General questions

What is ioBroker?

ioBroker is software that connects various systems in the home into a unified whole: heating, lighting, blinds, weather services, calendars, voice assistants. What one manufacturer provides can thus communicate with the devices of another.

Technically, ioBroker is a purely software-based solution. It doesn't replace a central control unit: HomeMatic still requires a CCU, and Zigbee still requires a USB dongle. ioBroker communicates with these control units and stores all the data they provide in a shared database.

The system is modular. Each connection is a separate program, an adapter : there are over 800 of them. Only what is needed is installed.

This is explained in detail under ioBroker Basics .

ioBroker is open source and free. It runs on your own hardware in your own network, without the cloud, if you don't want to use it.

On which hardware does ioBroker run?

Anywhere a current Node.js version is running: Raspberry Pi, Mini-PC, NAS, Server, virtual machine.

The minimum requirements are 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage space ; 4 GB (preferably 6 to 8 GB) and 64 GB are recommended. The complete table can be found under Requirements , and recommendations for individual device classes under Hardware .

Three things that experience has shown are most crucial:

• Do not run continuously on an SD card. ioBroker writes constantly. An SD card can withstand this for a while and then fails, usually without warning. On a Raspberry Pi, the system should be installed on an SSD.
• A decent power supply. A large proportion of the errors that look like software errors are actually voltage drops.
• Enough RAM. Every instance needs memory. Anyone planning big things shouldn't start with 1 GB.