How To: Set up Notifications
Did you know that you can use the SharpTools.io Rule Engine to set up notifications for a wide variety of scenarios. Some examples include:
- Garage door left open for X minutes
- Nobody is home and the door was left unlocked
- Water leak detected
- Rain forecasted and a window was left open
SharpTools provides a number of different notification providers so you can select the one that meets your needs best:
- Email - send email messages with ease
- SMS - send SMS messages (Premium, North America)
- Twilio SMS - send SMS messages (including international support)
- Requires a paid Twilio account
- Pushbullet - send push messages to your phone, tablet, or desktop
- Pushover - send push messages to your phone, tablet, or desktop
- Device - for example Sonos or Echo Speaks
High Level Approach
Since there can be a wide range of scenarios and use cases for using notifications, we'll cover the high-level approach and concepts here. If you have any questions about a specific scenario or have questions, we would encourage you to post them on the
SharpTools Community or email
support@sharptools.io
For an overview and introduction to the Rule Engine, check out the
Introduction to Rule Engine article.
- Open the SharpTools.io Rule Engine
- Scroll down and tap Create Rule
- Add your desired Triggers for the rule
- In the flow, you can optionally add an IF Condition to only send the notification in certain scenarios
- Add an Action > Notification
Certain notifications types will require some level of setup. For example, you may need to authorize your Pushbullet account from Manage Connections or add an email or phone number to your account to use email and SMS notifications.
To play notifications over speakers like Sonos or Echo Speaks, you'll want to use Action > Device in the Rule Engine along with an appropriate command that the device exposes (eg. `speak`, `playText`, or something similar)