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Node-RED

Info

Node-RED is used to control automations that require more settings/control than HomeKit or HomeBridge can provide natively.

Node-RED is a programming tool for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services in new and interesting ways.

It provides a browser-based editor that makes it easy to wire together flows using the wide range of nodes in the palette that can be deployed to its runtime in a single-click."

Installation

Prerequisites:

  • npm installed

  • Open a terminal and run sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red

  • Once you see a message from the terminal similar to 
    Welcome to Node-RED
===================

2 Oct 23:26:06 - [info] Node-RED version: v3.0.2
2 Oct 23:26:06 - [info] Node.js  version: v16.16.0
...
2 Oct 23:26:07 - [info] Started flows
    Node-RED has been successfully installed!
  • Exit Node-RED by pressing Ctrl + C (will be restarted later using pm2 to run in the background)

More information available at: https://nodered.org/docs/getting-started/local

Enabling Node-RED to start on computer boot

  1. Install PM2: In a terminal, run: sudo npm install -g pm2
  2. Determine the exact location of the node-red command: run which node-red in a terminal
  3. Tell PM2 to run Node-Red: run pm2 start /path/to/node-red -- -v in a terminal, replacing /path/to/node-red with the result of which node-red from above
  4. Temm PM2 to run on boot: Run these commands in a terminal, and follow the instructions provided
  5. pm2 save
  6. pm2 startup
  7. Reboot the machine, and verify that PM2 has started NodeRED

More information: https://nodered.org/docs/faq/starting-node-red-on-boot

Additional Palette items

Once Node-RED is running and you can access via a web browser, install these additional items by clicking the three lines hamburger button in the top right, and selecting ‘Manage Palette’, then move to the ‘Install’ tab

  • node-red
  • node-red-contrib-cron
  • node-red-contrib-homebridge-automation

Note

Ensure the correct Palette item is chosen -- there are two versions available

node-red-homebridge-two-versions.png

  • node-red-contrib-slack-files
  • node-red-contrib-stoptimer

Importing Flows

  1. Go to https://github.com/AndrewBreyen/Node-RED-flows/ and pick which flow you want to start importing
  2. Copy the contents of desired flows’ (use the node-red-copy-paste-squares.png button for ease of use)
  3. Click the three lines hamburger button in the top right, and selecting ‘Import’
  4. Paste in value copied to clipboard
  5. Go to https://api.slack.com/apps/A03JPNEBPC4/incoming-webhooks to retrieve the Webhook URL, copy to clipboard
  6. Double click on the node-red-copy-paste-squares.png node(s)
  7. Paste in the Webhook URL copied to clipboard
  8. Double click on the node-red-garage-door-node-1.png and node-red-garage-door-node-2.pngnodes, ensure that the correct device and Homebridge Pin are selected
  9. Repeat with the other flows you want to import
  10. Test it out!