Rena — Smart Room Assistant

Rena turns one room's dumb hardware into real smart-home accessories. A Raspberry Pi 4 drives a Flipper Zero over serial, firing IR codes at a star projector and an RGB desk light and SubGHz captures at three RF wall sockets. A Matter bridge puts all of it in Apple Home and Google Home.

Everything runs on the Pi. No cloud service, no subscription, no account.

Architecture

  Siri  /  Google Assistant  /  Home app  /  Alexa
                  |  Matter over WiFi (local, IPv6 + mDNS)
        Matterbridge  +  matterbridge-rena plugin   (Node 20+, web UI on :8283)
                  |  HTTP  ->  127.0.0.1:8080
        Flask REST API  (main.py)                    (Python 3.11)
                  |  pyflipper over serial, behind a lock
        Flipper Zero  ->  IR (NEC)  /  SubGHz .sub files
                  |
        Projector · RGB strip · Socket 1/2/3

IR and SubGHz are write-only — the hardware never reports back. Rena therefore tracks what it believes each device is doing in state.json and serves it from /state, which is what the Home apps display. A physical remote will desync this; the next command puts it right.

What shows up in the Home app

Accessory	Type	Controls
Star Projector	Light	Astronaut galaxy projector (IR)
Desk RGB Light	Light	Dragon RGB strip (IR)
Laptop Charger	Outlet	RF socket 1
Reading Lamp	Outlet	RF socket 2
Bed Light	Outlet	RF socket 3
All Lights On / All Lights Off / Sleep	Switch	Scenes
Pink Light / Blue Light / Next Color	Switch	Color presets

Scenes are momentary switches: they fire and spring back to off, so you can drop them into Home app automations or trigger them by voice.

API Reference

The Flask app listens on 127.0.0.1:8080. Every device route is a GET returning Success, or 500 with a JSON error if the Flipper refused the command.

Route	Effect
/ast_projector_on, /ast_projector_off	Star projector
/dragon_rbg_on, /dragon_rbg_off	RGB desk light
/next_color	Step the RGB strip to its next color
/pink_light, /blue_light	Color presets
/socket1_on … /socket3_off	RF wall sockets
/lights_on, /lights_off	Projector + RGB strip together
/sleep	Everything off
/state	JSON of assumed device state
/healthz	{"ok": true, "flipper": true}

Install

1. The API

git clone https://github.com/codejapoe/Rena.git
cd Rena
python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt

Your user needs access to the Flipper's serial port:

sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER   # log out and back in

Run it:

.venv/bin/python main.py
curl localhost:8080/healthz

2. The Matter bridge

sudo npm install -g matterbridge --omit=dev

cd matterbridge-rena
npm install          # typescript + @types/node only
npm link matterbridge
npm run build

matterbridge -add "$(pwd)"
matterbridge

matterbridge must not be a dependency in the plugin's package.json — Matterbridge refuses to load plugins that bundle it. npm link matterbridge borrows the global install just for the TypeScript build.

Configure the plugin (API URL, poll interval, accessory allow/deny lists) in the Matterbridge web UI on port 8283.

3. Run both on boot

See systemd/README.md.

Pairing

Matterbridge prints a QR code and a manual pairing code on startup, and shows both in its web UI on port 8283.

Apple Home — Home app → + → Add Accessory → scan the QR code. All accessories appear at once. A HomePod or Apple TV is only needed for automations and remote access; local control works without one.

Google Home — Google Home app → Devices → Add → Matter-enabled device. Google requires a Matter hub on the account: a Nest Hub, Nest Mini, or Chromecast with Google TV. Without one, Google cannot commission a Matter device at all.

Matter supports several controllers at once. Pair Apple Home first, then use Apple's Turn On Pairing Mode to generate a second code for Google.

Matter prerequisites on the Pi

• Node.js 20 LTS or newer.
• IPv6 must be enabled. Matter needs IPv6 link-local and will not work on an IPv4-only host. Check /etc/sysctl.conf for disable_ipv6.
• mDNS must work. Matterbridge and Avahi both want UDP 5353; see the Matterbridge docs for the coexistence settings.
• The Pi, your phone, and the hub must share one LAN — not a guest or isolated SSID.

Flipper Zero setup

SubGHz captures for the wall sockets belong on the Flipper's SD card as /ext/subghz/On1.sub … /ext/subghz/Off3.sub. Capture them with the Flipper's Read function from your socket remote. The IR codes are NEC on address 00 and are defined in devices.py.

Built With

• pyFlipper: Flipper Zero Python CLI Wrapper
• Matterbridge

Products Reference

• Flipper Zero
• Raspberry Pi 4
• Remote Control Outlet
• Galaxy Star Projector

Authors

• @codejapoe