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Granting access to a device is the simplest form of an Access Grant. You specify the user, one or more device IDs, the access schedule, and the desired access methods, and Seam takes care of creating and managing the underlying credentials on each device. This path works for standalone smart locks—such as August, Yale, Schlage, igloohome, and TTLock devices—that are connected to Seam through a Connect Webview. The devices do not need to be part of an access control system. An Access Grant defines the following characteristics:
  • User identity: The user to whom you want to grant access.
  • Devices: The set of devices to which you want to grant the user access.
  • Access schedule: The starting and ending times for access.
  • Access methods: The modes of access, such as PIN codes and mobile keys.
This topic describes how to create an Access Grant using device IDs. To learn how to organize devices and entrances into spaces and grant access to a whole space, see Creating an Access Grant Using Spaces. To learn how to grant access to access system entrances, see Creating an Access Grant Using Entrances.

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Access Grant Creation Process

To create an Access Grant:
  1. Identify the devices to which you want to grant the user access.
  2. Create a user identity for the user to whom you want to grant access. Alternately, you can create a new user identity as part of the Access Grant creation action.
  3. Create an Access Grant for the user identity to define the devices to which the user should have access, the starting and ending times for this access, and the requested access methods, such as code. The action returns the created Access Grant.
  4. Retrieve the resulting access methods once they are issued. For a code access method, the returned access method includes the PIN code that you can deliver to your user.

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Before You Begin

To create an Access Grant for a device, first connect the device account to Seam. Then, confirm that the device supports access codes by checking its can_program_online_access_codes capability flag.
You can try this entire flow in a sandbox workspace using sandbox devices, such as the August sandbox locks.

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Identify Devices

List your devices and identify the ones to which you want to grant the user access. Check the can_program_online_access_codes capability flag for each device.
Code:
const devices = await seam.devices.list()

const lock = devices.find((device) => device.can_program_online_access_codes)
Output:
[
  {
    "device_id": "6ba7b811-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8",
    "display_name": "Front Door",
    "can_program_online_access_codes": true,
    ...
  },
  ...
]

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Create a User Identity

You can create a user identity before creating the Access Grant, you can retrieve an existing user identity, or you can skip this step and create a new user identity as part of the Access Grant creation action. To create a user identity, specify the unique user_identity_key, email_address, or phone_number of the user.
Code:
await seam.userIdentities.create({
  full_name: 'Jane Doe',
  email_address: 'jane@example.com',
})
Output:
{
  "user_identity_id": "43947360-cdc8-4db6-8b22-e079416d1d8b",
  "full_name": "Jane Doe",
  "email_address": "jane@example.com",
  ...
}

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Create an Access Grant

To create an Access Grant, specify the user identity, device IDs, starting and ending times, and requested access methods, such as code. To grant access to multiple devices at the same time, include all the desired device IDs in the device_ids array. Seam creates the requested access methods on each device.
Code:
await seam.accessGrants.create({
  user_identity_id: '43947360-cdc8-4db6-8b22-e079416d1d8b',
  // Alternately, to create a new user identity, use the
  // following parameter instead of user_identity_id:
  // user_identity: {
  //  full_name: "Jane Doe",
  //  email_address: "jane.doe@example.com",
  // },
  device_ids: ['6ba7b811-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8'],
  requested_access_methods: [{ mode: 'code' }],
  starts_at: '2025-07-13T15:00:00.000Z',
  ends_at: '2025-07-16T11:00:00.000Z',
})
Output:
{
  "access_grant_id": "ef83cca9-5fdf-4ac2-93f3-c21c5a8be54b",
  "display_name": "My Access Grant",
  "user_identity_id": "43947360-cdc8-4db6-8b22-e079416d1d8b",
  "starts_at": "2025-07-13T15:00:00.000Z",
  "ends_at": "2025-07-16T11:00:00.000Z",
  "requested_access_methods": [
    {
      "display_name": "PIN Code",
      "mode": "code",
      "created_access_method_ids": ["f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479"],
      ...
    }
  ],
  ...
}

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Retrieve the Access Methods

Once an access method has been issued, retrieve it by ID. For a code access method, the returned access method includes the code that you can deliver to your user. You can poll the access method for the is_issued status change or watch for the access_method.issued event.
Code:
await seam.accessMethods.get({
  access_method_id: 'f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479',
})
Output:
{
  "access_method_id": "f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479",
  "display_name": "PIN Code",
  "mode": "code",
  "is_issued": true,
  "code": "1234",
  ...
}

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Next Steps

Once you’ve created the Access Grant and the resulting access methods have been issued, you can deliver the access methods to your user. For details, see Delivering Access Methods. To organize devices into logical groups—for example, all the locks that a guest staying in Unit 101 needs—and grant access to the whole group with a single ID, see Creating an Access Grant Using Spaces.