ESP-MATTER COMPLEXITY PROTEST ============================================================
Dear ESP32 / ESPHome community,
I want to express serious concerns about the current state of ESP-Matter and its "quick demo" approach. After trying to set up a simple ESP32-S3 light switch, I encountered a nightmare of complexity, repository bloat, and opaque dependencies.
**Repository size insanity**- Cloning ESP-Matter + submodules currently pulls **20GB of unnecessary code**.
- Included are drivers, SDKs, and device examples (Amazon-Kinesis, M5Stack TFT, Pigweed, OpenThread) that are **not needed** for a simple light switch.
- This is **totally disproportionate** for a simple hello-world device.
**Quick demos are misleading**- The website advertises “quickly flashable prototypes,” but they **hide all details**.
- Users cannot see the steps, dependencies, or selectively remove unneeded components.
- Customizing even trivial projects becomes impossible without learning and downloading an entire ecosystem.
**Developer experience issues**- Python versions, ESP-IDF, and ESP-Matter venvs must be carefully managed.
- Minor mismatches (Python 3.10 vs 3.12) cause the build to fail.
- Submodule management and bootstrap scripts are opaque and pull in tons of extra components.
**Open-source philosophy clash**- Open source is supposed to enable **user control and selective customization**.
- Instead, we get massive, monolithic repos that force everyone to download everything, even for trivial projects.
- A single light switch should **not require tens of gigabytes** and hundreds of submodules.
**Call for improvement**- ESP-Matter should allow **intelligent selective pulls**: only clone components strictly required for the target board and functionality.
- Provide **minimal “thin ESP” setup instructions** for hobbyists and small devices.
- Improve transparency in demos: explain dependencies and allow truly minimal builds.
**Conclusion**- The current approach makes beginners and enthusiasts despair.
- It **discourages learning**, consumes massive storage and bandwidth, and hides the simplicity of the ESP32 platform.
- The community deserves lightweight, documented, and customizable setups that make even a single LED blink without pulling 20GB of unrelated code.
Let's make noise and push for **practical, minimal, user-friendly ESP-Matter setups**. Simple devices deserve simplicity.
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