New to MQTT kinda.. Which plugin(s) to use?

[durosity]

So I'm doing a little bit of an upgrade of my system and integrating MQTT would improve some rather hacked together integrations I currently have, however I've realised there's quite a few different MQTT plugins for Indigo and I'm not sure which are the best options? I already have a Mosquito Broker setup on a separate system.

[FlyingDiver]

Since you have a broker already running, you don't need the MQTT Broker plugin.

You need the Connector plugin so that Indigo can communicate with your broker.

You might need the Shims plugin depending on how you want to deal with the MQTT messages from the broker (via the Connector plugin).

[durosity]

So Shims can be used in conjunction with Connector? And what about the zigbee plugin.. if I were to dip my toe into zigbee devices would it connect to the existing broker?

Sorry, I know they sound like stupid questions.. I’ve just been trying to read about it and I feel like I’m getting more confused, and it’s making me feel rather daft!

[FlyingDiver]

Connector is required to do anything with MQTT. Shims is optional, but requires the Connector.

I know almost nothing about Zigbee. I don't think any of the Zigbee software uses MQTT, but I could be wrong.

[durosity]

Ok cool, that’s at least set me off on the right path so I really appreciate your help there. Hopefully one day this damn brain fog will lift and I won’t feel like such a dumbass anymore!

[CliveS]

So Shims can be used in conjunction with Connector? And what about the zigbee plugin.. if I were to dip my toe into zigbee devices would it connect to the existing broker?

Sorry, I know they sound like stupid questions.. I’ve just been trying to read about it and I feel like I’m getting more confused, and it’s making me feel rather daft!

If you have the MQTT server already and want to look at Zigbee devices then go to Autolog's zigbee2mqtt plugin at viewtopic.php?t=26895 for a great FAQ on what you need. It is now finished and I have run it since beta testing with Jon and never had a problem.

[durosity]

If you have the MQTT server already and want to look at Zigbee devices then go to Autolog's zigbee2mqtt plugin at viewtopic.php?t=26895 for a great FAQ on what you need. It is now finished and I have run it since beta testing with Jon and never had a problem.

I'll have a read of that later on.. it's starting to come together so hopefully will make a bit more sense now.

On a side note, I passed through your village yesterday when I got lost trying to get out of Consett.. seems like a nice place

[CliveS]

I'll have a read of that later on.. it's starting to come together so hopefully will make a bit more sense now.

On a side note, I passed through your village yesterday when I got lost trying to get out of Consett.. seems like a nice place

Yes, we like it — it’s nice and quiet. We haven’t seen it for weeks except on the house cameras, as we’re in Perth, Western Australia at the moment, but we’ll be back to the cold on the 28th. Tailscale keeps me connected to the cameras and Indigo, so it’s not too bad. It’s 25–30°C here right now, so it definitely has its advantages.

I know you already have an MQTT broker, but since you have a few old Macs, why not reformat one, load Linux on it, and then install and run Home Assistant? You can install loads of add-ons, including the Mosquitto broker, MQTT Explorer, and Zigbee2MQTT. With the Zigbee2MQTT plugin and the Home Assistant Agent plugin, it works very well. You don’t even need to use Home Assistant for automation — just treat it as an interface and import all sorts of data into Indigo.

[durosity]

I know you already have an MQTT broker, but since you have a few old Macs, why not reformat one, load Linux on it, and then install and run Home Assistant? You can install loads of add-ons, including the Mosquitto broker, MQTT Explorer, and Zigbee2MQTT. With the Zigbee2MQTT plugin and the Home Assistant Agent plugin, it works very well. You don’t even need to use Home Assistant for automation — just treat it as an interface and import all sorts of data into Indigo.

I do already use Home Assistant for that, but I'm trying to limit my use of Home Assistant for a few reasons. One, at the moment the plugin tends to lose its connection (particularly if HA restarts itself for the 10000000th time because one tiny little plugin needed an update (seriously why does HA need to do that.. I could rant about its problems all day so don't let me start) ), and honestly over the last 10 years I feel like my intelligence has dropped from reasonably good to downright awful.. there are medical reasons that can be attributed to this, but there's things I used to be able to do that I just can't anymore, so I'm now *trying* to drag myself out of this pit of despair and get myself back up to a reasonable level again.

So ultimately I want to get it all working in Indigo.. eventually I'd like to be able to get back to the point where I can start writing my own plugins again to directly communicate with the few devices I use HA for (my car and catflap mainly) but that's something for further down the line.

[CliveS]

Yes Home assistant restarting for any excuse is a pain, I just catch the “error” in Indigo and force a restart of Home Assistant Agent and zigbee2mqtt plugins after 5 minutes just in case. I feel for you as I also have lost the programming knowledge I had 5 years ago also due to health but I do find using ChatGPT and Claude to be a great help, even added loads of extras to DaveL’s script, would never of thought about a script like that in the first place but I just asked the AI’s to add bits and the script now shows what a mess some of my Indigo is in at present and now I can see a better picture of what needs to be sorted..

[durosity]

Yes Home assistant restarting for any excuse is a pain, I just catch the “error” in Indigo and force a restart of Home Assistant Agent and zigbee2mqtt plugins after 5 minutes just in case. I feel for you as I also have lost the programming knowledge I had 5 years ago also due to health but I do find using ChatGPT and Claude to be a great help, even added loads of extras to DaveL’s script, would never of thought about a script like that in the first place but I just asked the AI’s to add bits and the script now shows what a mess some of my Indigo is in at present and now I can see a better picture of what needs to be sorted..

See I tried something like that, but unfortunately quite often I don't get an error, it just sits as if everything is hunky-dory. I'll probably try experimenting with something to identify a state that hasn't updated for a while that should always update at X time and try to force it from that.

I'll have to give Claud a look. I'm trying my best to not use them to do it all for me, more setting me off in the right direction and helping me when I'm stuck... which happens a lot. I've always struggled with learning, turns out I'm filled with the 'tisms and ADHDs.. so at least I now know why I've struggled.. but it's not like that actually improves things.. and unfortunately medication isn't a viable option at present.