IKEA is launching 26 Matter-compatible devices in the beginning of 2026. Will you be able to use them directly with the Matter binding, or do you need a (hardware) Matter hub?
No, you do not need a Hardware Matter Hub
You need a home network router, which you already have.
For Matter over Thread, generally these are battery operated devices, you need a Thread Border Router.
For Matter over WiFi or Ethernet, these are generally mains powered devices, you do not need anything.
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Matter is a little confusing IMO so I want to expand on @smitopherās answer.
Matter can work over WiFi, BT (maybe, originally it was supposed to, but Iāve never seen a BT Matter device), or Thread.
If the device does Matter over WiFi you donāt need anything. An IPv6 enabled WiFi network and openHAB with the Matter binding should be all you need. openHAB will be your hub.
If the device does Matter over Thread though, you will need a Thread Border Router (TBR) on your network. Many devices come with a TBR built in including Apply TVs, some Google Next devices, some Amazon Echo Devices, Dirigera hub, etc. If you are adventurous there is also a DIY TBR you can put together based on ESP32s. These act as a bridge between the Thread mesh network and the WiFi network.
Based on this from the article I would say that you probably do need a Thread Border Router for at least some of these devices.
All Matter-enabled products need a smart home hub to work ā like IKEAās DIRIGERA hub, or one from another brand. As a certified Matter controller, DIRIGERA can also manage and control smart products from other manufacturers and brands. As a Matter Bridge, it ensures that existing IKEA non-Matter smart products will also be compatible with platforms using the Matter standard.
I would expect all of the battery powered devices (i.e. the sensors) will use Thread.
Finally, there is a concept in Matter called a ābridgeā. A bridge acts as a proxy for a whole Matter network, making all of those devices avaialble to another Matter network. Bridges can be linked together and make all the devices in both Matter networks mutually accessible. The TBR is a special type of such a bridge. openHAB can also be such a bridge. This is what allows one to for example, pair a bunch of devices with a Dirigera hub and then pair that with openHAB to make all the Dirgera devices available to openHAB and all openHAB Items with matter metadata accessible to Dirigera. All communication is local as well.
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I would say ādisappointingly confusingā. They saddled Matter/Thread with a lot of lingo that is not easily explained. I get why a border router is a border router and not a hub, but the average consumer doesnāt. Of course, it was always going to be awkward with Matter using multiple wireless standards, so I might be overly critical here.
All Iāve seen are devices that use BT for the initial pairing to the Matter network, and then never again.
I wouldnāt be surprised if the new IKEA devices have virtually the same electronics as the old IKEA devices, with slightly redesigned shells to make them recognizably different and the Zigbee radios firmware-upgraded to Thread. This would enable IKEA to just leave the older Zigbee stuff āas isā so that they donāt break working systems, while allowing homeowners to continue adding new devices to their DIRIGERA hubs. And itās probably a lot less confusing for their customers.
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That is the specification
To add a bit of practical knowledge to the technical theory:
Since August, Iāve been using an IKEA Dirigera Hub, and according to the manual, it also functions as a Matter Border Router for Thread!
The new generation of sensors (Timmerlfotte, Myggspray, or Alpstuga, etc.) are explicitly Matter devices and are loaded into the IKEA Smart Home App during onboarding via the Matter QR code. This indicates to me that they are no longer connected via Zigbee but now via Thread. My āoldā Zigbee devices (installed in August) still work fine through OpenHab.
My problem is that the new devices arenāt recognized in OpenHab yet; only the Alpstuga (air quality sensor) was detected, but not with all channels, since OpenHab seems to have āconfusedā it with the Zigbee predecessor.
What I also havenāt managed yet, and I guess Iām missing your technical know-how now, is to integrate the Dirigera Hub as a Matter Hub or Thread Border Router (or whatever the correct term is) into OpenHab, so I can use other (non-IKEA) devices in OH.
It would be great if someone with the necessary know-how could help me, or vice versa ā Iām happy to offer my setup as a pilot if someone tells me what info I need to provide or what I can do to help you guys, also for implementing the items or a Matter connection for OH for the new devices.
In addition, I would like to add something regarding the initial question, āDo we need a hub?ā - Yes, we do, the new IKEA devices support Matter via Thread, so you need a hub. The easiest one to use is the IKEA Dirigera, which works as expected; I have not tested any others. However, Matter via wifi is not supported.
I would like to add my question: āIs an update to the IKEA binding in the works?ā
Because the new generation of devices is not currently supported in OH, yet.
All Matter devices should be supported using the Matter binding.
Another related question:
There is a Matter Binding and a Dirigera Binding available in OH. Do I need to install both to get the new IKEA devices (and other devices connected to dirigera) working, or will one of the two bindings cover all matter related functionality ?
You should not need the Dirigera binding for Ikea Matter devices, the Matter binding should be sufficient.
The Dirigera binding is required for Ikea devices that are not Matter and maybe for particular features not available through Matter in case of Matter devices.
I donāt know if the Dirigera binding is already compatible with new Ikea Matter devices.
As far as I know, the IKEA Matter Devices using āMatter over Threadā (at least the Battery powered devices). Therefore, a Thread Border Router is required for all those devices. Dirigera can act as such a router.
My assumption is that I have to install the dirigera hub with the IKEA Smart home app. This will make the Hub available to my local network. Afterwards I can connect IKEA (Matter over Thread) devices to the dirigera (also with the IKEA app). When the device is successfully connected to dirigera, I must use the IKEA Smart home app to generate a new pairing code to be used in the OH Matter Binding (can the IKEA Smart home app do this ??).
Of course, I can connect ārealā Matter speaking devices directly to the OH Matter Binding with the pairing option.
Am I right with this assumption ??
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Correct, a thread border router is required, Dirigera or another. You have two ways to pair the device as you explained, either by pairing it to another Matter controller first or by pairing it directly to openHAB controller first.
I am not 100% sure that the second option is possible for Thread devices as I did not yet test it myself.
Actually, Iām a bit confused about what @rlkoshak mentioned:
The TBR is a special type of such a bridge. openHAB can also be such a bridge. This is what allows one to for example, pair a bunch of devices with a Dirigera hub and then pair that with openHAB to make all the Dirgera devices available to openHAB and all openHAB Items with matter metadata accessible to Dirigera.
That sounds like I donāt have to generate new codes for pairing with OH, but simply pair the dirigera and all connected devices are automatically available in OH. Has anyone tried this ? How do I pair the dirigera (with all already connected devices) with OH ? Can this be done with the Matter Binding or is the Dirigera Binding involved ?
Seems that real examples might be very helpfulā¦
Depends a bit how your eco system looks like.
DIRIGERA binding only communicates with the IKEA DIRIGERA hub, nothing more!
You can pair Matter approved devices into DIRIGERA hub but I lack experience. I personally never diid that. But Iāve seen non IKEA devices in logs which are working.
Matter binding is open to include all possible Matter approved devices. DIRIGERA hub is just one of them. In this case you donāt need the DIRIGERA binding!
Back to your eco system and my personal guess:
If you own just the DIRIGERA hub and you wanna stick with that DIRIGERA binding is sufficient.
If youāve more than this or want to extend in the future with whatever e.g. Google Nest Matter binding is the better way.
In principle yes. DIRIGERA binding is looking to deviceType and capabilities. If a type light is connected with capability to send color itās recognized as a color light. See description in readme.
If a device can be connected to the DIRIGERA hub and itās not recognized in OH itās a bug and should be analyzed.
Sure, this is also described in readme.
Hello @weymann ,
thank you for clarification. I was assuming @rlkoshak is referring to the Matter Binding and therefore have not checked the dirigera binding readme.
My ecosystem currently consists of wifi (Shelly, tasmota,ā¦) devices with native bindings and zigbee devices (IKEA, Hue, Xiaomi,.. connected with zigbee2mqtt and the mqtt binding). I do not own a dirigera hub yet, but the new IKEA devices seems to be cheap and interesting 
.
About the example, letās assume I would buy a IKEA Timmerflotte Temperatur Sensor along with a Kajplats color light bulb.
The Timmerflotte uses āmatter over threadā which would need a border router. The light bulb might be able to talk ānativeā matter. How do I connect them both to OH ?
Shall I pair the light bulb directly with the OH matter binding ? Should I buy a dirigera for the temperature sensor or better another TBR ? Should I install the dirigera binding for the hub (if it is a dirigera), or can I use the matter binding and generate a new pairing code from the TBR to which the temperature sensor is connected?
I would like to exchange my current zigbee environment with matter in the future, but thatās something new for me. Therefore I would like to start with cheaper devices (like IKEA) to get more knowledge about this.
Iām using a number of different Matter devices, from dfifferent manufacturers (Onvis, Aqara, Nanoleaf), all connected via Thread with an Alexa Echo as the TBR.
I initially commission the devices using the Alexa iPhone app and then once setup and tested via the app, I generate a pairing code within the Alexa app and use this to add the device to my testing openHAB instance.
Once I have the device working as I want on the testing instance, I repeat the process to generate another pairing code and add the device to my production openHAB instance. Both instances are able to interact with the devices directly once paired, so at this point I remove them from the Alexa app and use Alexa metadata to expose what I need to be available for voice commands.
Itās my understanding that any Matter devices that use Thread rather than WiFi need to be commissioned in this way initially in order to get them connected to the Thread network via the TBR. Once connected to the Thread network, they can then be added to openHAB. openHAB will be communicating with them via IPv6 and the TBR will be ābridgingā between your home WiFi network and the Thread network.
If you think of the TBR as similar to a WiFI access point, for any WiFi connected device, you first need to use something, normally a mobile device, to connect the device onto your WiFi network before you can then add it into openHAB.
The key thing/benefit with Matter and Thread is that the TBR can be from āanyā manufacturer and can connect any manufacturer devices to the Thread network.
Hello @Mark_Webster ,
ā¦Both instances are able to interact with the devices directly once paired, so at this point I remove them from the Alexa app and use Alexa metadata to expose what I need to be available for voice commandsā¦.
This is quite interesting. I was assuming that a device needs to stay connected with the Appā¦.
I see you have a complex environemt and not all devices are compliant with Matter standard yet, right?
This question is going into technical details which I personally donāt know and to be honest I donāt care! Sounds hard but as said before: the DIRIGERA binding is communicating only with the DIRIGERA hub.
If the executing is finally going via zigbee (current IKEA devices) or future devices (Matter threadā¦ whatever) ā¦ fine for me!
To be more precise: If I send a light on command to the DIRIGERA hub I donāt care if itās executed via Zigbee, Matter, whateverā¦!
Hello @weymann, what you say doesnāt sound hard and you are absolutely right. As long as the personal setup works, everything is fine. At the moment I do not have any matter compatible devices
Based on the last given answers I have enough ideas what to try. I will have an Alexa Echo available next week which is the latest generation. I will also have some new IKEA devices which supports the matter protocol. With these devices I will perform some tests to see whatās possible.
For now I will start my last two hours in 2025 and wish all a happy new year 
I have an Amazon Echo and I have successfully used it to connect to some Matter/Thread devices, 1 Aqara, 1 other brand. Then I got the pairing code from the Alexa app and used that to have the OH Matter binding scan and connect to the devices. I suspect the Ikea devices will be similar. Do note that the Echo is limited to Thread 1.1 (hopefully it will get upgraded?).