any possibility that we can put Homebridge on AWS so people will not need to configure their computer, server, or Raspberry Pi ?

brendan 2017-06-19 20:19:48 UTC #20

The Homebridge instance must be on the home network, so AWS or remote hosting isn't an option. It would theoretically be possible to create some sort of self contained NodeJS iapp so people could just download it as an macOS or Windows application but development would be challenging.

Do you know what platform the wifi access point will run?

allen.krys 2017-06-20 19:04:42 UTC #21

@brendan,
hey I got the plugin working as far as locking and unlocking goes. The problem is the status doesn't seem to get reported from sesame cloud to the home app on my iPhone unless the command is given from the home app itself. Does the plugin not poll sesame cloud for the status on any regular frequency?

Thanks,
Krys

*** edit, sorry I just saw in the first post where you mentioned that the status was not accurate.. do you know when the API will be fixed to work properly?

brendan 2017-06-21 03:01:06 UTC #22

Good question. It' might be possible to push an update to HomeKit periodically but I'm not sure. I'll look into it and let you know.

The API have been addressed but there still may be a lag for the state to update (especially when changed via Bluetooth or manually).