Remote API

The Hue bridge can be accessed locally or remotely. The same API calls are valid for both (mostly) and this library can operate both against local and remote versions of the Hue Bridge API.

For details on setting up and connecting to the Remote Hue API consult the remote setup docs.

• OAuthTokens Object
• getToken()
• refreshTokens()
• createRemoteUser()
• getRemoteAccessCredentials

OAuthTokens

OAuthTokens is an Object that stores the tokens and expiry times of the related tokens. Various functions will return an instance of this Object, like getTokens() and refreshTokens().

The object has the following properties and functons:

• refreshToken: get property that is the value of the refresh token
• refreshTokenExpiresAt: get property that is the Unix Epoc time that the refresh token will expire
• accessToken: get property that is the value of the access token
• accessTokenExpiresAt: get property that is the Unix Epoc time that the access token will expire
• toString(): function that will return the String representation of the OAuthTokens

getToken()

The getToken() function allows you to exchange a code for a set of OAuth tokens for access and refresh activities on the Hue Remote API.

• code is the authentication code that you received via the Callback URL from your Hue Remote Application.

api.remote.getToken('magic code value')
  .then(tokens => {
    // Display the tokens
    console.log(JSON.stringify(tokens, null, 2));
  });

The function will resolve to an OAuthTokens object containing the details of the new tokens.

{
  "accessToken": "AYZXfqbJXzSXetwcg9HS7V3ZmyAA",
  "access_expires_at": 1568298222137,
  "refreshToken": "NeeoF9HkPS50xAUJX8R8q2kMxUOGBGsb",
  "refresh_expires_at": 1577370222137
}

• access is the OAuth Access Token that can be used to access the Remote Hue API
• access_expires_at is the Unix Epoch time that the token will expire on, attempting to use the token after this time will result in failure
• refresh is the OAuth Refresh Token that can be exchanged for new Access and Refresh tokens
• refresh_expires_at is the Unix Epoch time that the refesh token will expire on, attempting to use the token after this time will result in failure

refreshTokens()

The refreshTokens(refreshToken) function will exchange the refreshToken for a new set of OAuth tokens.

api.remote.refreshTokens()
  .then(tokens => {
    // Display the refreshed tokens
    console.log(JSON.stringify(tokens, null, 2));
  });

The function will resolve to an OAuthTokens object containing the details of the refreshed tokens.

Note: calling this function with a valid refresh token will expire the old tokens, so make sure you store the new tokens for future use. The new tokens are used immediately for all future remote API calls.

createRemoteUser()

The createRemoteUser(remoteBridgeId, deviceType) function will create a new remote user in the Hue Remote API.

• remoteBridgeId: the integer id of the remote bridge. Unless you have multiple Hue Bridges registered in the portal, then this should be 0. THis is an optional parameter, it will default to 0 id not specified.
• deviceType: the name of the application/device that the user represents. This is used to visualize the user access to the end user in the portal. This is an optional parameter.

api.remote.createRemoteUser()
  .then(username => {
    console.log(`Created a remote user: ${username}`);
  });

The call will resolve to the remote username for the user that was created.

Note: remote users are not the same as the local users that are stored inside the Hue bridge.

getRemoteAccessCredentials()

The getRemoteAccessCredentials() function allows you to retrieve all the remote related authentication data that the API knows about in an Object.

const credentials = api.remote.getRemoteAccessCredentials();
// Display the credentials
console.log(JSON.stringify(credentials, null, 2));

The function will return an Object with the following properties:

• clientId
• clientSecret
• username
• tokens: access and refresh Objects with properties value and expiresAt

The token expiresAt properties are the Unix epoch time values, that is millseconds since the Unix epoch and an be trivially converted into a Date object using new Date(value).

An example credentials object:

{
  clientId: 'FSzJeGkrC6hJzPlDjC9bfxEMAQxXOvAY',
  clientSecret: 'YPI9z67Qh9Fjjh59',
  username: 'WkdWmGYI5tYVoy36ImLuLwXBwPoqxgakRnj5S0jL',
  tokens: {
    access: {
      value: 'AYZXfqbJXzSXetwcg9HS7V3ZmyAA',
      expiresAt: '1568298222137'
    },
    refresh: {
      value: 'NeeoF9HkPS50xAUJX8R8q2kMxUOGBGsb',
      expiresAt: '1577370222137'
    } 
  }
}