verified Verification Request: homebridge-ambient-realtime

Plugin Name

homebridge-ambient-realtime

Link To GitHub Repo

https://github.com/valiquette/homebridge-ambient-realtime

Plugin Icon (Optional)

ambient

The plugin does not offer the same nor less functionality than that of any existing verified plugin.

🟢 Yes

The plugin successfully installs and does not start unless it is configured.

🟢 Yes

The plugin does not require the user to run Homebridge in a TTY or with non-standard startup parameters, even for initial configuration.

🟢 Yes

The plugin does not contain any analytics or calls that enable you to track the user.

🟢 Yes

If the plugin needs to write files to disk (cache, keys, etc.), it stores them inside the Homebridge storage directory.

🟢 Yes

The plugin does not throw unhandled exceptions, the plugin must catch and log its own errors.

🟢 Yes

More Information

No response

Sep 28 '24 15:09 valiquette

/check

Sep 28 '24 23:09 valiquette

/check

Sep 28 '24 23:09 valiquette

/check

Sep 29 '24 08:09 valiquette

/check

Oct 02 '24 11:10 bwp91

🟢 The following checks passed:

Installation: successfully installed
Package JSON: homepage exists
Package JSON: bugs.url exists and seems a valid URL
Package JSON: keywords exist and contain 'homebridge-plugin'
Package JSON: 'preinstall' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: 'install' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: 'postinstall' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: engines.node property is compatible with Node 18
Package JSON: engines.node property is compatible with Node 20
Package JSON: engines.homebridge property is compatible with Homebridge 1.8.4
Package JSON: initializer function found
GitHub Repo: repository is public
GitHub Repo: repository is not archived
GitHub Repo: issues are enabled
GitHub Repo: contains releases
NPM Package: has not been deprecated
Config Schema JSON: exists and is valid JSON
Config Schema JSON: contains a valid pluginAlias
Config Schema JSON: the pluginType is set to 'platform'
Config Schema JSON: contains a name schema property
Dependencies: homebridge was not installed as a dependency
Dependencies: hap-nodejs was not installed as a dependency

🎉 All checks passed successfully, nice work! Your plugin and/or icon will now be manually reviewed by the Homebridge team.

Oct 02 '24 11:10 github-actions[bot]

/check

Dec 29 '24 14:12 bwp91

🟢 The following checks passed:

Installation: successfully installed
Package JSON: homepage exists
Package JSON: bugs.url exists and seems a valid URL
Package JSON: keywords exist and contain 'homebridge-plugin'
Package JSON: 'preinstall' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: 'install' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: 'postinstall' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: engines.node property is compatible with Node 18
Package JSON: engines.node property is compatible with Node 20
Package JSON: engines.node property is compatible with Node 22
Package JSON: engines.homebridge property is compatible with Homebridge 1.8.5
Package JSON: initializer function found
GitHub Repo: repository is public
GitHub Repo: repository is not archived
GitHub Repo: issues are enabled
GitHub Repo: contains releases
NPM Package: has not been deprecated
Config Schema JSON: exists and is valid JSON
Config Schema JSON: contains a valid pluginAlias
Config Schema JSON: the pluginType is set to 'platform'
Config Schema JSON: contains a name schema property
Dependencies: homebridge was not installed as a dependency
Dependencies: hap-nodejs was not installed as a dependency

🎉 All checks passed successfully, nice work! Your plugin and/or icon will now be manually reviewed by the Homebridge team.

These checks were run against v0.1.10 of the plugin.

Dec 29 '24 14:12 github-actions[bot]

Hi @valiquette

what is the difference in functionality between this plugin and the already-verified https://github.com/peledies/homebridge-ambient-weather-sensors ?

Dec 29 '24 15:12 bwp91

@bwp91 Functionally the already-verified plugin is polling for update based on a hard coded 2 minute interval. There is no support for anything but Temperature and Humidity.

This plugin is using the Ambient's real time API (web socket) for near realtime updates. This plugin support the ability to add any custom sensor as motion or occupancy for any of the 50+ measurements full list of supported measurements which provides ,much needed support for rain and wind. One users comments that I did not even plan for comments

Hope this addresses your questions.

Jan 01 '25 00:01 valiquette

/check

Jun 10 '25 12:06 valiquette

🟢 The following checks passed:

Installation: successfully installed
Package JSON: homepage exists
Package JSON: bugs.url exists and seems a valid URL
Package JSON: keywords exist and contain 'homebridge-plugin'
Package JSON: 'preinstall' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: 'install' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: 'postinstall' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: engines.node property is compatible with Node 20
Package JSON: engines.node property is compatible with Node 22
Package JSON: engines.homebridge property is compatible with Homebridge 1.10.0
Package JSON: initializer function found
GitHub Repo: repository is public
GitHub Repo: repository is not archived
GitHub Repo: issues are enabled
GitHub Repo: contains releases
NPM Package: has not been deprecated
Config Schema JSON: exists and is valid JSON
Config Schema JSON: contains a valid pluginAlias
Config Schema JSON: the pluginType is set to 'platform'
Config Schema JSON: contains a name schema property
Dependencies: homebridge was not installed as a dependency
Dependencies: hap-nodejs was not installed as a dependency

🎉 All checks passed successfully, nice work! Your plugin and/or icon will now be manually reviewed by the Homebridge team.

These checks were run against v0.1.10 of the plugin.

Jun 10 '25 12:06 github-actions[bot]

/check

Jul 19 '25 13:07 bwp91

🟢 The following checks passed:

Installation: successfully installed
Package JSON: homepage exists
Package JSON: bugs.url exists and seems a valid URL
Package JSON: keywords exist and contain 'homebridge-plugin'
Package JSON: 'preinstall' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: 'install' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: 'postinstall' in scripts is not present
Package JSON: engines.node property is compatible with Node 20
Package JSON: engines.node property is compatible with Node 22
Package JSON: engines.homebridge property is compatible with Homebridge 1.11.0
Package JSON: initializer function found
GitHub Repo: repository is public
GitHub Repo: repository is not archived
GitHub Repo: issues are enabled
GitHub Repo: contains releases
NPM Package: has not been deprecated
Config Schema JSON: exists and is valid JSON
Config Schema JSON: contains a valid pluginAlias
Config Schema JSON: the pluginType is set to 'platform'
Config Schema JSON: contains a name schema property
Dependencies: homebridge was not installed as a dependency
Dependencies: hap-nodejs was not installed as a dependency

🎉 All checks passed successfully, nice work! Your plugin and/or icon will now be manually reviewed by the Homebridge team.

These checks were run against v0.1.10 of the plugin.

Jul 19 '25 13:07 github-actions[bot]

Congratulations! Your plugin has been verified!

You can now add one of the Verified by Homebridge badges to your plugin's README:

[![verified-by-homebridge](https://badgen.net/badge/homebridge/verified/purple)](https://github.com/homebridge/homebridge/wiki/Verified-Plugins)

[![verified-by-homebridge](https://img.shields.io/badge/homebridge-verified-blueviolet?color=%23491F59&style=for-the-badge&logoColor=%23FFFFFF&logo=homebridge)](https://github.com/homebridge/homebridge/wiki/Verified-Plugins)

Your plugin is now also eligible to display a :heart: Donate button on its tile in the Homebridge UI. See https://github.com/homebridge/homebridge/wiki/Donation-Links for instructions.

Interested in getting a @homebridge-plugins/ scope for your plugin? See our Homebridge Scoped Plugins program.

If for any reason in the future you can no longer maintain your plugin, please consider transferring it to our Homebridge Plugins organization.

Don't forget to join the official Homebridge Discord server, where plugin developers can get tips and advice from other developers and the Homebridge project team in the #plugin-development channel!

As a verified plugin, you can request a channel in the Discord server to discuss your plugin with users and other developers. Just ask in the #plugin-development channel.

Thank you for your contribution to the Homebridge community.

The Homebridge Team

Jul 19 '25 13:07 github-actions[bot]

Hi @valiquette sorry that it has taken so long to get to this - but all verified now 😀

I wanted to make a code suggestion, and this is assuming that an API is required for any functionality of the plugin.

In your platform constructor, here:

https://github.com/valiquette/homebridge-ambient-realtime/blob/7990526f01a22b824cd5716c0d0f41a7184e5b54/src/ambient_platform.ts#L57-L65

I think you could put a return; in there when the user has not configured an API key. So this:

    if(!config.api_key || !config.api_app_key){
      this.log.error('Valid API keys are required, please check the plugin config');
      return;
    }
    this.log.info('Starting Ambient platform using homebridge API', api.version);

I noticed just from installing the plugin, that the plugin still starts advertising even though I have no API key. I think there is no need to start the plugin fully if the user has not entered an API key? It just ends up taking very slighly less resources if the plugin isn't fully started with no api key.

Jul 19 '25 13:07 bwp91