Response Time

Response time

Thread Pulse measures how long a device takes to confirm a command from Home Assistant.

How it is measured

1. Home Assistant sends a command to an entity of the device, e.g. switch.turn_off (event call_service).
2. The device carries it out and reports its new state; Home Assistant updates the entity (event state_changed).
3. The response time is the difference between the two time stamps from Home Assistant. The connection between your browser and Home Assistant does not affect the result.

The confirmation is matched to the command by Home Assistant's context id (everything a command causes carries the same id). If that is not available, the first state report of the same entity within 10 seconds is used.

Where you see it

• Detail panel → Live: 96 ms last · median 95 ms (6 measurements). The last 20 measurements per device are kept.
• Live ticker: confirmations show the time, e.g. Plug → HA: state off · 96 ms.
• Hint and i badge if the median is 1 second or more over at least 3 commands – see Hints and warnings.

For devices that can be switched (lights, switches, covers, locks, fans, climate, valves, media players) the panel shows not measured yet until the first command arrives.

What to expect

Matter over Thread usually confirms commands in well under a second. In a real network with the OpenThread Border Router add-on, a plug confirmed on/off commands in about 95 ms.

Limitations

• Measured only while a Thread Pulse page is open; values are lost on reload.
• Commands that change nothing (e.g. turn on for a light that is already on) produce no state report and are not counted.
• Commands sent to a whole device or area (instead of an entity) are animated but not measured.
• The time includes Home Assistant and the Matter server, not only the radio hop.

On the map

From version 1.7.0. ⋯ → ⏱ Response times on the map shows the measurements on the map:

• A ring around every device with measurements, coloured by the median: green below 0.5 s, orange 0.5–1 s, red 1 s or more (the same limit as the slow hint). The median is written above the device, e.g. 234 ms or 1.4 s.
• Devices without measurements stay as they are – no ring. (They are not shown grey on purpose: grey means not reachable.)
• Commands travel at the measured speed: the magenta dot to a device takes as long as its median response time (limited to 0.25–3 s for the animation). Messages from the devices keep the normal speed – their delay cannot be measured.
• The legend (?) shows the scale while the view is on. The choice is remembered by the browser.

Measurements only exist for commands sent while a Thread Pulse page is open, so the map fills up over time. Covers and locks are naturally slower than lights and plugs.