Enthusiasts who put a lot of time into building a custom PC might like to show off their work with a fancy case loaded down with eye-catching RGB LEDs. But hardware hackers that build their own IoT devices don’t usually want to be so showy. In this world, the goal is to make the hardware blend in with the background. Remotely turning off a light doesn’t seem so magical if there is a big box with whirring fans sitting next to it.

Those who want the ultimate in discreet automation now have a new tool available to them called the M5Stack NanoH2. It is an ultra-compact ESP32-H2 IoT development kit that supports about every wireless communication protocol you might need for home use. The kit also has some good options for expansion and interfacing with external components, yet it is barely larger than a fingertip.

An overview of the features (📷: M5Stack)

The NanoH2 is powered by an ESP32-H2FH4S RISC-V microcontroller running at 96MHz with 320KB of SRAM and 4MB of flash memory. The device can be programmed via USB-C, and comes equipped with a button, programmable LEDs, an infrared transmitter, and a Grove connector port. Zigbee, Thread, and Matter wireless protocols are all supported.

Either the Arduino IDE or the ESP-IDF framework can be used to program the NanoH2. This flexibility will make the NanoH2 suitable for everything from smart home applications to consumer electronics. If you have some ideas of your own for this board, you can currently pick one up for under seven dollars.