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Access Codes
Access codes are codes for keypad or pinpad devices. These are used when you want to give someone the ability to enter a room through a smart lock or intercom by typing a 4-8 digit code.
An Access Code is a code used for a keypad or pinpad device. You can tell Seam to create an Access Code on a device, when it should be set, and optionally the code you would like to bet. Seam will then make sure that the code is present on the device at the specified time (or, for ongoing codes, make sure it is set until you remove it)
There are two types of codes:
- ongoing: This is the default access code that is created if you don't specify any options other than the
device_id. This code will be set on the device and Seam will ensure it is set until you explicitly remove it (with/access_codes/delete). - time_bound: Time Bound codes are codes where you provide a
starts_atorends_attime. The code will be added to the device at thestarts_attime and removed at theends_attime.
Some device providers have native scheduling capabilities. For example, August allows setting a schedule in which a code is actually active. When you create
time_bound codes on a device whose provider supports native scheduling, Seam will use the native scheduling capabilities of the provider to set the code. Where the provider does not support native scheduling, Seam will use its own scheduling to explicitly set and remove the code at the starts_at and ends_at times. You can choose to override this default behavior, and always have Seam perform the scheduling by setting prefer_native_scheduling to false when creating the code.Seam is altering the behavior of access codes to never 404 unless the API user explicitly requests the deletion. At the moment, access codes will 404 if they are removed from a device, e.g. when a
time_bound access code expires.Access codes go through the following statuses. You can inspect the status by looking at
access_code.status- unset: Code is not in active time range, for ongoing codes it's never in this state
- setting: Code in active time range, Seam is contacting third party API
- set: Seam has confirmed the code is set on the device
- removing: Seam is contacting the third party API to remove the access code
- unknown: An account is disconnected and Seam cannot access the third party API to check the access code
- 404: Seam has confirmed the code is not on the device, the access code is deleted in both Seam and the third party API
Lifecycle of Access Codes with Transition Arrows
Logic that determines status of access code
Action Attempts are currently required for retrieving access codes from some endpoints like
/access_codes/create and /access_codes/update, but in the future we will return access codes directly from these endpoints and recommend polling the Access Code state, because it gives more granular state information which are appropriate in more scenarios.An Action Attempt represents Seam attempting to set the Access Code on the third party service. This means that Action Attempts for
time_bound codes will not change their status to success and give the result containing the access_code until the starts_at time.