I bought a "conbee" (basically a USB Zigbee dongle) and after setting up their DeConz software and detecting all my devices (IKEA, Philips, Lidl) I never bothered with Home assistant. Or should I say, I started to, but gave up because it was a pain in the neck and anything it offered beyond what DeConz did, wasn't worth the hassle. I always meant to go back and have another go, but over a year later I simply don't have the motivation.