Building a Seam-Compatible Smart Lock API

A practical guide for device manufacturers on building a robust smart lock API.

This guide outlines the technical expectations for building a smart-lock API that integrates cleanly with Seam. It covers authentication, API behavior, events, device reporting, and lock-specific features. Use this as a reference when designing or updating your API.

A Seam-compatible API delivers consistent, real-time device behavior through a predictable and modern integration surface. The following pages break down how to design each part of your API so Seam can integrate your smart locks reliably at scale.

What’s in this guide

• Implementing Authentication: how to use OAuth2 with stable account identifiers

• Implementing Your Device Model & Discovery: how to report connectivity, power, and state, and expose list/read endpoints

• Implementing Lock Actions: how to accept lock/unlock commands and report final results

• Implementing Access Codes: how to support code creation, schedules, deletion, and usage events

• Webhooks & Events: how to publish real-time updates to Seam