Ostrom Energy

Fetch Ostrom hourly electricity spot prices, find cheapest appliance/EV charging windows, and trigger smart-home actions from price thresholds. Use for Ostro...

When to use

Use when the user asks about:

• Current or upcoming electricity spot prices
• Cheapest time to run a load (dishwasher, laundry, EV charging)
• Device actions based on price thresholds

Setup

Set environment variables before running:

export OSTROM_CLIENT_ID="your_ostrom_client_id"
export OSTROM_CLIENT_SECRET="your_ostrom_client_secret"
export OSTROM_ZIP="optional_zip_code"
export OSTROM_ENV="production" # or sandbox

OSTROM_ZIP is optional, but recommended to include local taxes/levies and grid/base fees.

For persistent configuration, create ~/.config/ostrom-energy/config.json:

mkdir -p ~/.config/ostrom-energy
cp config.json.example ~/.config/ostrom-energy/config.json
$EDITOR ~/.config/ostrom-energy/config.json

For local testing only, copy .env.example to .env in this skill folder and fill values. Never commit real credentials.

The scripts use credentials in this order:

1. environment variables (OSTROM_*), including values loaded from .env by run.sh
2. ~/.config/ostrom-energy/config.json
3. interactive prompt (only if you pass --prompt-missing-secrets)

Run

Always run from this skill directory unless a local wrapper has been installed.

Reliable skill-directory form:

bash run.sh prices

Direct executable from the skill directory:

./ostrom-energy prices

Optional one-time local CLI install:

bash install-local-command.sh
ostrom-energy prices

If ostrom-energy says command not found, use bash run.sh ... or run bash install-local-command.sh from this folder.

Commands

1) Fetch current and upcoming hourly spot prices

bash run.sh prices --hours 36

2) Find optimal time for appliance or EV charging

Estimate hours from kwh / power-kw, then find cheapest contiguous block:

bash run.sh optimize \
  --kwh 28 \
  --power-kw 11 \
  --window-start "2026-04-27T18:00:00+02:00" \
  --window-end "2026-04-28T08:00:00+02:00"

For fixed duration instead of kWh:

bash run.sh optimize --duration-hours 2

3) Control smart-home devices by price threshold

Use shell commands for your automation endpoint, Home Assistant script, or smart plug CLI.

Dry-run:

bash run.sh control \
  --price-below 0.20 \
  --on-command "ha service call switch.turn_on --entity_id switch.ev_charger" \
  --off-command "ha service call switch.turn_off --entity_id switch.ev_charger"

Execute commands:

bash run.sh control \
  --price-above 0.40 \
  --on-command "ha service call switch.turn_on --entity_id switch.boiler" \
  --off-command "ha service call switch.turn_off --entity_id switch.boiler" \
  --execute

Notes

• The skill obtains an OAuth2 token via client credentials (/oauth2/token) before each run.
• Prices come from /spot-prices and are shown as:
  • spot = grossKwhPrice (ct/kWh)
  • taxes = grossKwhTaxAndLevies (ct/kWh)
  • total = spot + taxes
• optimize and control use total converted to EUR/kWh.
• Start with dry-run control mode and verify commands before --execute.

Safety

• Never commit or publish .env with real credentials.
• Keep --execute off until threshold logic is verified in dry-run.
• Treat --on-command and --off-command as trusted input only (they run as shell commands).
• By default the scripts are non-interactive; pass --prompt-missing-secrets only when you want to enter credentials interactively.

Publisher Checklist (ClawHub)

• Include: SKILL.md, run.sh, ostrom-energy, install-local-command.sh, ostrom_energy.py, .env.example, config.json.example, .gitignore
• Exclude: .env, __pycache__/, local logs, temporary files
• Validate from a clean shell:
  • bash run.sh --help
  • ./ostrom-energy --help
  • bash install-local-command.sh && ostrom-energy --help
  • With valid credentials: bash run.sh prices --hours 6
  • bash run.sh optimize --duration-hours 2
  • bash run.sh control --price-below 0.20 --on-command "echo on" --off-command "echo off"