First Time Setup

First-Time Setup

Once you've finished Installation and ShellyElevate is launching, there's a small list of things to configure. The first launch drops you straight into the settings screen. After that, you'll need the gesture (below) or the API to get back in.

The bare minimum

The only setting that really matters out of the box is the WebView URL, the page ShellyElevate should point at. Usually that's your Home Assistant instance, e.g. http://192.168.1.50:8123. You can also point it at a dedicated dashboard server, a NodeRED page, an internal status page, or anything else served over HTTP/HTTPS.

If you don't want a WebView at all and just want the hardware exposed over MQTT/HTTP, enable Lite Mode instead and skip the URL.

The "Search for HA URL" button on the settings screen scans the local network for a Home Assistant instance, which is usually faster than typing.

Useful things to configure while you're in there

A non-exhaustive but high-value list:

• Automatic brightness: on by default, recommended. Drops the brightness in dim rooms and ramps back up in daylight. You can still set a minimum floor.
• Screen saver: on by default, 45-second idle delay. See Screensavers for the types and wake triggers.
• MQTT: point it at your broker and the device will publish sensors and accept commands. With Home Assistant auto-discovery (also on by default), every entity shows up in HA automatically. See Home Assistant Integration.
• Ignore SSL Errors: turn this on only if your HA is on https:// with a self-signed cert.

For everything else, see the full Configuration Reference.

Getting back into settings later

This is the part everyone forgets. There are three ways:

1. The tap gesture. On the running dashboard, tap the right edge 10 times in a row, then the left edge 10 times. Settings opens. The order matters: right first, then left. (if i remember correctly 👍)

2. ADB.

adb shell am start -n me.rapierxbox.shellyelevatev2/.SettingsActivity

3. The HTTP API. From anywhere on your network:

curl -X POST http://<device-ip>:8080/settings \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"webviewUrl": "http://192.168.1.50:8123"}'

The HTTP API can set any setting key. See Configuration Reference for the full list. There's no authentication, so this is local-network only. (Don't expose port 8080 to the internet.)

What happens on first launch

A few things to be aware of, since they can look like bugs:

• It looks like nothing is happening for ~20 seconds after a reboot. That's deliberate. There's a 20-second cooldown on the reboot API after start, and the WebView itself takes a few seconds to come up.
• The settings screen forces full brightness while open. The previous brightness is restored when you close it. This is to make settings readable in any room.
• Network not ready? If the device hasn't connected to Wi-Fi yet by the time the WebView tries to load, you'll see a small offline page. ShellyElevate retries automatically with exponential backoff, then settles into 30-second polling. You don't need to do anything.
• If the URL is missing or wrong, you'll just see the offline page until you fix it. The page also tells you what to do.

Next steps

• For HA users: Home Assistant Integration.
• For non-HA setups: MQTT (if you have any broker) or HTTP API (if you want to script things directly).
• To build a custom dashboard that talks to the hardware: JavaScript Interface.