Nest API - External PIR Sensors

Question

I am interested in using standard alarm PIR sensors to control the Nest auto-away functionality.

There is a similar question here: Nest API Query - Control of system from Intruder Alarm

1) If you manually set the status to "home" from "auto-away", will the nest then re-evaluate the auto-away status in a short while ? (I.e. If you set it to "home" whenever the PIR is triggered, will it behave as if you just walked in-front of the Nest ?)

2) In the Nest developer documentation it states the following: (https://developer.nest.com/documentation/cloud/away-guide)

Home and Away are set via user interaction in the Nest app or on the Nest Thermostat. Clients that set Home or Away must prompt and require a user confirmation for each Home/Away transition.

The Nest API provides the ability to directly set Home and Away, as well as listen for changes to these states. When setting Home/Away, it should be done as the Nest app does it: as the result of an explicit user request. Trying to algorithmically set this state runs the risk of creating a confusing user experience and is forbidden by our UI & Marketing Guidelines.

This suggests that using external PIR sensors to remove the auto-away status is forbidden as the user has not explicitly requested the change. Is there a better way to do this or is the text in the Nest developer documentation just over-cautious ? The responses in the other question were talking about changing it based on the alarm being armed and disarmed which are explicit user inputs rather than just being changed by walking in-front of the PIR sensors.

Thanks, -Andrew.

Answer 1

If you're building it for yourself then its probably ok. If you are building something meant for distribution then you'll need to get a users permission to make the change. That kind of transition is checked for during Nest certification.