• About the Cmd4 Plugin
• How the Cmd4 Plugin Works
• Features
• Whats new in 2.2.1
• Whats new in 2.2
• Whats new in 2.1
• Whats new in 2.0
• Screenshots
• Installation
• Migrating from Homebridge-cmdswitch2
• Troubleshooting
• Developer Notes
• Troubleshooting your own scripts
• Adding in fakegato history
• Raspbian-Stretch
• Unit Testing
• Rationale
• Todo
• Contributing
• Inspiration and special thanks
• License

    This plugin allows you to see what Homebridge is all about, without having any home control accessories. If you can run Homebridge and install this plugin, all the possible accessories are now available to you within HomeKit or Eve. (Except Camera Streaming).

    Similiar to other command plugins, you can use Cmd4 to execute command line interface (CLI) scripts, but with Cmd4 the devices don't just appear in HomeKit as a Switch or a Light, but now they can appear as a Garage Door openner, Air Purifier ... and you can cntrol all of their characteristics too.

    Cmd4 comes with a fully populated and documented config.json file that points to a fully populated and configured State.js file that you put in a Cmd4Scripts subdirectory of your .homebridge directory. The Cmd4 Plugin reads and understands the config.json file containing every possible HomeKit type. When you point HomeKit to Homebridge, all the devices become populated, and between the homebridge-cmd4 plugin and the State.js command file, HomeKit acts and behaves if you actually have the Accessory!

    Cmd4 supports, Lights, Garage Door Openners, Outlets, Switches, Lock Maintenance Systems, Lock Management Systems, Humidity Sensors, Doors, Light Sensors, Temperature Sensors, Contact Sensors, Motion Sensors, Thermostats, Security Systems, Battery Services, Filter Maintenance Systems, Air Purifiers, Television, Television Speaker, Input Sources, Irrigation Systems, ... everything but Camera Streaming since it is not pliable to a command line Interface.

    Cmd4 also supports polling, though care was taken to make sure accessories get updated after an adjustable response time so that accessories like a garage door is updated in HomeKit after it was closed or openned.

    Cmd4 can be configured to respond to actual devices directly or by modofying the script file it calls.

    Look closely at State.js and config.min.json as in them they have all the characteristics and any of their constant values defined.

    Cmd4 supports linked accessories. Multiple Input Sources for a TV is the example given.

    This minor version differentiates the optional characteristic 'Name' from displayName. displayName is used when creating the service. It is essentially the same thing, but this follows the spec exactly. You do not need to change your config.json file if you do not want too.
    Internally all properties of all characteristics are defined.
    Homebridge does not allow you to getCharacteristic information easily. This allows Cmd4 to stop you from using characteristics with a format of TLV8 that causes HomeBridge to fail to start. This is why the new option:'allowTLV8' was created and set to false by default. Again just ignore it.
    With all the properties defined, Test cases increases to 7644.

    This version adds in linked accessories. HDMI Input sources for a TV are now shown in HomeKit as an example.
    This release also defines constants for all thecharacteristics that has them. Look at the config.min.json file for descriptions of the constants per characteristic.
    The number of test cases increases because of constants to 4500. That equates to almost 61% more coverage, and less possible errors.
    Finally this release adds in version checking so you are always up to date with the latest version of Homebridge-Cmd4.

    This minor release fixes duplicate service calls for initializing an AccessoryInformation device, Television & TelevisionSpeaker.

Mostly importantly it wipes out 5600 duplicate lines of code to one bound function.

    This release changes the philosophy of homebridge-Cmd4 from Accessories that have known characteristics as per the HAP Spec to assigning any characteristic to any Accessory.

There are 160 possible characteristics, 60 more than the previous version. Also TV, TV Speaker, Input Source, Irrigation, Faucets and many other accessories are now available.

    SHELL> sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm homebridge

    SHELL> sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm homebridge-cmd

    SHELL> mkdir $HOME/.homebridge
    SHELL> mkdir $HOME/.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts
    SHELL> cp /usr/lib/node_modules/homebridge-cmd4/Extras/Cmd4Scripts/State.js $HOME/.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/
    SHELL> cp /usr/lib/node_modules/homebridge-cmd4/Extras/Cmd4Scripts/CheckYourScript.sh $HOME/.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/
    SHELL> chmod 700 .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/State.js
    SHELL> chmod 700 .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/CheckYourScript.sh

Note: CheckYourScript.sh is for your own script development testing

    Use the provided config.json file or add it to your own.

    There is a fully populated copy of both the config.min.json and the config.json in the Extras folder that comes with the homebridge-cmd4 plugin. You can use it, or copy from it, as it is a lot of typing.

    SHELL> cp /usr/lib/node_modules/homebridge-cmd4/Extras/config.json $HOME/.homebridge/

    Start/Restart Homebridge as you normally would.
    SHELL> homebrige

    If you are not already familiar with Homekit, you may wish to look at the documentation for Homebridge and how to configure it with Homekit. The gist of it is that you entet the manual code defined in the config.json file. I chose 5555555 for simplicity.

    Homebridge-cmdswitch2 is great if you just want to turn something On or Off; Hence the switch reference in its name. In fact, there is no need to migrate if that is all you want to do.

As a plugin, Homebridge-cmd4 easily coexists with Homebridge-cmdswitch2 or any other homebridge plugin. However, if you want to do something more finite, like adjusting the brightness or getting the value of a DAC, then Homebridge-Cmd4 is for you.

    If you do wish to move anyway to Cmd4 or wish to see another example of interfacing to a real device, here is a very simple example without any parameter checking on how it would be done for a switch.

    Homebridge-cmdswitch2 defines their REQUIRED fields in their config.json as:

   ...
   "platforms": [{
   "platform": "cmdSwitch2",
   "name": "CMD Switch",
   "switches": [{
       "name" : "HTPC",
       "on_cmd": "wakeonlan XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX",
       "off_cmd": "net rpc shutdown -I XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX -U user%password",
       "state_cmd": "ping -c 2 -W 1 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX | grep -i '2 received'"
   }, {
       "name" : "Playstation 4",
       "on_cmd": "ps4-waker",
       "off_cmd": "ps4-waker standby",
       "state_cmd": "ps4-waker search | grep -i '200 Ok'",
       "polling": true,
       "interval": 5,
       "timeout": 2000,
      }]
   }]
   ...

    Homebridge-cmd4 only uses one command string as there are many options beyond on/off. This command string is:
"state_cmd": "< path to some executable or script >"

    In this example, we will use:
"state_cmd": "bash .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh"

Note: for the device name, DO NOT USE SPACES as this will cause problems parsing the command line.

    The config.json file for homebridge-cmd4 now looks like:

   ...
   {
      "platform": "Cmd4",
      "name": "Cmd4",
      "accessories":
      [
         {
             "type": "Switch",
             "name": "PS_4",
             "on": false,
             "state_cmd": "bash .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh"
             "polling": true,     <OR>
             "polling": [{"on": false, "interval": 5, "timeout": 4000}
                        ],
             "interval": 5,
             "timeout": 4000,
          }
      ]
   }
   ...

    Edit a new file called $HOME/.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh

    The PS4.sh must accept and respond to homebridge-cmd4 as defined by the HAP spec for a switch, this being just the ON characteristic.
    The corresponding script would then contain the following:: (It is also included in the Extras/Cmd4Scripts directory of your installation)

#!/bin/bash

# Notes
# 1) This script is called as defined by the config.json file as:
#    "state_cmd": "bash .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh"
#    $1 = 'Get'
#    $2 = <Device name>    DO NOT USE SPACES IN DEVICE NAME. It causes problems parsing the command line.
#    $3 = <Characteristic>
#    $4 = <Device option>
#
# 2) For a set of On, the command issued would be:
#    bash $HOME/.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh Set PS_4 On false
#       or
#    bash $HOME/.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh Set PS_4 On true
#
# 3) For a Get of On, the command issued would be:
#    bash $HOME/.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh Get PS_4 On 
#  
#    Homebridge-cmd4 will interpret the result of false to be 1
#    and true to be 0 so either 0/1  or true/false can be returned.


# echo "\$1='$1' \$2='$2' \$3='$3' \$4='$4'"

# This is only here for the first run.
if [ ! -f "/tmp/fileVariableHolder" ]; then
   echo "0" > "/tmp/fileVariableHolder"
fi

if [ "$1" = "Get" ]; then
   # This line is commented out and would be
   # interchangeable with ps4-waker. It is here
   # as an example
   # ps4-waker search | grep -i '200 Ok'
   cat /tmp/fileVariableHolder
   rc=$?
   if [ "$rc" = "0" ]; then
      exit 0
   else
      echo "failed"
      exit -1
   fi
fi

if [ "$1" = "Set" ]; then
   if [ "$3" = "On" ]; then
      if [ "$4" = "true" ]; then
         # This line is commented out and would be
         # interchangeable with ps4-waker. It is here
         # as an example
         # ps4-waker
         echo $4 > /tmp/fileVariableHolder
         exit $?
      else
         # This line is commented out and would be
         # interchangeable with ps4-waker. It is here
         # as an example
         # ps4-waker standby
         echo $4 > /tmp/fileVariableHolder
         exit $?
      fi
   fi
fi


exit -1

    The script, defined by the state_cmd in the config.json file, receives options that you must parse. Most are based on the HAP spec and are outlined in the State.js file.
The options are:
$1 - Either 'Get' or 'Set'
$2 - The name of the device as defined in your config.json file. Note: DO NOT USE SPACES IN THE NAME. Scripting is much more difficult.
$3 - The HAP specification characteristic parameter. In this case 'On'
$4 - In the case of 'Set' the value to be set.

Important     Homebridge-cmd4 just outputs the value to be set. For whatever reason the lower layers of homebridge set on/off to be "true" and "false" instead of 0 & 1, which is incorrect, but changing it would break others scripts.
    Homebridge-cmd4 has always recognized either 0/1 or true/false when receiving the devices value.
When in doubt, check the parameters yourself.
Thanks Florian for pointing out the original documented bash script was incorrect

    The response of the script is two-fold. The first being the returned value as defined by the HAP spec. The second is the exit status of the script.
In this case the output is the echo of "0" for On and "1" for Off.
The second is the exit status of the script, which happens to be almost the same.

    You can also test how homebridge-cmd4 will respond by running your scripts from the command line. If you see the expected output, then things should behave as well from within homebridge.

    In this example for setting the device On:
    SHELL> cd $HOME
    SHELL> bash .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh Set PS4 On true

    Setting the device off
    SHELL> bash .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh Set PS4 On false

    Getting the device Status
    SHELL> bash .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh Get PS4 On
       will output "0" and have an exit status of 0 if the device is On
       will output "1" and have an exit status of 0 if the device is Off

    For On, the commands seem quite redundant, but On is a characteristic. Consider the following for a light where the characteristic is Brightness
    SHELL> node ./homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/State.js Set My_Dimmable_Light Brightness 40

       This makes more sense.

    Homebridge is expected to run from a users home directory where it can find the .homebridge/config.json file and the Cmd4Scripts.State.js command file.
    SHELL> cd $HOME

    SHELL> node .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/State.js Get My_Fan On
    this should output: 0 or 'true'

    SHELL> DEBUG=* homebridge -D $HOME/

    SHELL> node .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/State.js Get My_Fan On
     This should output '0' or '1' or 'true' or 'false'
    SHELL> node .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/State.js Set My_Fan On false
    SHELL> node .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/State.js Set My_Fan On true
     This should store the fans status.

  Error: Command failed: /homebridge/Server.sh Get 'Server' 'On'

    at ChildProcess.exithandler (child_process.js:297:12)
    at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:193:13)
    at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:1001:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:266:5)
  killed: true
  code: null
  signal: SIGTERM,
  cmd: "/homebridge/Server.sh Get Server On" 

The command may not exist, but also the timeout value in your config.json for that accessory may be too low.

    The resulting file is still readable. Only C and C++ comments are removed. The included config.json is created via:
    SHELL> gcc jsmin.c -o jsmin
    SHELL> jsmin < config.min.json > config.json

    These are defined as:
    Get < Accessory Name > < Characteristic >
    Set < Accessory Name > < Characteristic > < Value >

    Even if you do not use polling, care was taken that all Set Target states are immediately followed by a Get of the Current state. This is so that after closing a garage door for instance, Homekit gets updated that the door was closed.

    By placing in your config.json file the tag "outputConstants": true, instead of values, your script will receive constants instead of values (Where Applicable). Homebridge-Cmd4 will except constants or values as input. See the config.min.json file for the defined constants.

    Your now ready to go and try Fans, Switches, Garage Doors, Locks, Sensors ....

    It is EXTREMELY important that you understand that scripts run by homebridge-Cmd4 or any background process do not interpret any environment settings you may have in your .profile or .bashrc. This includes any variables that starts with a $ sign (including $HOME) or the tilda character. It is wisest to test your scripts from a blank configuration and starting from your home directory.

    SHELL> cd

    Scripts run by background processes do not read your profile so you need to omit any special variables.
    SHELL> bash --noprofile --norc

    SHELL> node .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/State.js Get My_Fan On

    SHELL> .homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/PS4.sh Get My_Fan On

    SHELL> cd
    SHELL> bash --noprofile --norc
    SHELL> '.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/CheckYourScript.sh' 'bin/MyExec' 'Get' 'MyDevice' 'On'

    or something else like
    SHELL> '.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/CheckYourScript.sh' 'bash' 'bin/YourScript.sh' 'Get' 'MyDevice' 'On'

    or something else like
    SHELL> '.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/CheckYourScript.sh' 'bin/YourScript.sh' 'Get' 'MyDevice' 'On'

Note 1. The arguments to CheckYourScript.sh are exactly what your state_cmd has define plus the options passed to your script
Note 2. Don't forget to put the '' around the command to prevent globing as written above.
Note 3. If your state_cmd has a '$' in it. the CheckYourScript.sh will fail and so rightly would homebridge-cmd4
    SHELL> '.homebridge/Cmd4Scripts/CheckYourScript.sh' '$HOME/bin/YourScript.sh' 'Get' 'MyDevice' 'On'

See fakegato-history

    Not all accessories are supported by Eve or fakegato-history. As more and more are, they can easily be added to Homebridge-Cmd4 if they are not already by following these step.

    Edit your homebridge/config.json file and add to the accessory config portion the following lines:

"fakegato":{"eve":"thermo",
            "currentTemp": "currentTemperature",
            "setTemp": "targetTemperature",
            "valvePosition": "0",
            "storage": "fs",
            "storagePath": ".homebridge/FakegatoStorage",
            "folder": "folderName",
            "keyPath": "/place/to/store/my/keys/"
           }

    If you notice, the parameters follow the fakegato-history spec.

The only difference is that the characteristics value will be substituted for the fakegato keys. In this example "currentTemperature" will be substituted with 50.0 if that is what was returned to Cmd4.

The value "0" should be used for any characteristics value which is not possible to retrieve.

    For history to be collected you will have to enable polling and interval for the accesory, and according to the fakegato-hitory documents it should be less than 10 minutes (600 seconds). The new polling config section allows for each characteristic to be polled at their individual times.

"polling": [{"currentHeatingCoolingState": 0,
             "interval": 540,  "timeout": 4000},
            {"currentTemperature": 50.0,
             "interval": 60,   "timeout": 4000}
           ],

    Please consult the Raspbian documentation first. Here are my notes though:

Raspbian Stretch (2018-11-13-raspbian-stretch-full.img)
has old version (v8.11.1) and no npm by default

SHELL> sudo apt-get update

    SHELL> sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

apt-get node.js npm would install npm version 1.4.21 and result in the error:
Os.tmpDir() is depricated.

    Add the two following lines to the top of the source list, commentiing out the others and save the file

    SHELL> sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list

deb https://deb.nodesource.com/node_9.x stretch main
deb-src https://deb.nodesource.com/node_9.x stretch main

    SHELL> sudo apt-get update

    SHELL> apt-cache policy nodejs

    SHELL> sudo apt-get remove nodejs npm

    SHELL> sudo apt-get install nodejs

    SHELL> node -v (Should return >=v9.11.2
    SHELL> npm -v (Should return >=5.6.0

    SHELL> sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm homebridge
    SHELL> sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm homebridge-cmd4

    Unit testing is done using the Mocha framework for Javascript and was introduced in homebridge-cmd4 version 2.1.2. There are 2796 test cases and they all run successfully. They test the homebridge-cmd4 module to make sure that all characteristics, services and names are correct. They also test the provided State.js and PS4.sh for their respective Get/Set characteristics. The provided config.json is also tested for proper definitions of all the homebridge-cmd4 config parameters.

    Unit testing is only possible in a development environment and can be achieved in the following manner.

    This is done seperate from the global environment and does not impact the global environment.
    SHELL> npm install homebridge-cmd4

    SHELL> cd homebridge-cmd4

    SHELL> npm install --save-dev

    SHELL> npm test

Note: There is one bug where the testcases do not run correctly every second attempt. It has something to do with synchronous tests for Get/Set. Please ignore it at this time. Just run it again.

    After playing with homebridge-cmd and then homebridge-cmdswitch2, I really wanted to control as much as I could. I did not have all the devices, but I did have a light and a Sony Android TV. I wanted to control these and see what else I could do.
    If you were wondering what happenned to version 3, well I learned a lot, hence the working cmd4.

• Linked characteristics, i.e. a smoke detectors battery is not yet linked.
• Support for custom characteristics for an accessory.
• Support multi word device names. (Technically done, but scripting is hard for newbies).
• Scripting language to avoid creating new Homebridge modules.

    Best ways to contribute

• Star it on GitHub - if you use it and like it please at least star it :)
• Promote
• Open issues/tickets
• Submit fixes and/or improvements with Pull Requests

    Like the project? Please support to ensure continued development going forward:

• Star this repo on [GitHub][homebridge-cmd4-repo]
• Follow the repo on [GitHub][homebridge-cmd4-repo]
• Follow me
  • ztalbot2000

    Contributions and Pull Requests are welcome.

Based on the best of:

• [homebridge-cmd]https://github.com/senyoltw/homebridge-cmd.git
• [homebridge-cmdswitch2]https://github.com/luisiam/homebridge-cmdswitch2.git
• [homebridge-real-fake-garage-doors]https://github.com/plasticrake/homebridge-real-fake-garage-doors.git
• [homebridge-homeseer]https://github.com/jrhubott/homebridge-homeseer.git
• Thanks to TimofeyK for all his help with fakegato and for suggesting it.

See LICENSE