We’re developing dedicated add-ons optimized for iHost to enhance your Home Assistant experience. Stay tuned and follow our progress at iHost Open Source Project · GitHub!
Now available:
iHost Hardware Control Add-on: Control physical buttons, RGB indicators, and light strips directly from Home Assistant. Map hardware inputs to automations for seamless interaction between physical and virtual environments.
You can click here for the tutorial.
SONOFF Dongle Flasher Add-on :Flash and upgrade the built-in MG21 Zigbee coordinator firmware directly from Home Assistant. Supports switching between Zigbee, OpenThread, and MultiPAN firmware via a simple web interface.
You can click here for the tutorial.
Node-Red :This add-on is a standalone packaged version of Node-RED, exclusively designed to support the linux/arm/v7 architecture. It has been packaged by SONOFF, specifically tailored for iHost user.
You can click here for the tutorial.
Matter Bridge Add-on : Bridge local devices to the Matter ecosystem for cross-platform integration.
You can click here for the tutorial.
ESPHome Device Builder: It provides custom-built ESPHome add-ons and container images for armv7 which are no longer supported by the official ESPHome distribution.
eWeLink-Remote Add-on: This add-on connect SONOFF Lite smart devices (R5, R5W, S-MATE, S-MATE2) to Home Assistant and use them as triggers in automations.
Matter Server: This add-on is a standalone packaged version of Matter Server, exclusively designed to support the linux/arm/v7 architecture. It has been packaged by SONOFF, specifically tailored for iHost user.
OpenThread Border Router Add-on: Enables iHost to function as a Thread Border Router, allowing Home Assistant to connect with Thread-based devices and expand Matter-over-Thread support. Optimized for 32-bit systems.
We’re not just making iHost capable of running Home Assistant — our goal is to make it a powerful, hardware-integrated edge platform with deep ecosystem compatibility and a smooth user experience, built for smart home enthusiasts with real needs.
HA over iHost Add-ons Feature List/Roadmap
Add-ons
Introduction
Available
Feature List
iHost Hardware Control
This add-on exposes iHost’s hardware (buttons, RGB indicators, LED strips) as entities in Home Assistant, enabling flexible automations and hardware integration.
Yes
You can control: 1. iHost Buttons Power, Pairing, Mute, Security, Reset 2. iHost Indicators Indicators of Power, Pairing, Mute, Security, Side Strip
SONOFF Dongle Flasher
Flash and upgrade the built-in MG21 Zigbee coordinator firmware directly from Home Assistant. Supports switching between Zigbee, OpenThread, and MultiPAN firmware via a simple web interface.
Yes
1. Zigbee Firmware Version 8.0.2 2. OpenThread Firmware Version 2.4.4 expected in June 3. MultiPAN supports Zigbee and Thread simultaneously Firmware Version 4.4.5 expected in June
Node-Red
This add-on is a standalone packaged version of Node-RED, exclusively designed to support the linux/arm/v7 architecture. It has been packaged by SONOFF, specifically tailored for iHost user.
Yes
only maintain compatibility and build infrastructure for the 32-bit architecture
ESPHome Device Builder
It provides custom-built ESPHome add-ons and container images for armv7 which are no longer supported by the official ESPHome distribution.
Yes
only maintain compatibility and build infrastructure for the 32-bit architecture
Matter Bridge for iHost
Matter Bridge add-on exposes Home Assistant devices as Matter-enabled devices, enabling them to be integrated with Matter platforms, such as Apple Home, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa. This add-on is based on iHost Matter Bridge and has passed Matter certification to ensure protocol compatibility and long-term availability.
Yes
Enables syncing Home Assistant entities to Matter platforms (Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, etc.) for local cross-platform integration. Now supports entity-based syncing for improved compatibility.
OpenThread Border Router
This add-on creates or joins a Thread network, allowing Home Assistant over iHost to act as a Thread Border Router for Thread-enabled devices.
Yse
only maintain compatibility and build infrastructure for the 32-bit architecture
Matter Server
This add-on provides a Matter controller via Python WebSocket for Home Assistant Core, enabling debugging and control of Matter devices.
Yes
only maintain compatibility and build infrastructure for the 32-bit architecture
eWeLink-Remote
This add-on connect SONOFF Lite smart devices (R5, R5W, S-MATE, S-MATE2) to Home Assistant and use them as triggers in automations.
Yes
1. Pair eWeLink-Remote sub-devices directly to iHost 2. Trigger Home Assistant automations via R5/S-Mate button events 3. Seamless integration with the Home Assistant interface 4. Fully optimized and tested for 32-bit iHost systems
Great! A once-promising HA add-on, left to gather digital cobwebs in the forgotten corridors of GitHub. Perhaps, somewhere in the depths of its neglected repository, a rogue developer will stumble upon it—like an archaeologist unearthing an ancient relic—and utter the fateful words: “By Jove, I can bring it back!”
Until then, we must content ourselves with wistful sighs and the occasional dramatic reenactment of Frankenstein’s grand awakening: “It’s alive!.. Or at least, it could be—if someone finally dusts off the code.”
Add-ons Update: Node-RED Now Works on 32-bit iHost
We’re aware that some Home Assistant add-ons aren’t working properly on iHost due to its 32-bit architecture. Many official add-ons are built exclusively for 64-bit systems, which leads to installation or runtime failures on iHost.
We’re actively addressing this by building 32-bit versions of popular add-ons to ensure better compatibility with HA on iHost.
We’ve started with Node-RED — it’s now available in our add-on repository and has been tested to work reliably on iHost.
More add-ons are on the way, prioritized by community demand. Feel free to submit your requests or report issues — we’re committed to expanding support step by step.
Add‑ons Update: Matter Bridge Now Available on iHost
We’ve seen the rapid rise of the Matter standard in smart home ecosystems—and noticed that many Home Assistant devices can’t yet present themselves as native Matter endpoints for platforms like Apple Home, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa.
To bridge this gap, in “HA over iHost” version 15.2.1. we’re excited to introduce the Matter Bridge add‑on. It transforms your Home Assistant devices into fully compliant Matter-enabled endpoints, allowing seamless integration with all major Matter platforms. Built on the iHost Matter Bridge framework and officially Matter-certified, this add‑on guarantees protocol compatibility and long‑term support.
The Matter Bridge add‑on is now live in our official repository and has been rigorously tested for stable performance on 32‑bit iHost systems.
Looking ahead, we’ll prioritize additional device types and expanded feature sets according to community feedback. As always, we welcome your suggestions, compatibility reports, and use‑case requests—help us refine and grow Matter support on iHost, one add‑on at a time.
Will the fabled eWeLink and Home Assistant integration finally emerge from the depths of endless announcements? Or will it remain a mythical creature, forever lurking in the shadows of vague promises and developer forums?
At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if you just announce a pre-release of an official announcement about the future release. Keep my popcorn ready, because this drama is far from over.
Add-ons Update: eWeLink-Remote Gateway Add-on Released for iHost
We’re excited to announce a brand-new add-on for iHost: the eWeLink-Remote Gateway.
This add-on brings native support for eWeLink-Remote sub-devices—such as the R5, R5W, S-Mate, and S-Mate2—directly into your Home Assistant setup running on iHost.
Once installed, your iHost can act as a gateway, allowing you to pair and manage sub-devices that use the eWeLink-Remote protocol. These devices can report trigger events like single-click, double-click, and long-press, which can be used to control automations across your smart home.
What exactly is ‘brand new’ about this add-on? It was published some time ago, and only a few days ago an updated version was released.
With the add-on installed on Home Assistant running on a Raspberry Pi, only one of the R5 remotes, positioned about 1.5 meters from the Pi, worked reliably. The add-on performs well, but only when the R5 is close enough to maintain a strong signal. The remaining three remotes were consistently erratic, making them practically unusable.
After doing some research, it became clear that achieving stable performance on an RPI in this context is no small feat. The issue isn’t unique to your add-on. There are numerous forum threads highlighting similar struggles. I decided to try using a BLE proxy instead.
The eWeLink-Remote add-on requires Bluetooth Passive Scanning to be enabled, which isn’t an option when using a proxy. While the ESP32 board defaults to passive mode when set up as a Bluetooth proxy, the add-on doesn’t recognize it. I’d recommend considering a modification to the add-on’s code to accept the proxy’s default passive mode as valid. For what it’s worth, I’ve successfully connected other passive-scanning-dependent devices to Home Assistant via the proxy without any issues.
We sincerely appreciate your valuable suggestions.
@KwayLi99 is our marketing guy for all eWeLink related topics. He is too busy these days working on eWeLink CUBE OS v0.4 Beta Testing Program (which is intended to run on 3rd-party hardwares, like Raspberry Pi, Virtual Machine, but not on iHost). So he is a little behind the latest progress of HA over iHost project
Add-ons Update: Matter Server Now Works on 32-bit iHost
We’re aware that many official Home Assistant add-ons are only available for 64-bit systems, causing installation failures on iHost’s 32-bit architecture.
To solve this, we’ve been actively rebuilding key add-ons for 32-bit support—and we’re happy to announce that the Matter Server Add-on is now available and fully functional on 32-bit iHost.
This add-on provides the essential backend services required for Home Assistant’s Matter integration, enabling secure communication, device commissioning, and management of Matter-enabled devices.
Add-ons Update: OpenThread Border Router Add-on Now Available for iHost
We’re excited to announce that the OpenThread Border Router (OTBR) Add-on is now available for Home Assistant on iHost!
This add-on enables iHost to act as a Thread border router, allowing Home Assistant to connect and communicate with Thread-based smart home devices—a key component of the Matter ecosystem. If you’re building a modern smart home with Matter-over-Thread devices, this add-on is essential infrastructure.
Add-ons Update: SONOFF Dongle Flasher Add-on Gets Major Upgrade
We’ve released a powerful new update to the SONOFF Dongle Flasher Add-on for iHost, bringing expanded compatibility and greater flexibility for developers and advanced users.
This add-on allows you to flash firmware to your SONOFF Zigbee dongles, and now it supports more devices and more use cases than ever before.
What’s New:
Multi-architecture support: Now available for armv7, aarch64, and amd64 platforms
Supports more dongles: Flash both SONOFF ZBDongle-E and ZBDongle-P
Flexible firmware flashing: Flash OpenThread, Multi-PAN, or custom firmware with ease
Add-ons Update: Major Upgrade for Matter Bridge Add-on (Breaking Changes Included)
We’ve rolled out a significant update to the Matter Bridge Add-on for iHost — bringing enhanced control, a more flexible synchronization model, and a brand-new UI toggle. However, this update introduces breaking changes, so please read carefully before upgrading.
Breaking Change:
Device-level synchronization has been replaced by entity-level synchronization.
After upgrading, previously synced devices will become invalid.
Any automations created on third-party Matter platforms (e.g., Apple Home, Google Home) that were based on these devices will stop working. You must manually re-sync the specific entities you want to retain.
What’s New:
Multi-architecture support: Now available for 
Supports more dongles: Flash both SONOFF ZBDongle-E and ZBDongle-P
Flexible firmware flashing: Flash OpenThread, Multi-PAN, or custom firmware with ease
Breaking Change:
You must manually re-sync the specific entities you want to retain.