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GARDENA smart system integration for Gladys Assistant

GARDENA smart system integration for Gladys Assistant

Control your GARDENA mowers, valves, power sockets and sensors from Gladys.

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Control your GARDENA garden from Gladys: robotic mowers, water valves, outdoor power sockets and soil sensors. The integration talks to the official public GARDENA smart system API, the same one the GARDENA app uses, so everything stays in sync in both directions.

What you need​

  • a GARDENA smart gateway already installed, with your devices paired and working in the GARDENA app;
  • a free account on the Husqvarna developer portal (GARDENA belongs to the Husqvarna Group) — the API is free for personal use.

The integration never talks to your devices directly: GARDENA devices speak a proprietary radio protocol to the gateway, and the gateway only talks to the GARDENA cloud. An Internet connection is therefore required.

Step 1 — Create your API application​

  1. Go to https://developer.husqvarnagroup.cloud/ and click Sign in.
  2. Sign in with your usual GARDENA account (the one from the GARDENA app). There is no separate account to create.
  3. Open My applications and click New application. Give it any name, for example Gladys. The redirect URI is not used by this integration: you can leave it empty or put http://localhost.
  4. On the application page, click Connect new API and connect the GARDENA smart system API. This step is easy to miss, and without it the API answers 403 Forbidden to every request.
  5. Copy the Application key and the Application secret shown on that page.

Keep the Authentication API connected as well — it is usually added automatically, and it is the one that issues the token.

Step 2 — Configure the integration in Gladys​

  1. Paste the Application key and the Application secret in the configuration screen, then save.
  2. Click Test the connection: the integration authenticates and lists the locations (gardens) of your account.
  3. Go to the Discover tab: every GARDENA device of your account appears. Create the ones you want to use in Gladys.

Optional settings:

SettingWhat it does
Location idRestrict the integration to a single garden. Leave empty to use all of them.
GARDENA API refreshMinimum delay between two full reads of the GARDENA API, the safety net behind the real-time stream. This is what spends your weekly request quota — see the table below. Default: one hour.
Default durationHow long a valve waters, or a socket stays on, when you switch it on from Gladys.
Power socket switch-onSwitch off automatically after the default duration, or stay on until switched off.
Mower startStarting the mower can obey its own calendar, or override it for a fixed duration.
Mower stopStopping the mower can park it until its next scheduled task, or cancel the schedule until further notice.

What you get in Gladys​

GARDENA deviceFeatures created
smart Mower (SILENO...)Mowing (on/off), activity, state, last error, operating hours, battery, signal
smart Water ControlWatering (on/off), activity, watering time left, battery, signal
smart Irrigation ControlOne watering switch, activity and time left per outlet, named as in the GARDENA app
smart Power (outdoor socket)On/Off, activity, time left, signal
smart Sensor / smart Soil SensorSoil humidity, soil temperature, ambient temperature, light intensity, battery, signal

Switching a valve on starts a manual watering of the configured duration: the GARDENA API has no "open forever" command on a valve, which is exactly what you want from a home automation system connected to a water tap.

The on/off state of a mower, a valve or a socket always reflects what GARDENA reports, not what Gladys asked for: a mower that came home because of the rain, or a valve opened from the GARDENA app, shows up correctly in Gladys.

Real time​

The integration keeps a websocket open to GARDENA for each location, which is the supported way to follow a garden: a change made on the device, in the GARDENA app or by a schedule reaches Gladys within a second or two. The scheduled refresh is only a safety net for a missed message.

GARDENA closes that websocket about every two hours, on purpose: the integration reconnects on its own, and resynchronizes each time.

Gladys ticks its devices every minute (its shortest supported interval), but that tick does not call GARDENA: the integration answers from the picture it already holds, and only re-reads the GARDENA API once the picture is older than the GARDENA API refresh setting. Whatever the number of devices in your garden, one refresh costs one API call.

Staying inside the GARDENA request quota​

GARDENA grants a limited number of API requests per week to a free personal application. This integration is built around that constraint: the real-time websocket costs nothing per event, so the requests it spends are almost entirely the periodic safety-net refresh.

What one week costs, whatever the number of devices in your garden (a refresh reads the whole location in a single call):

GARDENA API refreshRefreshesWebsocket URLsTokensTotal / week
15 minutes672847763
30 minutes336847427
1 hour (default)168847259
2 hours84847175
6 hours28847119

The two fixed costs are unavoidable: GARDENA closes the real-time stream about every two hours and a new URL must be requested (~84 a week), and the access token is renewed daily (7 a week, on the separate authentication API).

Commands add one request each — switching a valve or a socket, starting the mower. A hundred commands a week is a hundred requests: with the default refresh, that still leaves a wide margin.

Two habits keep you safe:

  • do not lower the refresh below one hour unless you know your quota allows it. The real-time stream already brings every change within seconds; the refresh only catches what a dropped websocket could have missed;
  • avoid restarting the integration in a loop: each start costs one location listing plus one full read.

If GARDENA ever answers "too many requests", the integration suspends its REST refreshes for one hour on its own and keeps running on the real-time stream, instead of insisting and digging the hole deeper.

Actions​

  • Test the connection — authenticates and lists the locations of the account. Use it first when something looks wrong.
  • Refresh the devices — re-reads the account, for example after adding a device in the GARDENA app.
  • Stop all watering — closes every valve of the chosen device until its next scheduled task. Handy in a scene, or when you want to walk in the garden.

Troubleshooting​

"GARDENA refused the credentials" — the Application key or secret is wrong, or the GARDENA smart system API is not connected to your application on the developer portal (step 1.4). This is by far the most common cause.

A device shows an orange "unreachable" badge — the GARDENA gateway does not see it anymore (radio link offline): the device is out of range, switched off, or its batteries are empty. Gladys keeps the last known values instead of pretending they are current.

"GARDENA is rate-limiting the integration" — the API is throttling. The integration spaces its calls out and retries, but if you increased the refresh frequency a lot, put it back to a higher value: the real-time stream already gives you the changes.

No device in the Discover tab — check that your devices show up in the GARDENA app, and that the location filter (if you set one) matches the right garden.

GARDENA is a registered trademark of the Husqvarna Group. This is an independent community integration, neither affiliated with, endorsed by nor supported by GARDENA or the Husqvarna Group.

Configuration settings​

These are the settings GARDENA smart system asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.

SettingTypeRequiredDescription
Connect your GARDENA accountsectionNoThis integration uses the official public GARDENA smart system API. Create a free account on the Husqvarna developer portal, sign in with your GARDENA (Husqvarna) account, create an application, connect the "GARDENA smart system API" to it, then copy its Application key and Application secret below.
Application keystringYesThe Application key of your application on the Husqvarna developer portal.
Application secretsecretYesThe Application secret of the same application. It is stored encrypted and never sent back to the browser.
Location id (optional)stringNoRestrict the integration to a single GARDENA location (garden). Leave empty to use every location of the account.
GARDENA API refresh (s)numberNoMinimum delay between two full reads of the GARDENA API, the safety net behind the real-time stream. GARDENA counts a weekly request quota and this is what spends it: one hour costs about 170 calls a week, fifteen minutes would cost about 670. Changes already arrive in real time, so keep it high.
Default duration (min)numberNoHow long a valve waters, or a power socket stays on, when you switch it on from Gladys.
Power socket switch-onselectNoWhat happens when a GARDENA power socket is switched on from Gladys.
Mower startselectNoWhat starting the mower from Gladys means: let it obey its own calendar, or override it for a fixed duration.
Mowing duration (min)numberNoUsed when the mower start mode overrides the schedule.
Mower stopselectNoWhat stopping the mower from Gladys means: park it until the next scheduled task, or cancel the schedule entirely.

How to install GARDENA smart system in Gladys​

  1. In Gladys, open Integrations: GARDENA smart system appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
  2. Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (ghcr.io/nagromdark/gladys-gardena:1.0.1), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration).
  3. Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
  4. You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/Nagromdark/gladys-gardena.

GARDENA smart system requires Gladys >=4.85.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.

Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.

About external integrations​

GARDENA smart system is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by Nagromdark, not by the Gladys core team.

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