On 15 October 2026 Arduino presented Zigbee support for the Nano Matter board. Until now, sketches for its Silicon Labs MGM240S module could use Matter over Thread or Bluetooth LE. Version 5.0.0 of the Arduino core for Silicon Labs, released on 15 September, adds a third option. In the Arduino IDE you pick Zigbee under Tools › Protocol stack, and the sketch is built with the Zigbee 3.0 stack. Only one stack runs per sketch, so switching protocols means choosing another stack and uploading again.
The new Zigbee library wraps Silicon Labs' EmberZNet stack in Arduino-style classes. According to the 5.0.0 release notes, it also supports the Seeed Studio XIAO MG24, the SparkFun Thing Plus Matter and the Silicon Labs xG24 Explorer Kit.
What a board can be
The library ships 14 examples for 11 device types: on/off, dimmable and colour bulbs, an on/off plug-in unit, a switch, temperature, humidity and light sensors, a contact sensor, a power-source reporter and a time client that asks the network for the current time. A board joins as a router by default, relaying traffic for the mesh, or as an end device. The network it joined is stored in non-volatile memory and survives a reset or a new upload.
Two features go beyond plain reporting. A switch can be bound to a light and then controls it directly, without a hub automation, and the bulb and plug classes can act as Find-and-Bind targets for remotes that support it. The library also tells the sketch when the hub sends an Identify request, so the board can blink an LED.
Arduino flags one catch itself: the humidity and light examples send made-up values, and the temperature example measures the MG24 chip, not the room. Reading a real sensor, such as a Modulino Thermo, takes a few changed lines.
Both ends of the network
Home Assistant's ZHA integration picks the board up like any other Zigbee device. The Nano Matter user manual also names Amazon Echo and SmartThings models, Hubitat Elevation (C-8) and the IKEA DIRIGERA hub as working coordinators. Joining can take a few minutes, depending on the network.
The coordinator can be another Nano Matter. Since version 4.0 the core has included prebuilt Zigbee EZSP coordinator firmware, and a Python script in the core's extra/firmware folder flashes it:
python3 extra_firmware_flasher.py nano_matter zigbee
The board then goes into ZHA as the Zigbee radio. Turning it back into a regular device takes Tools › Burn Bootloader with the OpenOCD programmer, which erases the coordinator firmware and its network.
To start, install Silicon Labs core 5.0.0 in Boards Manager and select Nano Matter with the Zigbee stack. A new board, or one coming from Matter or BLE, needs Burn Bootloader once, which erases it along with any saved network. Then upload an example from File › Examples › Zigbee. Arduino has also published a Zigbee Smart Clock on Project Hub that reports temperature, humidity and light to Home Assistant and takes its time from the network. For anything beyond the standard device types, such as a custom cluster, the same hardware runs Silicon Labs' full Zigbee SDK in Simplicity Studio.
Release 5.0.0 brought Matter additions as well: water valve and water heater device types, binding in the Matter switch, and Matter time synchronisation.