Virtual matter device

[MartinsMihaeljans]

Hello, this Matter integration with Node-RED seems really interesting to me. However, I'm not able to deploy the example flow as I have no physical matter devices in my network. So, my question is - Is there a way to emulate a Matter device on PC to work with this node-RED project?

[FezVrasta]

Hi, the whole purpose of this project is to emulate Matter devices on Node-RED. You do need a Matter compatible controller though to pair the devices

[FezVrasta]

python and node are different technologies so the integration wouldn't be straight forward

[Apollon77]

matter.js (the base library of the nodes) also has a "controller shell app" to use as controller. not really that many features as of now, but increasing

[MartinsMihaeljans]

@Apollon77 Could you tell me how to run the controller shell app? Or at least guide me to some tutorial?

[Apollon77]

https://github.com/project-chip/matter.js/tree/main/packages/matter-node-shell.js... but you need the nightly build for that from npm ... it is not included yet in the officvial npm version. so install with @dev

[MartinsMihaeljans]

@Apollon77 @FezVrasta Thank you very much. This helps a lot. I'll try to put this to work and get beck with the results :)

[MartinsMihaeljans]

Hello, @FezVrasta and @Apollon77. Sorry for the long delay. I failed to install the controller shell app. My setup is as follows:
VirtualBox VM running Ubuntu 22 desktop OS;
Git repo branch selected nightly-release;
When I try npm install command this is the outcome:

And here is a full log file.
log.txt

What could be the cause of this? Does my virtual machine or physical pc Bluetooth setup needs changes?

[Apollon77]

the cause is that there are buld issues with the ble package. could it be that python 3.12 is installed? If yes two options:

Downgrade python OR upgrade npm (10.2.2+)

The cause is a change in lython 3.12 which triggers a issue in node-gyp which means builds of native components fail.

[MartinsMihaeljans]

Okay, now I got a little further:

npm and python versions are as follows:

I tried to do npm install jsdom but it was no help.
@Apollon77 What could be a cause of this?

[Apollon77]

Ok then maybe it is a different reason ... try to install the packet with " --foreground-scripts" as parameters. whats the log then ? (and pleas epost text and no screenshots)

[MartinsMihaeljans]

Hi, @Apollon77 and @FezVrasta I got it running thanks to parameter --foreground-scripts. Now I have another question. I understand that I have run an controller instance but do I need to configure some addressing for it? Also, how do I set the use of my shell controller in node-red matter example, as in debug it says that it is not set?

[Apollon77]

got it running thanks to parameter --foreground-scripts

Interesting ... this normally just makes sure that we see logging :-)) but ok if it worked fine.

To your question: You want to have a device in node-red and control this using the shell app? Then in fact you need to configzre the devcie and start that in node-red.

Then in the shell app you use the "commission" commands to pair/commission the devcie to the shell-controller ... check help output there for commands and options.