Go Venstar

Homebridge plugin for local Venstar thermostats using the Venstar local API.

Features

• Discovers Venstar thermostats with SSDP.
• Supports optional manual IP/hostname entries for thermostats that miss discovery.
• Keeps cached HomeKit accessories when a thermostat is temporarily offline.
• Uses request timeouts, state caching, and background polling to avoid slow HomeKit reads.
• Exposes thermostat mode, current temperature, target temperature, heat/cool thresholds, display units, and fan setting.

Requirements

• Homebridge 1.8 or newer.
• Node.js 20+.
• Venstar thermostats connected to Wi-Fi.
• Local API access enabled on each thermostat.
• Homebridge running on the same local network as the thermostats.

Setup

1. Connect each Venstar thermostat to Wi-Fi.

2. Enable local API access on each thermostat. On many Venstar models this is under the thermostat's Wi-Fi settings.

3. Make sure Homebridge is running on the same local network as the thermostats.

4. Install the plugin through Homebridge UI or with:

   npm install -g homebridge-go-venstar

5. Add the GoVenstar platform in Homebridge.

The plugin autodiscovers local Venstar thermostats with SSDP, so most installs only need the platform entry below.

Minimal config:

{
  "platform": "GoVenstar",
  "name": "GoVenstar"
}

If autodiscovery is unreliable, add static hosts:

{
  "platform": "GoVenstar",
  "name": "GoVenstar",
  "hosts": ["192.168.1.50", "192.168.1.51"]
}

Options

• discover: enable SSDP discovery. Default: true.
• hosts: optional thermostat IP addresses or hostnames to query directly.
• discoveryTimeoutMs: SSDP discovery window. Default: 5000.
• requestTimeoutMs: HTTP timeout for thermostat API calls. Default: 3000.
• pollIntervalMs: background refresh interval. Use 0 to disable polling. Default: 30000.
• removeStaleAccessories: remove cached thermostats that are not found during discovery. Default: false.

Troubleshooting

If a thermostat is intermittently missing, leave removeStaleAccessories disabled and add the thermostat IP to hosts. The plugin will keep the HomeKit accessory and mark it unavailable only when API calls fail.

If HomeKit is slow to update, increase requestTimeoutMs only if the thermostat responds slowly. Very high values can make HomeKit feel less responsive.