A question about installing the HA Matter integration. I am running HA Container on a Raspi 5. I have an Apple TV with Thread support. And I have successfully connected Matter/Thread devices (Inovelli White Series switches) to HomeKit. But I can’t get to the point of adding devices until I figure out what is needed for the integration.
I would like to also control these switches via HA. But I cannot install the Matter integration. I am asked for a URL, but I don’t know what to use for my Apple TV. I do have the Thread integration installed, and Apple-TV.local appears as a Preferred Network. I see openthread.thread.home.arpa on my network (generated by the Apple TV, I think). And I have IPv6 active.
Perhaps this is the ultimate newb question, but do I need to set up a separate Matter server? Since Apple HomeKit supports Matter, I would have thought the AppleTV does that job as a hub.
You need to differentiate between Matter and Thread. These are separate things, one just provides IP capabilities (Thread, so it is similar to WiFi), and the other is a higher level protocol (Matter).
The Matter integration requires a separately running Matter Server. When using the container installation, you need to setup this server on your own. You can find container variants and Docker compose files here:
Sidenote: When you are using Home Assistsant OS installation, this Matter Server is available as an add-on and gets automatically installed.
Once you have the Matter Server and the Matter integration up and running, the Thread level should work automatically. Since you already have the device connected to HomeKit, the device is already on your Thread network. So by just sharing the device with Home Assistant, you should be able to control the device from Home Assistant directly (Home Assistant will automatically use your Apple Thread border router by simply use the IPv6 route).