ESP32-C6 thread-based ESPHome?

ESP32-C6 has just come out in its final mass-produced version with calibrated ADC, so is there any chance that ESPHome will sometime in the near future start to support Thread on these chips?

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/ESP32-C6/1100220184_40000003090971.html

There’s a good thread on the topic on the ESPHome Discord.

Search for “ESP32-C6” under the off-topic channel if that link is no good.

I had a skim and from what I could summise, there is little chance of official ESPHome support in the near future, but some individuals are making some good progress.

And there’s this feature request.

1 Like

Thanks for the links.
Looks like the GitHub link is mainly for getting the ESP32-C6 to run with WiFi as the other ESP-chips.
I was hoping a bit on a Thread solution, but I will just see what I can mix up myself over the summer. :grinning:

2 Likes

Hey, did you found something that works?

Espressif provided it themself with the ZeroCode service.

It is a free service, that makes it easy to make Matter modules of some of the ESP boards.
Sort of a Matter version of ESPHome.

1 Like

You should look at this:
ESPHome ESP32 OpenThread POC

Have you compiled thread device for the esp32c6 board? It still just shows coming soon if you select it since it was announced

I tried some GitHib repositories, which made it possible to work as a Matter device, but the code part needed for the sensor cause problems and it is currently put on pause.
I will probably not get to look at it before July, so the Zerocode might be faster. :slight_smile:

There is some progress in motion!

The new ESPHome major release, 2025.6.0, has now support for OpenThread. This means that ESPHome devices based on ESP32-C6 and -H2 can now communicate using Thread.

See ESPHome 2025.6.0 Changelog

And Matteralpha news article that puts this into context

1 Like

I flashed an esp32-h2 dev board yesterday and it immediately joined my Apple Thread mesh with no issues. This was way easier than the Matter-over-Thread ZeroCode image I also tried, which refused to join the Matter controller (DCL issue, I believe). ESPHome for the win.

I suspect, but can’t be sure, that this is a routing (repeater) node, since it is line powered? (unfortunately I don’t have another device to test this with). If so, this is a $5 mesh extender. [see edit below]

Traceroute from my Mac Mini shows it’s going through one of the HomePods mini, as expected:

peter@macos % traceroute6 esphome-thread-repeater.local
traceroute6 to esphome-thread-repeater.local (fd83:e66f:f1f9:0:6bab:9e56:1541:e6d0) from fdc4:4aab:e77f:e44c:1c53:e1b9:c62a:83dd, 64 hops max, 28 byte packets
 1  fdc4:4aab:e77f:e44c:4cf:2809:9c06:5768  57.597 ms  6.986 ms  4.857 ms
 2  fd83:e66f:f1f9:0:6bab:9e56:1541:e6d0  92.205 ms  28.495 ms  27.904 ms

Edited to add: This post confirms esphome can be a router/repeater node.

3 Likes