Seam Components may be used on any website, in any web app, and with any framework.
For this guide, we expect you to have a backend server and a client frontend react application. If you want to integrate Seam using only a client without a backend, you'll need to .
Seam provides React components and hooks to connect and control many types of smart devices. This guide provides a rapid introduction to using React components with Client Sessions.
What is a Client Session Token?
A Client Session Token allows a device owner to make API requests to Seam where interactions are restricted only to the devices they own. To enable your users to interact with their devices, you'll need to create a client session and pass its token to the <SeamProvider />.
1 — Install the Seam SDK on your Server
Seam provides client libraries for many languages such as Javascript, Python, Ruby, and PHP, as well as a Postman collection and spec.
Javascript:npm i seam (, )
Python:pip install seam (, )
Ruby:bundle add seam (, )
PHP:composer require seamapi/seam (, )
Once installed, to get your API key, and export it as an environment variable:
This guide uses a Sandbox Workspace. Only virtual devices can be connected. If you need to connect a real August Lock, use a non-sandbox workspace and API key.
2 - Install @seamapi/react in your React application
npm install --save @seamapi/react
3 — Create a Seam Client Session on your Server, and pass it to the Client
We'll start by writing some server code that returns a client session. There are a lot of ways to do this depending on your server framework:
Create an endpoint such as /api/seam/get_client_session and call it from your frontend app.
Inject the client session token in your html if you're using an HTML templating engine.
For this guide, we'll assume you're creating an endpoint that will return a client session token. This is often appropriate for Single Page Applications.
import { Seam } from "seamapi"
export default (req, res) => {
// Handle authentication logic.
const userId = req.auth.userId
// Pull any connected accounts associated with this user.
// If the user will create connect webviews from the client using the client session token,
// e.g., via the <ConnectAccountButton /> component,
// ensure your application associates those connected account ids here,
// otherwise the client will not see devices connected from those accounts.
const accountsAssociatedWithUser = [{ seamConnectedAccountId: "..." }]
const seam = new Seam()
// Get or create the client session for the user.
// Pass an array of connected_account_ids, connect_webview_ids or both.
// If the client session already exists, Seam will update the allowed connected_account_ids
// and connect_webview_ids to the latest value provided here.
const clientSession = await seam.clientSessions.getOrCreate({
user_identifier_key: userId,
connected_account_ids: accountsAssociatedWithUser.map(
(acc) => acc.seamConnectedAccountId
),
})
res.status(200).json({
token: clientSession.token,
})
}
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers\Api;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
class SeamController extends Controller
{
public function getSeamClientSession()
{
// Handle authentication logic.
$userId = request()->userId;
// Pull any connected accounts associated with this user.
// If the user will create connect webviews from the client using the client session token,
// e.g., via the <ConnectAccountButton /> component,
// ensure your application associates those connected account ids here,
// otherwise the client will not see devices connected from those accounts.
$accountsAssociatedWithUser = array(["seamConnectedAccountId" => "..."]);
$data = [
// Get or create the client session for the user.
// Pass an array of connected_account_ids, connect_webview_ids or both.
// If the client session already exists, Seam will update the allowed connected_account_ids
// and connect_webview_ids to the latest value provided here.
'seamClientSession' => $seam->client_sessions->get_or_create(
connected_account_ids: array_column($accountsAssociatedWithUser, 'seamConnectedAccountId');
)
];
return response()->json($data);
}
}
Awesome! We can now request this from the frontend client application using a hook like this:
// lib/hooks/use-seam-client-session-token.js
import { useState, useEffect } from "react"
export const useSeamClientSessionToken = () => {
const { myAppAuthToken } = useAuth() // or however you manage client side auth
const [token, setToken] = useState()
useEffect(async () => {
const res = await fetch("/api/seam/get_client_session", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
Authorization: `Bearer ${myAppAuthToken}`,
},
})
if (res.ok) {
const data = await res.json()
setToken(res.token)
}
}, [myAppAuthToken])
return token
}
Why do we need the backend for getting the Client Session Token? It allows you to use your application's existing authentication! If you want to have Seam handle all the user authentication, you can use a publishable key, but we recommend using client session tokens!
4 - Use Your Client Session Token to Display a User's Devices
