I always had the impression that HA takes a leading role in the Matter and Thread universe.
Now I would like to extend the range of my Thread network (created by a ZBT-2) by a second border router (IKEA Dirigera) which is currently not in use. I understood this would require credential sharing as supported by Thread 1.4 announced in late 2024. I was a bit surprised to know that HA still seems still to use an older version of OpenThread only supporting Thread 1.3.
Am I right? May we assume that a more recent version of OpenThread will be used in HA soon, or should I look for alternatives? This is not intended as a complaint - I am more than grateful for all the work that the developers invest…
from what I understand neither OTBR or the Silicon Labs firmware support Thread 1.4.
Both OTBR POSIX and the Silicon labs firware support this already, however HA hasn’t implemented this yet.
I managed to trace HA’s OTBR AddOn Docker to the upstream OTBR posix respository commit which matches the commit you mentioned here in your log, and this commit is from January of 2025. So it seems like HA has yet to catch up to an upstream OTBR version that supports Thread v1.4.
Ok, I see what you are saying …
For what its worth, I went digging some, and although I don’t know the openthread repositories and build structures which makes it a bit challenging, the best I could come up with is that the OTBR repository by default is built using version 1.3 even though there are ways to build it for version 1.4 and I couldn’t find out why 1.3 is the default.
For what it’s worth, I’m running OTBR using docker image openthread/otbr:latest dated April 2025 and my router is reporting Thread 1.4.0. You can see this in the HA Zeroconf browser in Settings → System → Network under the _meshcop._udp.local service, property tv (thread version):
Name: OpenThread BorderRouter #7614
Type: _meshcop._udp.local.
#### Properties
tv 1.4.0
You can also check the version using the ot-ctl command, which if using docker you can run via docker exec. In the example below, my container (called openthread-br) reports version 5, i.e. “Thread Protocol Stack” v5 which is Thread v1.4 (seriously).
peter@felix:~$ docker exec -it openthread-br ot-ctl thread version
5
Done
The RCP firmware, which I compiled myself, only reports version openthread-esp32/e7771c75bd-456c44828; esp32h2; 2024-09-02 in the OTBR web GUI and ot-ctl rcp version — this indicates esp-idf v5.1.3 using OpenThread commit hash 456c44828 which is dated January 2024 so is most likely v1.3. Maybe I should rebuild and reflash?
TL;DR: my OTBR reports v1.4 even though my dongle is v1.3.
That said, one of the headline features of Thread 1.4, “credential sharing”, requires a specific UI on both v1.4-capable TBRs to generate and input the sharing codes. As far as I can tell this appears to only be supported via command-line (ot-ctl) and not the OTBR web GUI. Gemini says (take with grain of salt) the command ot-ctl epskc start will give you a code(that was wrong, now it says) ot-ctl ba ephemeralkey start PASSCODE 300000 gives you a 5-minute window to enter PASSCODE that can be used in the other vendor’s setup UI but the only vendors to support this today are SmartThings and IKEA as far as I know. Anyone hoping to use HA’s UI for Thread credential sharing would have to wait even longer for the feature to be added to the REST API and subsequently in the HA Thread Integration.
Edited to add: further conversation with Gemini reveals “epskc start” may be deprecated and the “new” way to initiate a sharing session is ba ephemeralkey
Yes, HA’s actual OTBR Addon and ZBT-1/ZBT-2 firmware currently only support Thread 1.3.
Well, that depends on the perspective. From an open-source standpoint, I agree, as community members devote their free time to creating great software we can freely download and install.
From a business perspective, however - Nabu Casa being a company that also sells hardware - I disagree. For example, by selling the ZBT-1, Nabu Casa has a support obligation to keep its software and firmware updated, at least for the expectable product lifecycle. The same should apply to a completely new product like the ZBT-2, which was just released running outdated firmware and software. So, from a business angle, criticism and complaints about the current situation with HA’s outdated Thread implementation are imho more than justified.
It’s hard to understand why Nabu Casa seems to be dragging its feet on Thread, especially since it’s been clear since last summer that Ikea would flood the market with affordable Thread devices by early 2026, if not late 2025. Right now, many new Ikea users are frustrated that their first Thread-based setups - meant to be low-hassle, if not hassle-free - have turned into nightmares. This is largely due to Thread’s general not-yet-mature level and of course due to some initial Ikea bugs, but obviously emphasized by combining different (Open) Thread Border Routers running on various firmware and software versions. With Thread still under heavy development, missing features and inconsistent robustness in (O)TBR implementations are expectably taking their toll - especially on mixed implementations.
Only recently, in a discussion on Discord, Apollon77 who is now in the lead of Matter.js development - which has been a really great move by him and Nabu Casa btw - stated, that they are currently evaluating “what it means because thread 1.4 has some advanced features (like credential sharing) that require more work than „just“ updating the otbr version.” - Link to Discord thread.
For me this doesn’t sound like we can expect an OTBR Addon and ZBT-1/ZBT-2 firmware updated to Thread 1.4 in the near future.
I am really surprised that IKEA decided to switch to Matter + Thread this early given the immaturity of the ecosystem. While it is true that they control the DIRIGERA experience, a substantial number of people will try to link it to Apple/Google/Amazon TBRs and/or use Matter multi-admin and will run into a continuous stream of issues.
It is truly a bold move, but somebody has to be the first, right? I expect Ikea with regards to the DIRIGERA Hub that they will be able to stabilize their own ecosystem soon. I personally run quite a number of new Ikea devices almost flawlessly in my HA-OTBR-only environment. This tells me that it can’t be that bad - unless you decide to combine multiple (O)TBRs.
True that. Even more important it is for the major players - Nabu Casa with HA being one of them - to stay up-to-date with the official reference OTBR releases. Troubleshooting is still a nightmare. Looking at my own HA OTBR log, which to this day can’t even provide proper timestamps to match messages with the Matter controller log, I can’t help but wonder and scratch my head.
IKEA moved to matter + thread. Via do did Philips.
And I like this move.
Ikea makes thread affordable.
I was perfectly happy with zigbee3 until I ran into issues thread was designed to prevent. So if ikea woud work with 1.3 I will migrate in the near future.
The issue was already placed in GitHub here, but no response.
Would it make a difference whether I use the IKEA Dirigera or a second device connected via OTBR add-on?
Say, I buy a SMLIGHT SLZB06P10 — Smart Zigbee Gateway for Home Assistant | SMLIGHT that would work with OTBR. Would that somehow simplify the situation? I am a bit afraid that having two devices on one OTBR add-on is not possible (there is no option) and that having two OTBR add-ons is neither easy nor supports credential sharing, right?
There is a discussion here that does not seem to converge to a solution…
