Is it possible to import 3rd party stuff like they do here?
If not, is there a way we can get an MQTT client available (if there is none currently)?
(I don't have my hubitat hub yet, I ordered it just recently)
6 Likes
+1 for mqtt
1 Like
Have you seen this thread yet? I don't use MQTT, but this seems like the place to discuss it.
That's similar, but that client is really two parts: a bridge that has to be run on some computer, plus the Hubitat app that communicates with the bridge. This poster is looking for an app that can act as a full-featured client and communicate directly with an MQTT broker. Whether this discussion belongs there, I don't know--maybe, but that thread is about porting the ST equivalents that did the two-part workaround. 
1 Like
Thanks for clarifying! I may be trying to integrate a new gadget I recently bought which is supposed to have MQTT support in the somewhat near future. So, my curiosity regarding MQTT is slightly elevated. 
2 Likes
+1 for embedded mqtt client.
that would help to get rid of the mqtt bridge
1 Like
+1 from me too - although the 'two part' MQTT Bridge is working well for me as well. It's just another step in the integration that would be better without.
MQTT is an increasingly key part of my automation now.
Think I'm going to have to take a hard look at MQTT again myself. Doesn't look easy to use, but man is there a lot of things you can do with it.
I really think the core Hubitat team should consider not only an MQTT Client - but include an MQTT Server as well. I love the benefits of Hubitat over many hubs for its device support and local execution - but it really feels like it's playing "me too!" to SmartThings on a number of fronts. It would be nice to see Hubitat blaze a new trail and become not only a device hub but an IoT hub through MQTT as well. Just poke around the Home Assistant world for a while to see just how powerful MQTT can be. And it's not just DIYers. There's a reason that a number of IoT chipsets provide native integration via MQTT and/or MQTT/JSON payloads.
+1 on MQTT Client and request for MQTT Server!
2 Likes
For anyone needing a refresher or are new to MQTT...I've used HiveMQ in some of my Arduino projects.
This page discusses the topic pretty well:
https://www.hivemq.com/blog/how-to-get-started-with-mqtt
1 Like
Completely unfamiliar, very interesting!
+1 for mqtt client
1 Like
I've seen the term MQTT thrown out there in many forums. So my question is...
What do YOU do with it? 
Before I started playing with full on HA systems, I built individual sensors...one of which was a leak detector for my basement. If there was a leak detected, it would push that flag to the central MQTT broker and any client that had subscribed to that leak detector would get a message pushed to them. The clients don't have to keep asking "are there any new messages for me?". One of the biggest advantages is the payload size is small and fast and therefore takes less power to run on the small devices.
Think of MQTT as a central store for all your devices states. Many different controllers can enquire of or set this state and updating the state in MQTT causes the device to change state.
This allows you to link many different systems that control the same device. If you can find one way for a device to support MQTT it can then be integrated into all controllers that support MQTT. A very useful common ground.
Hubitat really needs to support MQTT to be on parity with other controllers nowadays.
1 Like
To put it succinctly: MQTT is a lightweight messaging protocol. In the context of home automation, it's often used to send/receive states and commands for devices to/from a "broker," which allows any device/hub/etc. that also supports MQTT to communicate with others that do too.
But for how I use it: i started using MQTT on SmartThings when I decided (after trying Vera and being unimpressed) to move to Home Assistant. Unfortunately, Home Assistant (HASS) didn't work with all my ZigBee devices, so some of them (e.g., my Zen Thermostat) had to stay on ST. The easiest way to get them to communicate with HASS was via MQTT. Home Assistant supports MQTT natively; you just need a broker (and you technically don't even need that installed separately--it has one built in, but I couldn't get it to work so used Mosquitto instead, running on the same server I ran the smartthings-mqtt-bridge service on, which is needed to get the ST SmartApp to talk to the MQTT broker).
When Hubitat was released, I started to move away from Home Assistant, first moving all of my devices off of Home Assistant and ST onto Hubitat (can we talk about how great Hubitat's ZigBee support is, BTW, and how custom drivers for either Z-Wave or ZigBee are a feature rarely seen elsewhere?). Because I had already spent a lot of time creating logic (apps and whatnot) on HASS, I started by just moving the actual device pairing while continuing to use the devices on HASS via MQTT. (I was then able to get my house down to only one Z-Wave network and one ZHA network--Hubitat--as opposed to the two or three I was running after trying to ditch ST.)
I've kept my MQTT Hubitat devices on HASS since even though I gradually moved all my logic off HASS, it turns out that the default HASS UI has nice device history graphs for things like switches and temperature sensors that I haven't found an easy way to do with Hubitat yet, and I grew to like that feature. 
(I'm still experimenting with Influx plus Grafana...if anyone has a "for dummies" tutorial, I'd appreciate it because I wouldn't call HASS plus the three-part MQTT solution "easy" but I'm pretty sure I feel like it's easier than this.)
There are some devices out there that just support MQTT natively (I imagine some vendors see this as less complicated than the mesh protocols, as it just receives and transmits small messages over HTTP), and I think others are requesting this feature simply to be able to use those more easily.
2 Likes
+1 to EVERYTHING @bertabcd1234 said...
I actually continue to use HASS/Node-Red for the user interface and the automations logic. I really love WebCoRE as well, but haven't made that leap on Hubitat yet. But I have seen no other hub support devices and local control anywhere nearly as well as Hubitat does. HASS, on the other hand, has such a broad set of services it integrates with, a really nice and evolving set of user interfaces, and such a vibrant community that I feel the Hubitat/HASS combination is almost perfect - for me!
Again, my wish for Hubitat is to become that central hub for DEVICE integrations and allow me to do user interfacing and automation logic where I feel it makes the most sense. A native MQTT Client would permit that more cleanly than I do it today. An MQTT server would allow Hubitat to support dozens of other devices.
3 Likes
+1 on this request! MQTT is totally needed!
1 Like
+1 for native mqtt support !!
1 Like
+1- Hubitat needs a MQTT client. I still cannot integrate my Elk M1 security panel in Hubitat. Needs addressing!
1 Like
