Important

DNS redirection REQUIRED

THERE IS NOW A HASS App FOR THIS PROJECT!

Huge thanks to @CodeNeedsCoffee for the initial work on the App! For the foreseeable future, this project will stick with MQTT. The only way to create HASS devices is MQTT or an integration.

The existing python branch will remain for users who prefer a non HASS App setup. However, docker is required and manual installation is no longer officially supported.

Warning

DO NOT contact GE / Savant for troubleshooting while using this project, open issues here and tag @baudneo for fast responses.

Async HTTP/MQTT LAN controller for Cync/C by GE devices. Local only control of most Cync devices via MQTT JSON payloads following the Home Assistant MQTT JSON schema. This project masquerades as the cloud server, allowing you to control your devices locally.

This is a work in progress, and may not work for all devices. See known devices for more information. Battery powered devices are currently not supported due to them being BTLE only.

Forked from cync-lan and cync2mqtt - All credit to iburistu and juanboro

Warning

It is HIGHLY recommended that you do NOT do any firmware upgrades to Cync devices after running cync-lan. It is extremely (change 1 param in a constructor or config) easy for Savant to disable this method of local control. While new methods may restore functionality, I'd rather not go down that route.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+ (Walrus [:=] operator and zoneinfo built-in package used) ;)
• Docker
• A minimum of 1, non battery powered, Wi-Fi (Direct Connect) Cync / C by GE device to act as the TCP <-> BT bridge (always on)
• Cync account with devices added
• MQTT broker (I recommend EMQX)
• Export devices from the Cync cloud to a YAML file; first export requires account email, password and an OTP emailed to you
  • After configuring and running the container, navigate to http://127.0.0.1:23778 to export devices from the cloud
• DNS override/redirection for cm.gelighting.com, cm-sec.gelighting.com or cm-ge.xlink.cn to a local host that will run cync-lan
• Optional: Firewall / routing rules to allow cync devices to talk to cync-lan (VLANs?)

Note

You still need to use your Cync account to add new devices as you acquire them.

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Installation

See the installation docs for more information

Important

After configuring and running the container, you must visit http://localhost:23778 in order to export your Cync devices from the Cync cloud API. Your Cync account creds are set using an env var in the docker-compose.yaml file, the web app will initiate OTP auth and export homes and each homes device list

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Re-routing / Overriding DNS

Warning

After freshly redirecting DNS: Devices that are currently talking to Cync cloud will need to be power cycled before they make a DNS request and connect to the local cync-lan server.

There are detailed instructions for OPNSense (unbound / dnscrypt-proxy), Pi-hole, Ad-Guard Home and TP-Link Omada SDN. See DNS docs for more information.

Tips

See Tips for more information on how to get the most out of this project.

Also, let me set some expectations:

1. HASS based light groups will always have a delay on state changes between each other (set group of cync lights green, they don't all change to green at the same time)

• As of 0.0.5b1, Cync switches are exposed as light entities in Home Assistant, this allows you to target a Cync light switch with RGB, brightness or white temp commands and the Cync app group/room that switch is a part of will change in unison, just like they do in the Cync app when you control a group/room, or a physical button press.
• This assumes the switch is configured to control Cync devices logically rather than physical switching of the circuit (hasn't been tested with non logical setup)
• The reason I don't want to add Cync groups/rooms is that on every change of a group/room the end user would need to re-export a config file. With this switch as a light entity method, cync-lan doesnt need to know what device belongs to what Cync group/room, the end user knows which switch controls what devices and can target the switch with commands to broadcast to the Cync group/room.
  • If you want the rooms/groups exposed as their own device/entity, open an issue to discuss.

2. There are no provisions for the Cync mobile app to work with this project, any data sent by the app is black-holed (for now, anyway; MITM proxy to record commands and responses in the future).
3. If I don't own a device, I cant test it, and if I cant test it, I cant support it easily.
   • If you want a device supported, you will need to set up a debug env (DNS redirect to a machine running socat) and send me logs of the device communicating with the cloud server until the MITM mode is implemented to capture command sequences in real-time, greatly reducing the manual labour required to debug and add unknown devices/features.
4. Custom light scenes/shows; from what I have seen it sends a large stream of binary data to the device (presumably RGB, fade/transition times, etc.) then the device executes the show/scene on a loop based on that data. This will be on the roadmap at some point once things get to a basic stable build of 0.1.0+.

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Config file

See the example config file

Export config from Cync cloud API

NEW Web App

By default, the export webserver is started when cync-lan is. Navigate to http://localhost:23778 to access the export web app.

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Env Vars

For the yes / no value, the user input is cast to a lower case string stripped of spaces:

• Yes answers: "true", "t", "yes", "y", "1", 1, "on", "o"
• No is interpreted as anything other than the yes answers

Variable	Description	Default	Type
CYNC_ENABLE_EXPORTER	Start the local device export web app	yes	str
CYNC_ACCOUNT_USERNAME	Cync account username (email) Required for the export web app		str
CYNC_ACCOUNT_PASSWORD	Cync account password Required for the export web app		str
CYNC_OVERWRITE_CONFIG_FILE	On export, overwrite cync_mesh.yaml or use a numbered system: *_1.yaml, *_2.yaml, etc.	yes	str
CYNC_MQTT_HOST	Host of MQTT broker	homeassistant.local	str
CYNC_MQTT_PORT	Port of MQTT broker	1883	int
CYNC_MQTT_USER	Username for MQTT broker		str
CYNC_MQTT_PASS	Password for MQTT broker		str
CYNC_MQTT_CONN_DELAY	Delay between MQTT re-connections (seconds)	10	int
CYNC_MQTT_DEBUG	Override MQTT debug logs (set to no for less debug level log spam)	yes	str
CYNC_DEBUG	Enable debug logging	no	str
CYNC_RAW_DEBUG	Enable raw binary message debug logging	no	str
CYNC_DEVICE_CERT	Path to cert file	certs/server.pem	str
CYNC_DEVICE_KEY	Path to key file	certs/server.key	str
CYNC_SRV_HOST	Interface to listen on	0.0.0.0	str
CYNC_PORT	Port to listen for Cync devices (Do NOT change, unless you know what you are doing)	23779	int
CYNC_EXPORT_HOST	Host for export web app	{CYNC_SRV_HOST}	str
CYNC_EXPORT_PORT	Port for export web app	23778	int
CYNC_TOPIC	MQTT topic	cync_lan	str
CYNC_HASS_TOPIC	Home Assistant topic	homeassistant	str
CYNC_HASS_STATUS_TOPIC	HASS status topic for birth / will	status	str
CYNC_HASS_BIRTH_MSG	HASS birth message	online	str
CYNC_HASS_WILL_MSG	HASS will message	offline	str
CYNC_CMD_BROADCASTS	Number of WiFi devices to send state change commands to (2+ offers noticeable command response improvements)	2	int
CYNC_MAX_TCP_CONN	Maximum WiFi devices allowed to connect at a time (keep down log spam, unneccesary load)	8	int
CYNC_TCP_WHITELIST	Comma separated string of allowed IPs (keep down log spam, unneccesary load, restrict to 'always-on' devices)	Allow ALL IPs	str
CYNC_BASE_DIR	Base directory for ALL files.	/root/cync-lan	str
CYNC_CFGAPPEND_DIR	Directory for persistent files (config, uuid, etc.) This is appended to CYNC_BASE_DIR	/config	str
CYNC_STATIC_DIR	Absolute path to where the index.html and css/js dirs/files are stored	{CYNC_BASE_DIR}/www	str
CYNC_CONFIG_DIR	Absolute path to where the persistent files are stored (cync_mesh.yaml, uuid.txt and .cloud_auth.yaml)	{CYNC_BASE_DIR}{CYNC_CFGAPPEND_DIR}	str

Controlling devices

Devices are controlled by JSON MQTT messages. This was designed to be used with Home Assistant, but you can use any MQTT client to send messages to the MQTT broker.

Please see Home Assistant MQTT documentation for more information on JSON payloads. This repo will try to stay up to date with the latest Home Assistant MQTT JSON schema.

Home Assistant

Cync-LAN uses the MQTT discovery mechanism in Home Assistant to automatically add devices. You can control the Home Assistant MQTT topic via the environment variable CYNC_HASS_TOPIC (default: homeassistant).

Debugging / socat

If your devices are not responding to commands, it's likely that the TCP communication on the device is different. You can either open an issue and I can walk you through getting good debug logs, or you can use socat to inspect (MITM) the traffic of the device communicating with the cloud server in real-time yourself by running:

# make sure to create the self-signed certs first (they will be located in ./certs/ dir)
# Older firmware devices
socat -d -d -lf /dev/stdout -x -v 2> dump.txt ssl-l:23779,reuseaddr,fork,cert=certs/server.pem,verify=0 openssl:34.73.130.191:23779,verify=0
# Newer firmware devices (Notice the last IP change)
sudo socat -d -d -lf /dev/stdout -x -v 2> dump.txt ssl-l:23779,reuseaddr,fork,cert=certs/server.pem,verify=0 openssl:35.196.85.236:23779,verify=0

In dump.txt you will see the back-and-forth communication between the device and the cloud server. > is device to server, < is server to device.

Important

I am planning on writing a MITM mode that will allow a user to capture command sequences in real-time, greatly reducing the manual labour required to debug and add unknown devices.

Firewall

Once the devices are local, they must be able to initiate a connection to the cync-lan server. If you block them from the internet, don't forget to allow them to connect to the cync-lan server (VLANs?).

OPNsense Example

Please see the example in the troubleshooting docs.

Power cycle devices after DNS re-route

Devices make a DNS query on first startup (or after a network loss, like AP reboot) - you need to power cycle all devices that are currently connected to the Cync cloud servers before they request a new DNS record and will connect to the local cync-lan server.

Troubleshooting

If you are having issues, please see the Troubleshooting docs for more information.

Buy devices to be supported

If you really want a device added, purchase it from this Amazon wish list, and it will be sent to me. I will add support ASAP.