The New Era of Edge and Matter
SmartThings Developers
Since launching 10 years ago, SmartThings has been at the forefront of the smart home space, providing delightful experiences that have allowed users to connect their homes and control a multitude of devices from a huge number of hardware manufacturers, growing to include unique features with Samsung TVs and appliances.
One of the most popular methods to integrate devices into the SmartThings platform has been to connect directly to hubs in the home, using radio protocols such as Zigbee and Z-Wave. To date, SmartThings has used the Groovy programming language to facilitate these device communications. While the Groovy framework has allowed developers a great amount of flexibility, the connected home is fast outgrowing this technology and therefore SmartThings has had to evolve. Beginning September 30, 2022, Groovy device DTHs, SmartApps built on Groovy, and the developer IDE will be removed from the SmartThings platform and will no longer be supported.
Edge drivers using Lua have replaced the legacy Groovy DTHs for controlling devices. As has been the topic of many communications throughout this transition, Edge reduces the need to send device commands or automations to the SmartThings cloud for processing and they are now processed right on the hub, reducing latency and increasing reliability across the connected home. A list of available Edge drivers can be found here.
As the door closes on Groovy-based SmartApps, a new door opens for developers with the Rules API. Developers can build simple or complex automations based on any number of triggers to customize experiences using common action, command, and operand semantics. Additional processes and features, such as integrating a manual command, can be developed using the Scenes API.
SmartThings is leading the development and launch of the Matter industry standard along with ecosystem partners and members of the Connectivity Standards Alliance. This common protocol will revolutionize the connected home for end users and developers alike. The journey so far has been an exciting one, and the launch of Edge drivers and Rules APIs are the first steps toward taking SmartThings and our developer community to more places than we could have imagined months ago when we first announced these updates. Stay tuned for more Matter announcements as we approach its launch this fall!
