Smart devices are the reason to bother with Rust+ at all. A paired Smart Switch turns your turrets on from the bus. A Storage Monitor on the Tool Cupboard tells you the upkeep is about to run out before it does. A Smart Alarm wakes you when someone is at the door. Pairing them is quick once you know the three rules.

The three rules

1. Pair the server first. Devices belong to a paired server. If the server is not in your app (or your bot), device pairings have nowhere to go. See pairing a server if that step fails.
2. Pairing is per player. Your pairing is yours. A teammate who wants to control the same switch pairs it separately with their own account. This is also true for the bot: the device is paired under whichever Steam account the bot has credentials for.
3. Wipes remove devices. When the map wipes, the entities are gone and so are the pairings. Expect to pair again after every wipe.

How to pair any smart device

1. Hold a Wire Tool (or the Hose Tool for fluid devices) and look at the device.
2. Hold the interact key to open the device's menu and choose Pair.
3. On your phone (or in the bot's Discord channel) accept the pairing notification within a few seconds; it expires like a server pairing.
4. The device appears in the app under the server, with a default name you can change.

If nothing arrives on the phone, the same push-delivery problems as server pairing apply: notifications.

Smart Switch

What you get: an on/off toggle in the app, and the device's current state. Wire it between a power source and whatever you want to control, or use it as a signal into logic components.

Practical wiring: put the switch between the battery and your turret circuit, not between the source and the battery; you want the battery charging regardless of whether the turrets are on. Switches consume nothing themselves.

In rustplusplus each switch gets a Discord embed with a toggle, a custom in-game command (for example !turrets), and automation modes such as on only at night, on when any teammate is online, or on when a teammate is nearby. Several switches can be grouped and toggled together. The Smart Devices documentation lists every mode.

Smart Alarm

What you get: a notification when the alarm's input receives power. It reports the transition to powered, so it must sit behind a sensor, not directly on a battery. The full behaviour, including the cooldown between notifications, is in smart alarm not working.

Practical wiring: battery → HBHF sensor (set to exclude authorised players) → Smart Alarm. For doors, a Laser Detector across the doorway works the same way. One alarm per zone; name them by location so the notification tells you where to look.

In rustplusplus alarms post to the alarms channel and can also be announced in team chat.

Storage Monitor

What you get: the contents of the container it is attached to, live. On a Tool Cupboard that means every upkeep resource and how long it lasts, which is the single most useful thing a Rust+ device can tell you. On a large box it means checking whether the sulfur is still there without walking to it.

Placement: attach it to the container (it snaps to the TC, boxes and vending machines), then power it. It consumes 1 rW. Pair it like any device.

In rustplusplus monitors post to the storagemonitors channel and feed the in-game !upkeep command, which reports remaining time for every monitored TC at once. Power it from the same protected circuit as your alarms so it survives the night.

Cameras

CCTV and PTZ cameras are not "paired". You view them by entering the identifier set on the camera in game, provided you are authorised on it (or it is a public monument camera). They need power. How the feed works.

Things that break device pairings

• Wipe. Everything is gone; pair again.
• The device was picked up and placed again. It is a new entity; pair again.
• Server re-paired after an IP change. Devices stay listed but may need re-pairing if the server's identity changed.
• Expired bot credentials. Devices paired under credentials that have since expired stop reporting to the bot; regenerate credentials and pair again (why credentials expire).

A minimal setup that covers a solo or duo base

• One Storage Monitor on the TC.
• One Smart Switch controlling turrets.
• One Smart Alarm behind an HBHF sensor at the main entrance.
• A battery sized so the alarm and monitor survive the night; a power planner is coming to this site; until then budget 1 rW each for alarm and monitor plus 10 rW per turret.

Pair all three, name them, and you have the base covered from the phone or from Discord.