UniFi

localProven against a real device on 2026-09-04by ALYT

Who is home from the phones on your Wi-Fi, and what every device on the network is doing, from your UniFi console.

What it adds to a house

adds sensors and cameras.

How a person connects it

Method: form. An API key from the console: UniFi Network, Settings, Control Plane, Integrations, Create API key. It stays on your network.

Field	Kind	Required
Console address (consoleUrl)	text	yes
API key (apiKey)	password, secret	yes
Phones that mean someone is home (phones)	text	no

What it can look for

Yes: “Look at the network”.

What stops working when it is disconnected

Presence stops updating and the network’s view of each device goes stale.

The descriptor

The same object the console and the phone render from, served for a program at /connectors/unifi.json.

{
  "source": "built-in",
  "visibility": "public",
  "listed": true,
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "docsUrl": "https://developers.alyt.com/connectors/unifi",
  "kind": "UNIFI",
  "name": "UniFi",
  "icon": "router",
  "promise": "Who is home from the phones on your Wi-Fi, and what every device on the network is doing, from your UniFi console.",
  "connectivity": "local",
  "brings": [
    "sensor",
    "camera"
  ],
  "connect": {
    "method": "form",
    "help": "An API key from the console: UniFi Network, Settings, Control Plane, Integrations, Create API key. It stays on your network.",
    "fields": [
      {
        "key": "consoleUrl",
        "label": "Console address",
        "kind": "text",
        "secret": false,
        "required": true,
        "placeholder": "https://192.168.1.1",
        "help": "The router's address, with https."
      },
      {
        "key": "apiKey",
        "label": "API key",
        "kind": "password",
        "secret": true,
        "required": true
      },
      {
        "key": "phones",
        "label": "Phones that mean someone is home",
        "kind": "text",
        "secret": false,
        "required": false,
        "placeholder": "Luca's iPhone, Anna's Pixel",
        "help": "Their names as UniFi shows them in the client list, separated by commas. Each becomes a presence sensor. They must be on the Wi-Fi when you connect, so ALYT can learn which is which."
      }
    ]
  },
  "discovery": {
    "verb": "Look at the network"
  },
  "disconnect": {
    "consequence": "Presence stops updating and the network's view of each device goes stale."
  },
  "author": {
    "kind": "alyt",
    "name": "ALYT",
    "url": "https://alyt.com"
  },
  "verification": {
    "level": "proven",
    "at": "2026-09-04T00:20:00.000Z"
  }
}

The guide

UniFi connects ALYT to a local UniFi console over the home network. It reads the console’s own API, so the house keeps working when the cloud is down. For a household, this connector turns Wi‑Fi clients into presence sensors and shows the network’s own devices. For a developer, it exposes sensor and camera things, and it also reads the network’s view of connected devices so ALYT can tell whether a device is home, offline, or has moved.

What you connect

The connect form needs three fields: consoleUrl, apiKey, and optional phones.

consoleUrl is the UniFi console address, with https://. It points at the router or console on the LAN. apiKey is the API key created in UniFi Network under Settings, Control Plane, Integrations, Create API key. The key stays on the network. phones is a comma-separated list of client names as UniFi shows them. Each named phone becomes a presence sensor, and the phones must be on the Wi‑Fi when you connect so ALYT can match names to devices.

The connector uses local connectivity only. A DEV key acts in a sandbox, and a LIVE key only works for its own connector.

What it exposes

This connector reads three kinds of things from the console:

• Presence sensors for the named phones. A phone on the Wi‑Fi means someone is home. If a phone leaves, the sensor changes after the absence has lasted long enough for Wi‑Fi sleep behavior.
• The network’s own devices, such as the router and access points. These appear as network things with their online status, connected client count, address, and model.
• Later, UniFi Protect cameras through the same family of local API access.

The connector also reads the network’s current client list, so discovery can match the names you entered and can show which named phone is not on the network yet.

What it cannot do

This connector does not write to the network. It is read only. It cannot change device settings, manage clients, or control network behavior. In ALYT, POST /unifi/control answers a failure for write requests.

It also uses one site. If a console has several sites, ALYT takes the first one it sees.

Discovery and presence behavior

Discovery means “look at the network.” ALYT reads the client list and the device list again. When a named phone is present, ALYT records it as home. When it is absent, the home state waits until the away threshold has passed. That matters because phones can drop Wi‑Fi briefly while sleeping.

The network’s own devices remain visible even when no household phone is matched. This gives the household a continuous view of the console, the access points, and whether clients are still attached.

When it fails

First check the console address and confirm it uses https://. Then confirm the API key was created in the UniFi console and has permission to read the network. If the console has several sites, remember that ALYT uses the first one.

If a phone does not become a sensor, check that its name matches UniFi’s client list exactly and that the phone was on the Wi‑Fi when you connected. If a presence sensor seems stale, check whether the device has left the network and whether enough time has passed for away detection.

If the console refuses the connection, check the key and the local certificate on the console address. Because this is local-only, the household should keep the console reachable on the LAN.

Household view

A household sees who is home from the phones on Wi‑Fi and sees the state of the network devices. The console stays local to the home, and the house continues to work even if the cloud is unavailable.