Pointless Argument

  1. If this is a concern don't add the garage door to Alexa. Or don't put an echo in your garage for music use something else like a Google Mini or Sonos. People put way too much control/capabilities into Alexa/Google and don't think about this scenario which I give you is valid. Make it invalid by removing the problem of being able to voice activate the garage door from outside.

  2. I don't think you can ever completely get around accidental things... that's why it's an "accident"... now the problem with accidents is that most people call it an accident when in reality it's "negligence". So do your part on dashboards and don't place the garage door button in between other buttons or put it on a security page where it's not easy to "accidentally" touch.

I understand the destination of your ask just not agreeing on the path.

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I had asked about that months ago (though not thinking of webhooks, just of whether RM could hit the disable) and the answer was an unequivocal "no".

Now this would be a nice feature addition to the API. Being able to enable/disable apps/drivers via the API. Then HSM could run a RULE to enable/disable the app or driver of choice. This follows good design and is NOT a hack.

Again, I have a solution that lets me have my cake and eat it too. You have some great workarounds, but isn't the beauty here that we can do better?

There hasn't been any communication of why not to do this (other than I might be the only one who thinks it worthwhile) -- it isn't going to break something else.

I am not at a computer right now to really dig into the request response of the disable button. I bet someone could even write a disable app that would disable specific things based on conditions

I guess we have really become lazy these days that pressing a button to open the garage instead of yelling at Alexa is too much. I mean I like HA and all but it all comes down to security vs convenience, there is always a trade off.

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Lazy, maybe. But when you're dealing with a toddler, an 11-month-old, and an armful of groceries... your perspective changes.

That's the thing is I don't like workaround or hacks. I can't deploy a system based on workarounds because they always break.

In your case you could have a custom version of the app/driver made for your purpose and that would be between you and the author.

For a proper solution having the ability to do this from a system level would provide a feature not a workaround.

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Why not just have a remote in the house then, once your inside just hit the button.

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I am getting old then... I prefer to press a button over yelling at Alexa. The button always works!

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I do. She's called Alexa. :smiley:

Aren't you already inside the garage at this point? Or is this for closing the door? If so it's possible to setup a one-way scene (not sure if this works with Hubitat) but anyways you can have a "close" only for voice commands to only close the door but not open it....

This is why my lighting is basically all motion/mode/time based I rarely use my GH's for much. I have my garage doors setup to just notify me in case I forget to close them, then just whip out my phone and they are closed.

Edit: Hell both of our cars have the Homelink to close right from that, I can close the door like 4 different ways lol.

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Same. It is all about automation with a few exceptions. Lighting is motion and contact controlled. I don't use Alexa for lights. If I'm watching a movie and I want to adjust the lighting I use my remote not yelling at a box with a movie playing.

Garage door is fully controlled for opening closing based on GPS (in vehicle) and Motion in garage and exterior cameras along with safety beams to prevent closing ON something...someone :slight_smile:

If the garage door is left open based upon lack of motion and timers the door is closed. My son who works nights always leaves it open so I don't care it closes.

Now there's more involved and gritty details to the whole setup for safety precautions but it's all solid and works with no hacked workarounds or bubble gum :slight_smile:

I yell at Alexa to set a cooking timer... that's about the most it gets used for :slight_smile:

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Same here.

I was using Automatic. Now I use OwnTracks for this - works great to open the door. The door closes when I open the door from the garage to the house.

Also use Owntracks to close the door when I exit the neighborhood.

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so.... what's all this about MyQ HE driver? I spent 30 mins reading and still confused. Can we start the conversation all over again please :wink:

Tried that... didn't work for us. Too many back and forth from the car to inside with groceries and stuff. Otherwise a great option.

Hmm, I know the guy who wrote that. :slight_smile: There is still no official way from within the platform to enable/disable apps/drivers by automated means, only manually checking the checkbox. (Could someone write an app that pretends to be a person checking the box, sort of like how Hubitat Package Manager pretends to be a user adding app or driver code? Probably. But I'd consider that pretty hack-y, too.) Given that the original intent of this feature was troubleshooting and not automation control, I'm not sure there ever will be. Can't speak for the platform devs, of course.

But @aaiyar basically mentioned above the workaround I mentioned there--just correctly mentioned that since Hubitat's Alexa integration (and maybe Alexa itself?) doesn't support garage doors natively, you'll have to use switches, locks, or some other thing it does support.

Personally, I'd do that with a Rule or something, a virtual/proxy device, and the unmodified MyQ integration. The alternative is modifying the MyQ app for mode restrictions, but unless you want to re-modify your fork every time a new version is released, sticking with this workaround would let you continue to use an unmodified version of that community app (unless you can convince the dev to add something like this, which they may or may not be willing to--I realize that was the original intent of your post, but since none of us can control that, I just figured I'd mention again something that is already possible today :slight_smile: ).

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At this point I would just put a controlable outlet on the garage door and turn that on and off based on modes. MyQ be damned if it works when unplugged.

Of course they sell ones with Battery backups and wifi and God knows what else attached.

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