Names and groups

A MAC address is hard to type and harder to remember. Give each device a name in config.yaml, put devices that go together in a group, and every command takes those names in place of the MAC address.

Name a device

name: gives one device a name. groups: puts it in one group or more:

devices:
  "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF":
    name: "kitchen"
    groups: [ambient]
  "11:22:33:44:55:66":
    name: "desk"
    groups: [ambient, office]
  "22:33:44:55:66:77":
    name: "shelf"
    groups: [office]

A group exists as soon as one device carries it. There is no list of groups to keep in step. A name and a group match whole and ignore case, so Kitchen finds kitchen and kit finds nothing.

Drive a group

A command sent to a group goes to every member at once:

$ govee on ambient
$ govee brightness ambient 40

Each member answers on its own:

• A member that fails stops no other one. Its line goes to stderr, and the command exits with the code of the first member that failed.
• Each member uses its own modes. --mode restricts every member to that mode. A member that does not enable it fails, and the others go ahead.
• Each member reads the value against its own range. One brightness can be in range for one member and out of range for another.

Write a target

A target is what you type where a command expects a device. It takes one of four forms:

A command that controls a light, such as on or brightness, takes an identity, a name or a group. govee devices and govee identify take any number of targets, a model included.

A command that controls a light reads the name or the group from config.yaml alone, with no scan. govee devices lists what is already known, so scan first: a model, a name and a group match among the devices a scan found.