KNX Simulator in 5 Minutes with SPX: Quickstart

This is a hands-on quickstart. For a technical overview of KNX capabilities, scenarios, and automation workflows, see KNX Simulator.

Simulation timeline for the “Blind Control” scenario — ABB JRA/S4.235.1 (KNX). The model emulates an ABB KNX shutter actuator used to control blinds in a home or building, allowing you to validate live group address updates, position/tilt changes, and downstream automation behavior during typical shading and scheduling workflows.

In this quickstart you’ll launch a realistic KNX device simulation in about five minutes using SPX. The flow is intentionally simple: get your product key, run the setup wizard, start the local stack, open the SPX UI, launch a ready-made KNX instance, and verify it using your KNX tooling and/or a preconfigured Home Assistant dashboard. The result is a repeatable “virtual device lab” you can use for integration testing, demos, and regression baselines — without building a physical KNX setup.

Tip #1 - Install SPX and select Smart Building Pack

1. Get your Product Key + installer package

   1. Log in and open Product & Keys: https://www.simplephysx.com/keys

   2. Copy your SPX Product Key

   3. Download the installer package (e.g. spx-examples-<version>.zip)

2. Extract the ZIP

   1. Unzip the package into a dedicated folder (e.g. spx-examples-<version>/). You should see platform launchers like spx-setup.*.

3. Run the Setup Wizard (spx-setup.*)

   1. From the extracted folder, start the launcher for your OS:

      1. Windows: double-click spx-setup.bat

      2. macOS: double-click spx-setup.command

      3. Linux desktop: double-click spx-setup.desktop

      4. Terminal (macOS/Linux): ./spx-setup.sh

4. In the wizard: select Smart Building Pack + paste your key

   1. Select Smart Building Pack (ENTER accepts recommended defaults)

   2. Paste your SPX Product Key when prompted

   3. Review the summary and choose Start the stack now

5. Verify it’s running

• SPX UI: http://localhost:3000

Note: For full, always up-to-date installation instructions, see:

https://docs.simplephysx.com/getting-started/installation-guide

Tip #2 - Open the SPX UI

Open: http://localhost:3000

SPX web UI (localhost:3000): Smart Building Pack instance catalog — choose a ready-to-run KNX simulator instance.

You should see the SPX interface with a list of available instances from the Smart Building Pack.

Tip #3 - Start the KNX simulator instance

• From the list of available instances, select:

  spx_abb_jra_s4_230_5_1_knx

From the Smart Building Pack list, select spx_abb_jra_s4_230_5_1_knx and click Open/View Instance to access the instance details and controls.

• Open the instance and confirm:

  • Status: Running

  • KNX connection details (as shown in the instance view)

  • Live datapoints / attributes (values visible; if the model is dynamic, they may change over time)

Tip: If the model includes physics-driven behavior or scenarios, values will evolve realistically — not just remain static.

Instance details for ABB JRA/S4.230.5.1 - status, connection info, live attributes, and scenario controls in one place.

Tip #4 - Verify it with a KNX tool (and/or dashboard)

Option A: Inspect group address traffic with your KNX tooling

To validate the simulator is alive, connect using your KNX toolchain (gateway/controller monitoring, ETS test tooling, or a KNX bus monitor) and confirm:

1. Group address traffic is visible

2. You can observe state changes (switch/dimming/sensor datapoints)

3. (Optional) Send a command and confirm the simulator reacts

Option B: Use the included Home Assistant dashboard

Open the preconfigured Home Assistant UI:

• http://localhost:8123 login: admin pass: spx-examples
  

Home Assistant test dashboard showing live entities fed by SPX — instantly verify your KNX simulator via a real smart-building Blind control UI.

This dashboard is set up specifically for testing. You can immediately observe how the simulator affects sensors, entities, and automations — without building any HA config yourself.

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Expected outcome (what “done” looks like)

You can observe live datapoint updates / state transitions driven by the KNX simulation — confirming the simulator behaves like a real smart-building device workflow and is suitable for end-to-end integration testing.

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Next: customize and extend (coming next)

Next we’ll take this same instance and:

• Tweak the model in the editor and reload it

• Generate a new variant via an LLM workflow

• Run scenario-driven tests and capture reproducible baselines