By: Dipin Sehdev

Smart homes are at their best when the technology fades into the background. A door opens, the lights respond. You leave the house, unnecessary devices shut down. Someone walks into a room and the home knows they're there without anyone reaching for a phone. The problem is getting all those devices to work together.

Shelly Group and Brilliant NextGen are taking an interesting approach to solving that problem, announcing a deeper integration that brings Shelly's sensors, and soon its extensive lineup of smart relays, directly into the Brilliant smart home platform. And this is a pretty cool combination. Brilliant provides the polished control layer and automation platform, while Shelly's small sensors and relays can reach much deeper into the physical infrastructure of a home.

For people who enjoy DIY home automation, that's where things get particularly interesting.

Brilliant Can Now See What's Happening Around the Home

The first phase of the integration is available now and supports the Shelly Bluetooth Motion Sensor and Shelly Bluetooth Door/Window Sensor, along with Shelly's Bluetooth-to-Wi-Fi gateway. Brilliant users can connect compatible Shelly sensors in two ways: directly over Bluetooth to Brilliant Controls or through Shelly's Bluetooth-to-Wi-Fi gateway. Once connected, the sensors give Brilliant additional real-time information about what's happening throughout the house, including motion, occupancy and doors or windows opening and closing. That information can then become a trigger for home automations.

A motion sensor could tell Brilliant that someone has entered a room. A door sensor can determine when someone enters or leaves the house. Those relatively simple events become considerably more useful when they're connected to a broader automation platform capable of controlling the rest of the home. That's the fundamental difference between owning a collection of smart devices and having an actual automated home.

Shelly Relays Are Where This Gets Really Interesting

Sensors are only the beginning. By the end of September 2026, Brilliant plans to integrate Shelly's relay lineup as well. This has the potential to dramatically expand what can be incorporated into a Brilliant installation because a Shelly relay can add smart control to devices that weren't necessarily designed to be smart in the first place. Brilliant says the integration will allow users to control and automate switches, outlets, appliances, low-voltage devices, pumps, motors and other wired electrical equipment. That opens up an enormous number of possibilities. Instead of restricting a smart home to connected bulbs, smart plugs and products built around a particular ecosystem, Shelly's relay architecture provides a bridge between conventional electrical devices and the Brilliant control system.

For the DIY crowd, this is probably the coolest part of the announcement. You could potentially build automations around existing lighting, exhaust fans, outdoor equipment, motorized systems or other wired devices rather than replacing everything with new smart-home hardware. Of course, anything involving mains electrical wiring needs to be installed appropriately and in accordance with local electrical requirements. But for capable DIY enthusiasts — or homeowners working with an electrician or integrator — the flexibility is significant.

Shelly + Brilliant Integration

Compatible Shelly sensors are also being sold directly through Brilliant's online store, with additional products expected as the partnership expands.

DIY Flexibility Meets Managed Home Automation

There's another interesting aspect to this partnership: Shelly and Brilliant approach home automation from somewhat different directions. Shelly has become attractive to enthusiasts because its products can be installed behind switches, outlets and other devices, giving users enormous flexibility when designing their own automation systems. Brilliant, meanwhile, is trying to simplify the smart-home experience. That includes Brilliant Max, the company's fully managed smart home subscription service.

Every Brilliant Max subscription includes a Shelly Bluetooth Door/Window Sensor, which can feed information into Brilliant's preconfigured Home, Away and Vacation Modes, with Night Mode also available. The result is an interesting spectrum. Someone who doesn't want to spend weekends configuring automations can use Brilliant's managed experience. Someone who wants to go much deeper can use Shelly hardware to extend automation into parts of the house that might otherwise remain disconnected.

And both can ultimately live within the same Brilliant interface.

Building Automations Around the Home

The possibilities become more apparent when you think about the sensors and relays working together. A door sensor could recognize that you've arrived home and trigger an arrival routine. Motion detection could help determine whether rooms are occupied before lights or other devices are turned off. Add relay control and those routines can potentially extend beyond traditional smart-home products. That's what makes this integration compelling. The intelligence doesn't necessarily have to reside inside every appliance. Instead, Brilliant can act as the automation and control layer, Shelly sensors can provide information about what's happening in the physical environment, and Shelly relays can provide control over devices that otherwise wouldn't participate in the smart home.

“The Shelly mission to develop smart solutions that make everyday life easier for our customers pairs naturally with the fully managed experience Brilliant is cultivating for their users,” said Matthew Brown, Chief Marketing Officer for Shelly USA. “What began as the inclusion of a single sensor has continued to evolve into a whole-home integration that helps enable smarter, more capable homes for every Brilliant customer.”

More Shelly Devices Are Coming

This isn't intended to be a one-time integration. Shelly and Brilliant say they plan to add additional sensors and functionality over the coming months, expanding the number of devices that can participate in Brilliant automations.

“We're excited to expand our support for additional Shelly capabilities over time to bring even more value to customers who chose Brilliant for their Smart Home control systems,” said Jonathan Temlock, President and CEO of Brilliant NextGen. “Shelly’s expansive portfolio of reliable sensors and relays significantly expands the reach and depth of the Brilliant platform, helping deliver a home automation experience that simply works.”

That's ultimately what makes the partnership worth watching. Smart-home platforms don't necessarily need another proprietary light bulb or connected outlet. They need better ways to connect the enormous number of devices already inside people's homes. Shelly's hardware can provide that last-mile connection, while Brilliant can provide a more unified interface and automation system on top. For traditional smart-home buyers, that could make Brilliant more capable without making it more complicated.

For the DIY home-automation community, however, the possibilities could be considerably bigger.

Shelly's initial Brilliant integration is available now, including its Bluetooth Motion and Door/Window sensors and Bluetooth-to-Wi-Fi gateway. Shelly relay support is scheduled to arrive by the end of September 2026, with additional devices and functionality planned for the months ahead.