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What are Instances / Bridges?

Whenever someone writes about instances and bridges in the Homebridge community, they are talking about a separate Homebridge. Each Homebridge has its own config file and plugins. You can run multiple bridges on the same device without conflicts.

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When is more than one Instance / Bridge recommended?

  • If you have plugins installed that crash Homebridge from time to time
  • If you want to get rid of the 149 accessories limitation
  • If you use dozens of accessories and want faster HomeKit status updates by splitting your devices into separate bridges
  • If you want a test bridge to play with, without the risk to crash your main Homebridge

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Creating a new Instance / Bridge

#1 Homebridge

If you use the hb-service to manage Homebridge, you can use the following code to create instances via the terminal. Name and port can be modified to fit your needs. If you followed the default instructions, the user is 'homebridge', on modified installations this may vary.


# macOS / Windows:
hb-service install --service-name homebridge-two --port 8080

# Linux / Raspbian:
hb-service install --user homebridge --service-name homebridge-two --port 8080

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#2 HOOBS 4

Navigate to the Dashboard or Systems Overview and tap on the three dots right to the system cell, select "Create Bridge" and follow the instructions.

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#3 HOOBS 3

Unfortuently HOOBS 3 had an issue that made it impossible to create new instances. The HOOBS team hasn't fixed that issue, as they focused on HOOBS 4, which has native support for that functionality.