Rachio smart home integration, free and open source
Unofficial connector: Rachio sprinkler zones, watering, rain delay and schedules.
Published by LM1LC3N7
- Devices
- Version 0.1.1
- Requires Gladys >=5.1.0
- ★ 0
Unofficial connector, not affiliated with Rachio. It brings your Rachio smart sprinkler controllers into Gladys through the public Rachio API: the zones, the watering in progress, the rain delay and the schedules. Rachio is a trademark of Rachio, Inc.
What you get
| Surface | Content |
|---|---|
| One device per controller | online, On switch (off: standby, the schedules stop), watering now, the zone watering now, the minutes left, the hours of rain delay left |
| One device per enabled zone | a Watering switch (on: waters for the default time, off: stops the controller), the last watering ("2026-10-12 06:00 · 15 min", in the controller's time) |
| Scene triggers | watering started, watering finished (any zone or one zone), rain delay set or cleared, controller offline or online |
| Scene actions | water a zone, water several zones, run a schedule, skip a schedule, stop watering, set a rain delay (0 cancels it) |
| Dashboard widget | Rachio garden: a controller, its zones and their last watering, buttons to water a zone, stop, run a schedule and set a rain delay |
Setup
- Get your API key: in the Rachio app, open Profile, then API key and Copy; or on app.rach.io, Account settings, then Get API key.
- Install the integration, paste the key in API key and save. The status says "Connected to Rachio" with the number of controllers and zones.
- Open Discovery and add the controllers and the zones you want. Disabled zones are not offered.
- Put the Rachio garden widget on a dashboard (pick a controller, or leave it empty for the first one).
The Test Rachio button lists the controllers, the zones, the names of the schedules (the scene actions use them) and the API calls left today.
Scenes
- Watering started / Watering finished: leave the controller and the zone empty for any zone, or pick one. Variables: the zone name and number, the planned duration (started), the minutes watered (finished). A watering started from Gladys counts too. When a schedule moves to the next zone, the previous zone finishes and the next one starts.
- Rain delay set or cleared: set also fires when the delay is extended; cleared fires when it is canceled or simply over. Variables: the end date and the hours left.
- Controller offline or online: the controller lost its Wi-Fi, or came back.
- Water a zone (minutes optional), water several zones (one after the other, in zone order, the same minutes each), run a schedule and skip a schedule (by name, as in the Rachio app), stop watering (one controller, or every online one), set a rain delay (hours, 0 cancels).
A zone runs 1 to 180 minutes (3 hours, Rachio's limit), a rain delay up to 168 hours (7 days). Stopping a zone stops the whole controller: that is how Rachio works.
How fresh is it
Rachio allows a limited number of API calls a day per key. The integration reads the account every 10 minutes (option Refresh interval, 5 to 60) and follows a running watering every 2 minutes, so a watering started by a Rachio schedule or the app is seen within the refresh interval. After a command from Gladys, the controller is read back 20 seconds later.
With Gladys Plus, paste your Open API key in the "Gladys Plus webhooks" block of the configuration: the integration registers a Rachio webhook and each Rachio event (zone started, rain delay, offline…) triggers a read at once. The regular reading goes on: it stays the reference.
If fewer than 100 calls are left for the day, the integration reads once an hour until Rachio resets the counter; if none is left, it waits for the reset and says so in the status.
Troubleshooting
- "Rachio refused the API key": copy the key again from the Rachio app and save; the integration stops reading until the key changes.
- A zone is missing: it is disabled in the Rachio app; enable it, then run Discovery again.
- A schedule is not found: use the Test Rachio button to see the exact names.
- A short watering was not seen: without Gladys Plus, a watering shorter than the refresh interval can start and end between two readings.
- Logs: the integration's log level is set with the
LOG_LEVELvariable.
Privacy
The API key is stored encrypted by Gladys and only sent to api.rach.io. The
integration sends Rachio nothing else than the commands you give and the
Gladys Plus relay address when webhooks are on.
Configuration settings
These are the settings Rachio asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.
| Setting | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rachio sprinklers in Gladys | section | No | Unofficial connector, not affiliated with Rachio. It reads your Rachio account through the public Rachio API: one device per controller (online, standby, watering now, zone and time left, rain delay) and one per enabled zone (a switch that waters it, last watering), scene triggers when watering starts or finishes, a rain delay is set or cleared and a controller goes offline, scene actions to water, run or skip a schedule, stop and delay, and a "garden" dashboard widget. Get your API key in the Rachio app (Profile, then API key, Copy) or on app.rach.io (Account settings, Get API key). With Gladys Plus, Rachio events arrive in real time. Rachio is a trademark of Rachio, Inc. |
| API key | secret | Yes | Stored encrypted by Gladys and only sent to api.rach.io. |
| Default watering time (minutes) | number | No | Used when a zone switch is turned on, and when a scene or the widget gives no duration. |
| Refresh interval (minutes) | number | No | How often the account is read. Rachio allows a limited number of API calls a day per key: 10 minutes keeps two controllers far under it. A running watering is followed every 2 minutes whatever this value. |
How to install Rachio in Gladys
- In Gladys, open Integrations: Rachio appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
- Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (
ghcr.io/lm1lc3n7/gladys-rachio:0.1.1), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration). - Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
- You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/LM1LC3N7/gladys-rachio.
Rachio requires Gladys >=5.1.0. 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
Rachio 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 LM1LC3N7, not by the Gladys core team.
- Browse all external integrations
- Discover the native integrations built into Gladys
- Build and publish your own external integration
- Source code on GitHub — source of this documentation