Hey all, just wanted to share a few things I’ve tried recently to beef up my smart home setup using Aqara stuff and Matter — and honestly, it’s been a game-changer.
I’m kinda new-ish to Matter, but not completely clueless when it comes to Aqara. What surprised me is how much smoother things can run when you play around with automation outside of just the basics.
For example, I rigged up my Aqara door sensor with my G3 camera via Matter so when the front door opens after 10 pm, not only do I get a quick snapshot, but my hallway lights turn on dimmed to 30% — super useful when I get home late. I also added a little tweak with an Aqara motion sensor in the kitchen. If there’s no motion for 15 mins after motion was last detected, it shuts off the kitchen lights automatically (yes, my roommates keep forgetting…).
The real trick was making sure my hub (using M2) was on the latest firmware that supports Matter and getting everything routed properly — took me a few tries, but it clicked eventually. Kept everything Matter-native in Home Assistant and avoided cloud-based controls where I could. Just feels snappier.
Curious if anyone else has tried stacking automations like this or has found any clever DIY use cases with Aqara + Matter? I’m tempted to experiment more with the cube controller next.
Hit me up with your setups or tricks — I know some of you are wizards at this stuff.