🤓 What's up, Nerds? — Introducing Homey Self-Hosted Server

[Jeroen_Tebbens]

Matter (over thread) is a protocol over wifi/lan etc.
Homeassistant does the same thing.

[smarthomesven]

It will be supported, at least Matter will be since I do see references to the feature flag for Matter being enabled (in the github commit)

Homey SHS Self Hosted Server

UPDATE 12-12-2025 Here’s a summary of what we know so far: There is a reference in the Web App code to subscription. There should also be a Lifetime subscription, if the code in the second post is true. The internal model id is “shs”, which means “Self Hosted Server“ There’s a domain name (homeyshs.net) that was created 1 month ago. It has 2 subdomains (raspberrypi.homeyshs.net and ota-api.homeyshs.net). Both currently point to a GitHub IP and only have a script to redirect to the homepage. Th…

[Peter_Kawa]

@DirkH

If you don’t tell us, what it is, I am not interested in watching something, that is not relevant.
If it is out, we certainly get the info without such mystic cover.

Unfortunately more and more companies are into this weird form of annoying (potential) customers.
I get mails and confronted with publications of the same kind from Home Assistant, Shelly, Nuki.
“Next month we’re gonna reveal a true revelation” bla bla

[Jonathan_Draper]

Pretty sure that’s not correct. Matter over wifi and matter over thread are two different things. Thread is a Radio mesh network that needs specific hardware and can’t just be supported over wifi/lan.

[danieldk]

I think what @Jeroen_Tebbens is trying to say is that once you have a thread border router, which the Bridge can probably support with multi-protocol [1], the devices are exposed on the local network through IPv6 ULA and discoverable through mDNS. I mean, you could even use an ESP32-C6 or H2 as a Thread Border Router and HA/Homey Pro, etc. can use it for Matter over Thread.

[1] Though one should probably not want it because multi-protocol sucks. Hopefully Zoney will have separate radios for Zigbee/Thread.

[Jeroen_Tebbens]

Thanks @danieldk, yes I only used the word protocol. I mean look at HomeAssistant in its core there is no hardware at all either, right? You need the Zigbee/Zwave dongles and wifi, LAN etc to get it moving. Look at the other brands/hub that start to tap into this (Ikea, Hue, …).

But again, we will see today.

[Jonathan_Draper]

I’m thinking that supporting various 3rd party hardware for the radios isn’t very Homey. Enabling the Bridge to also support Thread would make the most sense to my mind. I did notice that my Bridge went offline briefly yesterday and when I checked it’s status was “Flashing firmware” so who knows, maybe they just added Thread support to the Bridge quietly ahead of launch today.

[robertklep]

@Jonathan_Draper

Enabling the Bridge to also support Thread would make the most sense to my mind

It can’t, the hardware doesn’t support it.

[smarthomesven]

It uses an ESP32, does it use the C6 variant? Then it should work. That module has support for Thread and ZigBee

[robertklep]

It’s an ESP32-D0WD, and Zigbee is handled by a CC2530. Both rather dated chips.

Also, the C6 has a shared RF path between WiFi, BLE, Zigbee and Thread, which sort of rules out running those protocols at the same time and have the ESP32 handle the cloud connection.

[DirkH]

@Peter_Kawa

Unfortunately more and more companies are into this weird form of annoying (potential) customers.

Yes Peter,
And as long as many people discuss about it, it seems to work, even if the product is only relevant for a very small percentage.
So I thought I just tell them, that not all of us like this. At least we are two of us.

[danieldk]

@robertklep

Also, the C6 has a shared RF path between WiFi, BLE, Zigbee and Thread, which sort of rules out running those protocols at the same time and have the ESP32 handle the cloud connection.

You can do up to some point right? I have a C6 running WiFi + BLE as an ESPHome Bluetooth proxy. You definitely do not want to do all of them, but two can be ok I guess (yeah, I know it’s better to use Ethernet or a dual setup). But yeah, the ESP32-D0WD is no good for this.

It’s a shame that they didn’t add another radio for Thread, since up and coming in 21-22.

Maybe this is one of the gaps that the Zoney aims to solve, we might see later today.

[James_Butler]

it doesn’t matter (all pun intented) as Homey does not connect to any other border router at all anyway.. I have 7 of those, but nope.. it is desperate to do everything all by itself

I don’t expect this to change with any self hosting service either

[Doekse]

@James_Butler

Homey does not connect to any other border router at all anyway

We sure do. If you choose “Set up via Homey Pro” when adding a Matter device, it will use Homey’s Matter/Thread network. If you choose “Set up via Android/iOS”, it will use the preferred Matter network available on your phone, which could be an Apple HomePod or a Google Nest Hub, for example

[robertklep]

@danieldk

You can do up to some point right? I have a C6 running WiFi + BLE as an ESPHome Bluetooth proxy. You definitely do not want to do all of them, but two can be ok I guess (yeah, I know it’s better to use Ethernet or a dual setup)

I’ve run WiFi and Zigbee on a C6 without much issues, but I think you’re right that limiting it to two protocols would be wise.

But using an ESP32 for a Thread/Zigbee controller would probably not be great anyway, there are more suitable (dedicated) chips for that.

[Jonathan_Draper]

I also find this confusing. The support page here (https://support.homey.app/hc/en-us/articles/12010766903580-Thread-for-Homey-Pro-and-Homey-Pro-mini) says:

Connect via Android or iOS

The Homey Mobile App will connect to the Matter device via Bluetooth and then hand over control of the device to Homey Pro or Homey Pro mini once the Matter device is connected to a Thread or Wi-Fi network. Use this method when:

• You want to connect a Matter-over-Thread device to an existing iOS or Android Thread Network.

But then would that device be using Homey Pro as its Thread border router or using existing border routers such as HomePod Minis etc?

[Homey-Cornelisse]

Based on the shared photos, it seems that there may be a Mac mini or Mac Studio on the left, a Raspberry Pi, a NAS on the right, and a device with two USB ports on the front. There also appears to be a MacBook positioned at the back.

This could suggest that Homey might be experimenting with or exploring the idea of offering Homey OS in a more open or standalone form, possibly under some kind of subscription model. In that scenario, the radio antennas might be added via a Homey Bridge, and there could be future hardware with separate or modular antennas.

If that is the case, it would potentially be comparable to Homey Cloud, but in a self-hosted setup.

The teaser text “What’s going on, nerds?” also might hint that this is aimed more at a technical audience. With all due respect, users without smart home or networking knowledge are unlikely to install and manage software themselves. That does not make them any less, it would simply be a different target group.

[micke_011]

With them pics and all these qualified guesses with no mentions of the possibility of an Apple Watch app, well I might as well abandon all hope that that’s what’s happening in like 4 hours!

[smarthomesven]

Homey SHS Self Hosted Server

UPDATE 12-12-2025 Here’s a summary of what we know so far: There is a reference in the Web App code to subscription. There should also be a Lifetime subscription, if the code in the second post is true. The internal model id is “shs”, which means “Self Hosted Server“ There’s a domain name (homeyshs.net) that was created 1 month ago. It has 2 subdomains (raspberrypi.homeyshs.net and ota-api.homeyshs.net). Both currently point to a GitHub IP and only have a script to redirect to the homepage. Th…

[danieldk]

@Jonathan_Draper

But then would that device be using Homey Pro as its Thread border router or using existing border routers such as HomePod Minis etc?

The wording is a bit vague, but my interpretation has been: Connect via Homey Pro connects to the Homey Pro Thread Border Router. Connect via Android or iOS connects to the Google/Apple Thread Border Router. It would have been much clearer if it just said that, though I think the complication is that e.g. Android can also use an Apple TV/HomePod as the Thread Border Router (if I’m not mistaken). So maybe better wording would have been Connect to your phone’s default border router.

To make it even more fun/complex. Multiple TBRs can join the same Thread network. E.g., I currently have my HA instance with ZBT-2 and the Apple TV as Thread Border Routers in the same network, improving redundancy. AFAIK it works because Matter servers can just reach the devices because they are addressable through IPv6 and discoverable through mDNS. So as long as the IPv6 addresses are visible and multicast works, the Matter server does not really care which TBR routes (and probably whether the devices are connected to Thread or WiFi).

Unfortunately, Homey Pro does not support this due to the shared Zigbee/Thread radio:

Thread & Zigbee

Because Thread and Zigbee share the same hardware on Homey Pro, resetting your Zigbee network will also reset your Thread network.

Due to this shared hardware, Homey Pro currently can’t join an existing Thread network (such as one created by Apple Home or Google Home), as it may conflict with Homey Pro’s Zigbee network.

https://support.homey.app/hc/en-us/articles/12010766903580-Thread-for-Homey-Pro-and-Homey-Pro-mini