Matter Virtual Device Development Environment

Device SDK

The Matter Virtual Device Development Environment (MVD-DE) is a Docker container where you can create your Matter Virtual Device (MVD) and use the Virtual Device Controller (VDC) desktop app to provide a graphical user interface to control and display the states of your virtual Matter devices. The app provides a visual representation of your virtual device, as well as the controls for the Matter clusters supported by the device.

The app uses an RPC client to communicate with the virtual device's RPC server, sending requests reflecting your actions (toggle power, dim, brighten) and polling once every second to retrieve state.

Supported devices

Currently, the MVD-DE supports the following Matter device types:

Matter Device Type Application Cluster(s) Home Ecosystem Type
Contact Sensor Boolean State Sensor
Dimmable Light On/Off
Level Control		 Light
Extended Color Light On/Off
Level Control
Color Control		 Light
Flow Sensor Flow Measurement Sensor
Humidity Sensor Relative Humidity Measurement Sensor
Illuminance Sensor Illuminance Measurement Sensor
Occupancy Sensor Occupancy Sensing Sensor
On/Off Light On/Off Light
Outlet On/Off
Level Control		 Outlet
Pressure Sensor Pressure Measurement Sensor
Speaker On/Off
Level Control		 Speaker
Switch On/Off Switch
Temperature Sensor Temperature Measurement Sensor

Set up the Matter Virtual Device Development Environment

The MVD-DE is a pre-configured Docker image available on the Docker Hub. To install it, run:

user@host> docker pull us-docker.pkg.dev/nest-matter/docker-repo/virtual-device-image:latest

This operation might take a few minutes to complete.

Run the Matter Virtual Device Development Environment

  1. Start the Docker container:

    user@host> xhost local:1000
user@host> docker run -it --ipc=host --net=host -e DISPLAY --name matter-container us-docker.pkg.dev/nest-matter/docker-repo/virtual-device-image:latest

    After starting the container, you should see some diagnostic output followed by a message affirming that your container configuration is correct, and finally, the container shell prompt:

    Environment looks good, you are ready to go!

  2. Create a second terminal session instance:

    user@host> docker exec -it matter-container /bin/bash

  3. For a virtual Matter device, once the device is running, start the VDC, passing it the --s argument and the IP port used by the device:

    $ electron main.js --s=localhost:33000

    For a physical device, start the VDC, passing it the --dargument followed by the device serial port:

    $ electron main.js --d=/dev/ttyUSB0

If you start the VDC without providing any arguments, it will default to the network socket option using localhost port 33000.

Once the VDC is able to connect to your device, it will display a screen showing your device state:

Virtual Device graphic user interface

Display the device's QR code

The VDC can also be used to retrieve the QR code as part of your device commissioning flow. Click on the QR code icon next to the device image to display the QR code for this device:

Virtual Device Controller displaying the device's QR Code

You can use this QR code to commission your device.

Stop the Matter Virtual Device Development Environment

To stop the MVD-DE, press Control-Q with the VDC's screen in focus, or press Control-C in the terminal session where you started the app.

Feedback

To submit your thoughts or feedback on how we can improve your experience with the MVD-DE, complete our Feedback Form.

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