# Trigger Gladys ambiance scenes with NFC cards **URL:** \ **Category:** Scènes\ **Created:** [July 23, 2026, 5:21am UTC](https://community.gladysassistant.com/t/declencher-des-scenes-d-ambiance-gladys-avec-des-cartes-nfc/10372 "2026-07-23T05:21:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![selamibaba](https://gladys-assistant-community.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@selamibaba](https://community.gladysassistant.com/u/selamibaba)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 5:21am UTC](https://community.gladysassistant.com/t/declencher-des-scenes-d-ambiance-gladys-avec-des-cartes-nfc/10372/1 "2026-07-23T05:21:47Z")
Hello, I’m thinking about a small interactive project using physical cards equipped with NFC tags to trigger different moods in Gladys. The idea would be to place a very thin NFC tag in the pocket of each card. When the card is scanned with a phone, it sends an identifier to Gladys via HTTP or MQTT. Gladys could then: - change the color and brightness of the lights - play a music or local sound ambiance - activate a scene for a set duration - record the last scanned card - display its name on the dashboard - automatically return to the normal ambiance after a few minutes The project would contain 78 different cards. Here is the list I would use to associate each NFC identifier with a name and a mood: > **[Tarot Card Meanings: All 78 Cards List & Guide (2026)](https://deckaura.com/blogs/guide/tarot-card-meanings)** > > Complete tarot card meanings for all 78 cards. Major and minor arcana meanings list with upright, reversed, love and yes or no interpretations. I specify that I participate in the maintenance of the linked site. I share this page solely to show the dataset and the 78 entries that the automation should handle. I am now looking for the best architecture in Gladys. ### 1. HTTP or MQTT to transmit the identifier? For mainly local use, is it better for the phone to publish the card identifier directly on an MQTT topic? For example: ```auto gladys/nfc/card ``` With a value like: ```auto the-world ``` Or would it be simpler to use NFC Tools or Tasker to send an HTTP request to the Gladys API? ### 2. A virtual device to store the card I thought of creating an MQTT virtual device with a text or numeric feature representing the last scanned card. Is this a good method to allow scenes to react to the value, or should a different scene be triggered directly from the phone? ### 3. Avoid creating 78 scenes I would prefer not to create a separate scene for each card. Is there a clean way to create a single scene that: 1. retrieves the received identifier 2. looks up this identifier in a lookup table 3. retrieves the associated color, brightness, sound, and duration 4. executes the corresponding actions The table could look like this: ```auto { "the-world": { "color": "#D4AF37", "brightness": 45, "duration": 900 }, "the-hermit": { "color": "#6B7280", "brightness": 20, "duration": 1200 } } ``` Can this type of logic be handled directly in Gladys, or would it be better to go through Node-RED or a small external integration? ### 4. Detecting the card upright or reversed A card can be placed normally or turned 180 degrees. I could record two different NFC actions on the phone, for example: ```auto the-world:upright the-world:reversed ``` But this would probably require two tags per card. Do you see a simpler method to also transmit the card’s orientation? ### 5. Timing and restoring the previous state After 10 or 15 minutes, I would like to restore the lights and devices to their previous state. Does Gladys allow saving the states before launching the scene, then automatically restoring them at the end? Otherwise, I could simply launch a normal ambiance scene after a fixed delay. ### 6. Display on the dashboard Finally, would it be possible to display in the dashboard: - the name of the last card - the scan time - its orientation - the currently active ambiance I want to start with a prototype with only three cards before preparing the 78. For this type of project, would you rather use MQTT, the Open API, Node-RED, or Gladys’s future external integrations system? ---
**Author:** ![pierre-gilles](https://gladys-assistant-community.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.gladysassistant.com/pierre-gilles/32/5886_2.png) [@pierre-gilles](https://community.gladysassistant.com/u/pierre-gilles)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 3:25pm UTC](https://community.gladysassistant.com/t/declencher-des-scenes-d-ambiance-gladys-avec-des-cartes-nfc/10372/2 "2026-07-23T15:25:03Z")
Hi @selamibaba, and welcome to Gladys 🙂 Great project, I love the idea 🙂 Good news: almost everything you describe is doable with Gladys today, without any code. I’ll go through your questions in order: **1. MQTT or HTTP?** I’d recommend MQTT. Gladys can install its own broker (MQTT integration, in 1 click), and most importantly, scenes have a trigger „MQTT Message Received‟: you choose a topic (e.g. `tarot/scan`), and the message content is then accessible in the scene actions via the variable `{{triggerEvent.message}}`. With HTTP, you can only start a scene via the API (`POST /api/v1/scene/:selector/start`), but without passing it any parameters — so less flexible for your case. **2. Remember the last scanned card.** Create a virtual device in the MQTT integration with a text-type feature. Your reader (or your scene) publishes to `gladys/master/device/[id_device]/feature/[id_feature]/text` and Gladys saves the value, with history. You can then display it on the dashboard with the „Devices‟ widget. **3. Avoid 78 scenes.** Honestly, I wouldn’t put the lookup table in Gladys: there’s no (yet) notion of lookup table in scenes, and 78 „if/then‟ branches would be unmanageable. The cleanest solution is to put the card → parameters (color, brightness, duration) mapping as close to the reader as possible: either in the ESP firmware that reads the tags, or in Node-RED (there’s an official Node-RED integration in Gladys that installs it in 1 click). The reader/Node-RED then publishes a message already „resolved‟ (e.g. the color on one topic, the brightness on another, the card name on a third), and on the Gladys side, a single generic scene applies these values with `{{triggerEvent.message}}`. One entry to modify = one line in your table, not a scene to touch. **4. Card right side up / upside down.** This isn’t something an NFC tag can indicate: the tag returns the same identifier regardless of its orientation. The classic solution is hardware-based: two tags per card (one at the top, one at the bottom) with a short-range antenna reader that only reads the closest tag. You then get two identifiers per card, and it’s your lookup table that translates „Moon ID #2 = Upside Down Moon‟. On the Gladys side, it’s transparent. **5. Restore lamp states after 15 min.** Rather than putting a delay in the scan scene, use the „Device State Change‟ trigger with the option „Run the scene after the condition has been valid for X minutes‟: create a virtual feature „ambiance active‟, which your scan scene sets to 0 then to 1 with each card (the 0→1 re-arms the counter, so a new scan properly delays the restoration by 15 min). A second scene, triggered on „ambiance active = 1 for 15 minutes‟, restores the lighting to its normal state and sets the feature back to 0. If you want to restore the _exact_ state before the scan (and not a default state), have the scan scene copy the lamp states to backup virtual features, which the restore scene will reapply. **6. Dashboard.** The „Devices‟ widget will display your text features (card name, ambiance active), and there’s a clock widget for the time. Don’t hesitate to share photos of the setup when it’s running, that would make a great topic to share with the community! 🔮