Payload Messaging Format

The messages you send and receive are of a typical payload.
the module only works with a payload object, and does not employ the use of topic or any other msg part.

Incoming Messages (messages from Z-wave into Node-RED)

All events in your z-wave network, will be injected into your flow via the ZWave JS Controller node and the ZWave Device node, if you have set that up, and the event is for the specified node(s)

The event messages coming "out" of a z-wave node will have the following shape.

{
  "payload": {
    "networkId": 1,
    "node": 10,
    "event": "SOME_EVENT",
    "object": {},
    "timestamp": 1637014660258,
  }
}

The contents of object differs between the type of event, an object may not even be provided, if no data is to be utilized.
The same can be said for node, if the event is not node specific, then it will not be provided.

netwokrId, denotes the source network

Detailing all object types might make for some unpleasant reading; it is best to attach a debug node to simply watch the messages as they are emitted. This will help you learn the functionality of your device.

Below is a table, detailing the common event types that you will likely be interested in. The ticks represent if a node ID is included and / or some structured object. There are too many event types to list, but those listed below, will allow you to respond with automation decisions.

Common Events Table

event	node	object	Meaning
ALL_NODES_READY			Zwave JS sent "all nodes ready" status
GET_VALUE_RESPONSE	✓	✓	Response to getValue
GET_VALUE_METADATA_RESPONSE	✓	✓	Response to getValueMetadata
NODE_LIST		✓	Response to getNodes
NOTIFICATION	✓	✓	A Notification Was Received
SLEEP	✓		A Node Has Gone To Sleep
VALUE_DB		✓	Response to getValueDB
VALUE_ID_LIST	✓	✓	Response to getDefinedValueIDs
VALUE_NOTIFICATION	✓	✓	A Value Notification Was Received
VALUE_UPDATED	✓	✓	A Value Was Updated
WAKE_UP	✓		A Node Has Woken Up
WATCHDOG		✓	Serilaport Monitoring event

Outgoing Messages (messages from Node-RED sent to Z-wave)

Sending a command is no different to anything else in node red, wrap it in a msg.payload object

The shape of your message will match the form of the below structure.

In this example, we are using the CC API, and setting a value for the Binary Switch CC on node 5

{
  "payload": {
    "node": 5,
    "mode": "CCAPI",
    "cc": "Binary Switch",
    "method": "set",
    "params": [true]
  }
}

mode is certainly always going to be needed, but the rest are dependent on the combination of mode, method, and which node you're sending to (i.e. the device node will not always require node value).

So, now that you understand the basics- explore the pages for each API, details for how the Controller Node and Device Node work, and start interacting with your devices!