fauxmo 0.1.3

Emulated Belkin WeMo devices that work with the Amazon Echo

fauxmo

Python 3 module that emulates Belkin WeMo devices for use with the Amazon Echo.

Updates 20151231 by @n8henrie:

• see HISTORY.md

• All credit goes to @makermusings for the original version of Fauxmo!

  • Also thanks to @DoWhileGeek for commits towards python 3 compatibility

Summary

The Amazon Echo will allow you to control a limited number of home automation devices by voice. If you want to control device types that it doesn’t know about, or perform more sophisticated actions, the Echo doesn’t provide any native options. This code emulates the Belkin WeMo devices in software, allowing you to have it appear that any number of them are on your network and to link their on and off actions to any code you want.

Usage

Simple install: From PyPI

1. python3 -m pip install fauxmo

2. Make a config.json based on `config-sample.json <https://github.com/n8henrie/fauxmo/blob/master/config-sample.json>`__

3. fauxmo -c config.json [-v]

Install for development: From GitHub

1. git clone https://github.com/n8henrie/fauxmo.git

2. cd fauxmo

3. python3 -m venv venv

4. source venv/bin/activate

5. pip install -e .

6. cp config-sample.json config.json

7. Edit config.json

8. fauxmo [-v]

Set up the Echo

1. Have the Echo “find connected devices”

2. Test: “Alexa turn on [the kitchen light]”

Fauxmo has an example REST handler class that reacts to on and off commands using the python-requests library as well as a handler for the Home Assistant Python API; these are examples of a multitude of ways that you could have the Echo trigger an action. In config-sample.json, you’ll see examples of:

• A GET request to a local server

• A POST request to the Home Assistant REST API

• Requests to Home Asssistant’s Python API

Note: unless you specify port numbers in the creation of your fauxmo objetcs, your virtual switch devices will use a different port every time you run fauxmo.py, which will make it hard for the Echo to find them. So you should plan to either leave the script running for long periods or choose fixed port numbers.

Once fauxmo.py is running, simply tell your Echo to “find connected devices” or open a browser to or your mobile device to the connected home settings page and Discover devices

Reading list:

• http://www.makermusings.com/2015/07/13/amazon-echo-and-home-automation

• http://www.makermusings.com/2015/07/18/virtual-wemo-code-for-amazon-echo

• http://hackaday.com/2015/07/16/how-to-make-amazon-echo-control-fake-wemo-devices

• https://developer.amazon.com/appsandservices/solutions/alexa/alexa-skills-kit

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Plug_and_Play

• http://www.makermusings.com/2015/07/19/home-automation-with-amazon-echo-apps-part-1

• http://www.makermusings.com/2015/08/22/home-automation-with-amazon-echo-apps-part-2

Changelog

Will not contain minor changes – feel free to look through git log for more detail.

0.1.0 :: 20151231

• Continue to convert to python3 code

• Pulled in a few PRs by [@DoWhileGeek](https://github.com/DoWhileGeek) working towards python3 compatibility and improved devices naming with dictionary

• Renamed a fair number of classes

• Added kwargs to several class and function calls for clarity

• Renamed several variables for clarity

• Got rid of a few empty methods

• Import devices from config.json and include a sample

• Support POST, headers, and json data in the RestApiHandler

• Change old debug function to use logging module

• Got rid of some unused dependencies

• Moved license (MIT) info to LICENSE

• Added argparse for future console scripts entry point

• Added Home Assistant API handler class

• Use “string”.format() instead of percent

• Lots of other minor refactoring