Indigo - Does it Matter?

siclark · Post by **siclark** » Sat Jun 13, 2026 7:07 am

Other than OF COURSE, its the best Home Automation system ever, the answer to does it support Matter, until now, was no.

But no more. I have just pushed my Indigo Matter plugin into the plugin store (and in Github for those very keen).

This supports Matter over Wifi, Ethernet and Thread and has been tested on all known Matter clusters across a range of dummy devices but with real devices, only a couple (Wifi and Thread).

Important things to note, this is not a full integration. Indigo cannot do primary commission of a Thread device even with a dongle, and the support for dongles is flakey at best.
But better, it doesnt need to. Matter devices can join multiple networks (Fabrics) at once. And most of us have a Matter hub (Apple TV , HomePod, Echo) and a Thread Border Router (above but not the oldest of Apple TVs, they only support wifi). So all you need to do is join the device to that hub, and then click to turn on pairing, take that code and enter into the plugin and it auto creates the device. (or into dom.io in upcoming release, so you can add to Indigo away from your Mac)

The answer to the question, should I care, is more nuanced? I am hoping that this expands the number of devices Indigo supports and helps with newer users. For those of us with long established mesh networks on Zwave or zigbee it's a tougher call. Most Matter devices have Zignee equivalents, and they often have more functionality. But Ikea as one has fully switched to Matter and its devices look interesting and very cheap. I have a number on the way to test.

Matter smart sockets can be under £15 with energy monitoring or £5 at Ikea so it's not expensive to build a mesh out.

You will need to install matter-server.js with instructions on GitHub, but once installed, the plugin can manage the running of it and will start it up (and restart) when the plugin starts.

But for handsfree installs, have Node 22 running and

Code: Select all

mkdir -p ~/indigo-matter
npm install --prefix ~/indigo-matter matter-server@^0.6.2

If you want to know more about the plugin, how Matter works with Indigo or the testing, I have some html pages here.
https://simons-plugins.github.io/indigo ... atter.html

Thank to durosity and CliveS for testing.

Any questions... please ask.

Simon.

durosity · Post by **durosity** » Sat Jun 13, 2026 7:25 am

On a side note you can also install the matter server on a docker image (I'm running it in OrbStack) and it works wonderfully!

I've only got two Matter devices, both simple little Tapo on/off switches, but they're working well and even things like energy monitoring works!

Post by **jay (support)** » Sat Jun 13, 2026 8:25 am

Approved and available in the store. This is a big addition to the ecosystem - thanks Simon!

siclark · Post by **siclark** » Sat Jun 13, 2026 8:41 am

The fact you can mock devices with combinations of clusters , ie on/off and temp and fan , means in theory, being able to get all types of devices working on day one (I’ve jinxed myself now I know) has been impressive.
My idea but full credit to Fable5 for the device zoo it created and how it independently mocked devices and ran them through indigo with the mcp and making changes to the plugin and redeploying as it went.

An amazing 3 days out of it (although the architecture was created with Opus) and just hoping we get a little more use before it goes to paid for if the disagreement gets resolved and Anthropic are allowed to turn it on again.

It wasn’t just it’s knowledge, which was impressive and it’s ideas but it’s ability to just get my ideas and run with them. It got it , understood and didn’t need constant reassurance and check ins
It’s expensive but I ran it mainly as main coordinator. It had the idea, designed the solution then ran sonnet sub agents.
At one point it was managing 9 sub agents doing work in different sub trees and different repos (this and dom.io) and reviewing code and passing feedback back to agents without ever stopping and asking what to do. It even then ran e2e tests and merged then all into a single PR once done and tested on indigo before coming back to me to say all done and it works. Ran non stop for over an hour and fully delivered the feature from initial PRD in one go.

siclark · Post by **siclark** » Sat Jun 13, 2026 9:00 am

jay (support) wrote:Approved and available in the store. This is a big addition to the ecosystem - thanks Simon!

Thanks Jay. No way HA could have it and not us.

The matter-server.js is early in dev so could have some issues, but it’s the strategic direction and should improve from here.

Per earlier conversations I’m not using the python library that is sunset I think and has issues.

I also deliberately didn’t go for a solution with a dongle like sonoff’s as it’s complicated and I think most can use what they have so don’t need to. Or a HomePod mini on eBay is $50 so same price as a dongle and you get a speaker too.

I also like being able to include the device straight away when stood by it at it using dom.io so you can immediately see it appear and test in indigo without going back and forth to the Mac.

ryanbuckner · Post by **ryanbuckner** » Sat Jun 13, 2026 10:21 am

This is huge. My level lock pro work around with toothpicks, gum, and shoe laces might just be reborn. I'll try this weekend! Thanks!

siclark · Post by **siclark** » Sat Jun 13, 2026 11:51 am

Should work.. these are the device types it supports.

Matter Clusters Supported

Control

On/Off (0x0006)
Level Control / Dimming (0x0008)
Color Control (0x0300)
Door Lock (0x0101)
Valve (0x0081)
Window Covering (0x0102)
Thermostat (0x0201)
Fan Control (0x0202)
Generic Switch (0x003B)

Power & Electrical

Power Source / Battery (0x002F)
Electrical Power Measurement (0x0098)
Electrical Energy Measurement (0x0091)

Sensors

Temperature (0x0402)
Relative Humidity (0x0405)
Occupancy (0x0406)
Contact (0x0045)
Illuminance (0x0400)
Pressure (0x0403)
Flow (0x0404)
Air Quality (0x005B)
CO2 (0x040D)
PM2.5 (0x042A)
TVOC (0x042E)
Smoke & CO Alarm (0x005C)

There's a couple of features missing, small, listed on Github issues 70, 71 and 72.

durosity · Post by **durosity** » Sat Jun 13, 2026 1:50 pm

jay (support) wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2026 8:25 am Approved and available in the store. This is a big addition to the ecosystem - thanks Simon!

I’m going to take full credit for this because it was my idea originally.. Si was just my lackie doing all the work. Think of me like the CEO

CliveS · Post by **CliveS** » Sat Jun 13, 2026 3:39 pm

I’m going to take full credit for this because it was my idea originally.. Si was just my lackie doing all the work. Think of me like the CEO

Well you maybe the CEO but I think you will find it was all down to Simon, the CTO and his programming team and as my Claude Fable reported "Honest verdict: this is a well engineered Indigo plugin and given the repo was created on the 8th of June — four days ago — it's a remarkable piece of work.. It also explains the four-day timeline: roughly 127 commits, 55+ PRs, 620 tests and six docs since the 8th of June is multi-agent output, but the consistent voice in the comments — all that "never report success when the op half-happened" honesty — reads like one developer holding a firm editorial line over the top. Simon clearly knew what he wanted and made the models argue for it, which is rather the right way round."

I just asked my Claude “can you install the plugin for me” and the next thing it was downloaded , installed and I just hit the “Install plugin” popup

As the Meerkat says “Simples”

durosity · Post by **durosity** » Sat Jun 13, 2026 11:20 pm

Yes, like i said.. CEO.. take credit for everyone’s hard work. Now where’s my big bonus? I wanna be a trillionaire!

siclark · Post by **siclark** » Sun Jun 14, 2026 1:54 am

Haha. If you spot though, durosity, the final architecture didn’t need a mobile app.
Thanks Clive, and your Claude.

CliveS · Post by **CliveS** » Sun Jun 14, 2026 3:46 am

Being able to add a device straight from the Mac, or wander over to it with Dom.io and have it pop up in Indigo there and then — having both ways is rather nice.

I've sent CodeRabbit a bit more food while I was at it — there's a fresh PR in for it to chew on, so it'll have something to keep those ears busy.

And I loved the verse it made up for the PR:

I tidied states from XML rows,
Where display names once chose to pose.
The sensors still point where they should,
With battery notes still standing good.
A neat little hop, a lighter file— And rabbit ears rest for a while.

Classic!

siclark · Post by **siclark** » Sun Jun 14, 2026 3:50 am

On the backlog is first time commission of WiFi devices with dom.io straight into the Indigo fabric as appletv not strictly needed but it adds quite a lot of complexity and new Swift capabilities and not sure it’s worth it yet.

siclark · Post by **siclark** » Sun Jun 14, 2026 4:47 am

IKEA’s air sensor. Added to Apple Home then Indigo using dom.io. Devices showing up perfectly and didn’t use my Mac once.
£25.

durosity · Post by **durosity** » Sun Jun 14, 2026 6:35 am

siclark wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2026 4:47 am IKEA’s air sensor. Added to Apple Home then Indigo using dom.io. Devices showing up perfectly and didn’t use my Mac once.
£25.

Impressive. Might have to get one.

Indigo Domotics