Proposal: Improve commissioning UX with commissionable device discovery

[lboue]

I think there is an opportunity to improve the commissioning UX by making commissionable-device discovery an explicit trigger for the existing commissioning workflow.

Today, a controller can discover a commissionable device through _matterc._udp, but the discovery result is often treated as just information. The user still has to manually start the “Add Matter device” flow.

A possible flow would be:

Device enters commissioning mode
↓
_matterc._udp advertisement
↓
Commissionable device discovery
↓
Controller detects the device
↓
Existing "Add Matter device" workflow
↓
User scans the QR code / enters the setup code
↓
Commissioning

The important point is that discovery does not need to provide the setup code. The controller can use the discovered commissionable-device information to identify the device and then invoke its existing commissioning flow, where the user provides the setup code.

This would also allow the UI to give useful context to the user:

“Smart Plug detected — ready to add”

rather than requiring the user to start the commissioning flow first.

The same approach could work regardless of whether the commissionable device was discovered through mDNS/DNS-SD or BLE.

For this to work cleanly, the discovery layer would ideally expose:

• commissionable device added/updated events;
• device disappearance/removal;
• enough discovery data to associate the discovered device with the subsequent commissioning operation.

This could provide a much more seamless Matter commissioning experience without creating a separate commissioning mechanism.

[mkerstner]

Thanks for that one @lboue

Yes, we have an opportunity around that topic:

• Let users decide how to handle uncertified Matter devices during commissioning OpenHomeFoundation/roadmap#177

I want to split that one in 2 opportunities (see comments contained therein).

Going into the same direction I'd add a 3rd opportunity with the discovery surfacing you are mentioning for further discussion.

I could see 3 steps then:

1. Surface commissionable devices to be set up (in addition to existing flows)

2. Surface decision on commissioning uncertified devices

3. Support to commissioning through BLE proxies

Do we see potential hurdles by introducing 1)?