Clarification on Mapping Multiple Switches to Endpoints in Matter

[Adarsh_N]

Hi Nordic Team,

I am working on a Smart Panel implementation using Matter, which contains multiple switches (e.g., 16 buttons) and some sliders. I have a few questions regarding endpoint and cluster mapping:

1. In Matter, is it recommended that each physical switch on the panel corresponds to a separate endpoint exposing its own On/Off cluster (and Level Control cluster for dimmers)?

2. If I want to expose different device types (e.g., On/Off Light Switch, Dimmer Switch) from a single panel, is the one endpoint per switch approach the best practice?

3. Are there any limitations or recommendations from Nordic’s SDK regarding the maximum number of endpoints per device, or the best way to manage multiple endpoints in a single physical panel?

Your guidance on best practices for implementing multi-switch panels in Matter would be greatly appreciated. Also I have added the device type for Matter switch below which I reffed from Nordic website.

Thank you,
Adarsh

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

In Matter, is it recommended that each physical switch on the panel corresponds to a separate endpoint exposing its own On/Off cluster (and Level Control cluster for dimmers)?

Yes, a Matter single node can expose multiple endpoints, and those endpoints can host the same cluster types, each representing a separate functional part like an individual switch/dimmer, see the Matter Data Model overview on nodes/endpoints/clusters. 

If I want to expose different device types (e.g., On/Off Light Switch, Dimmer Switch) from a single panel, is the one endpoint per switch approach the best practice?

Yes, using one endpoint per physical control is a common and clean mapping, especially if you want to represent different device types on the same panel. Each endpoint then carries the appropriate application clusters for that device type. 

Are there any limitations or recommendations from Nordic’s SDK regarding the maximum number of endpoints per device, or the best way to manage multiple endpoints in a single physical panel?

The limits are based on flash/RAM usage and attribute table size instead of the endpoint's maximum number. See the Matter hardware and memory requirements and Matter Data Model overview doc.

Regards,
Amanda H.