How to use ZBT-1 as a thread border router in HA when not using HAOS

[covert raft]

I have a ZBT-1 and would like to use HA as my border router. All the docs basically say "just plug it in and select Thread", but when I do that I get: "The OpenThread Border Router addon can only be installed with Home Assistant OS. If you would like to use the Home Assistant Connect ZBT-1 as an Thread border router, please flash the firmware manually using the web flasher and set up OpenThread Border Router to communicate with it."

BUT, the firmware updater at (https://connectzbt1.home-assistant.io/firmware-update/) seems to have been "Temporarily Unavailable" for quite some time.

So, how can I flash the thread firmware, and are there any instructions anywhere for how to "set up OpenThread Border Router to communicate with it"? Thanks!

[slate beacon]

I faced a similar issue a while back not being able to flash, same missing web-flasher, I gave up and just got HAOS.

[plush comet]

i have the feeling the web flasher is offline specifically to discourage people from attempting to run the Matter Server outside of HAOS.

[covert raft]

Why do they want to discourage that? It's pretty easy to run inside docker

It'd just be nice if there was any documentation for this

[plush comet]

no it's not

[covert raft]

you mean running otbr inside docker isn't easy?

[plush comet]

upstream linux kernel is not ready for matter controllers

[covert raft]

ohh, so it's easy to run but it won't work? 🙂

[plush comet]

i had a setup with a homepod and ha/python-matter-server running in dockers on ubuntu and it kinda sorta worked but was not stable.

i have had far less headaches with my new setup with haos running on top of proxmox

[covert raft]

interesting okay, thanks. i might futz with this a bit more but good to know it's not really a supported configuration

[plush comet]

you can read in the python-matter-server documentation the IPV6-related hurdles you will encounter running on most distros https://github.com/home-assistant-libs/python-matter-server

if you really wanna go down this route you're on your own but here's a starting point:
https://github.com/NabuCasa/silabs-firmware-builder/releases/tag/v2024.10.21 firmware builds
https://github.com/NabuCasa/universal-silabs-flasher
firmware flasher
as for getting OTBR to actually talk to home assistant and python-matter-server (and your thread devices!), lol good luck

[covert raft]

thanks! and hah yeah, i'm realizing this is non-trivial