Dasher!!

Dasher is a simple way to bridge your Amazon Dash buttons to HTTP services.

Do you have a Home Automation service set up like Home Assistant, openHab, or maybe a SmartThings hub? Or do you simply want a convenient way to wake devices local to your network (like a NAS that's serving media)? Using Dasher, you can easily command them to do something whenever your Dash button is pressed.

This of course goes for anything you can reach via HTTP (and wake on LAN via magic packets). That includes IFTTT by way of the Maker channel 🤘

How it works

It's pretty simple. Press a button and an HTTP request is made. That's it.

You configure your Dash button(s) via config/config.json. You add its network address, a url, an http method, and optionally a content body and headers.

When Dasher starts, it will listen for your button being pressed. Once it sees it, it will then make the HTTP request (or send the magic packet) that you defined for it in your config.

Configuration

You define your buttons via the config/config.json file. It's a simple JSON file that holds an array of buttons.

Here's an example.

{"buttons":[
  {
    "name": "Notify",
    "address": "43:02:dc:b2:ab:23",
    "interface": "en0",
    "timeout": "60000",
    "url": "https://maker.ifttt.com/trigger/Notify/with/key/5212ssx2k23k2k",
    "method": "POST",
    "json": true,
    "body": {"value1": "any value", "value2": "another value", "value3": "wow, even more value"}
  },
  {
    "name": "Party Time",
    "address": "d8:02:dc:98:63:49",
    "url": "http://192.168.1.55:8123/api/services/scene/turn_on",
    "method": "POST",
    "headers": {"authorization": "your_password"},
    "json": true,
    "body": {"entity_id": "scene.party_time"},
    "formData": {
      "var1":"val1",
      "var2":" val2"
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "Wake my Plex-Server",
    "address": "50:f5:da:cc:dd:ee",
    "targetMac": "aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff"
  },
  {
    "name": "Start Cooking Playlist",
    "address": "66:a0:dc:98:d2:63",
    "url": "http://192.168.1.55:8181/playlists/cooking/play",
    "method": "PUT"
  },
]}

Buttons take up to 7 options.

• name - Optionally give the button action a name.
• address - The MAC address of the button.
• targetMac - The MAC address of the device to wake up (will ignore subsequent configuration).
• interface - Optionally listen for the button on a specific network interface. (enX on OS X and ethX on Linux)
• timeout - Optionally set the time required between button press detections (if multiple pressese are detected) in milliseconds
• url - The URL that will be requested.
• method - The HTTP method of the request.
• headers - Optional headers to use in the request.
• json - Optionally declare the content body as being JSON in the request.
• body - Optionally provide a content-body that will be sent with the request.
• formData - optionally add formData that will be sent with the request.

Setting and using these values should be enough to cover almost every kind of HTTP request you need to make.

You can find more examples in the example config.

Protips

Here are few protips about Dash buttons that will help you plan how to use them.

• Dash buttons take ~5 seconds to trigger your action.
• Use DHCP Reservation on your Dash button to lower the latency from ~5s to ~1s.
• Dash buttons are discrete buttons. There is no on or off. They just do a single command.
• Dash buttons can not be used for another ~10 seconds after they've been pressed.

Dash buttons should be used to trigger specific things. I.E. a scene in your home automation, as a way to turn everything off in your house, or as a simple counter.

Setup

You'll want to set up your Dash buttons as well as Dasher.

Dash button

Setting up your Dash button is as simple as following the instructions provided by Amazon EXCEPT FOR THE LAST STEP. Just follow the instructions to set it up in their mobile app. When you get to the step where it asks you to pick which product you want to map it to, just quit the setup process.

The button will be set up and available on your network.

Find Dash Button

Once your Dash button is set up and on your network, you need to determine its MAC address. Run this:

script/find_button

You will be prompted for your password, and then it will listen for your Dash button. Click your button and look for the MAC address reported. Once you have its MAC address you will be able to configure it in Dasher.

When running in Docker, just use following command out of this project's directory:

docker-compose exec dasher node node_modules/node-dash-button/bin/findbutton | grep Amazon

Dasher app

Simply clone and install the dependencies.

note: You might need to install libpcap-dev or npm on Linux first.

$ sudo apt-get install libpcap-dev
$ sudo apt-get install npm

Set up Dasher.

git clone https://github.com/maddox/dasher.git
cd dasher
npm install

Then create a config.json in /config to set up your Dash buttons. Use the example to help you.

Running it locally

Listening for Dash buttons requires root. So you need to launch Dasher with sudo.

sudo npm run start

Auto Start on OS X

After setting it up with script/bootstrap just run script/install to load Dasher with launchd. Dasher will now start on boot.

You can uninstall it with script/uninstall and restart it with script/restart.

Raspberry Pi

Advanced information on autostarting Dasher on your Raspberry Pi can be found here.

Running it via Docker

If you want to run the image via docker, you can certainly do so via following single command:

docker-compose up

or to run in backgroupnd

docker-compose up -d

Contributions

• fork
• create a feature branch
• open a Pull Request