Hey folks,
We've spent the last year vibe coding websites, apps and dashboards. Now people are pointing AI at their TVs.
A dev first posted that he'd given Claude Code his TV's model number. "It found the TV on wifi, removed 25 Xiaomi packages and wrote a new launcher." It’s caused a rush of tvOS uplifts.
The idea is simple. Your TV's home screen is a cluttered Google-looking one full of ads and apps you never asked for, which gets swapped for something that looks like Apple TV, or Netflix or whatever you like. Many people have open sourced packages and put them on GitHub. Your AI agent installs it, then changes whatever you want on your TV interface.
Let's dive in..
What's actually happening
Your TV home screen is just an app, called a launcher. And you can swap it out.
That's always been possible but iit used to mean a weekend of forum threads, developer settings and copy-pasting commands you didn't fully trust. Now it looks like this:
You turn on a hidden developer setting on the TV, which lets your laptop talk to it over Wi-Fi or USB cable.
You give Claude the TV's IP address and point it at a repo someone has already built.
It downloads the code, builds the new TV screen and installs it on your TV.
Some agents go further. On Prince Jain's TV, Claude also hid 32 junk apps and took screenshots of the TV to check its own work.
The repo does the heavy lifting
This is the bit that makes it easier. You're not asking Claude to invent a TV operating system from scratch. You start from a project someone has already tested on real TVs, then vibe code your changes on top.
The one I'd start with is Free My TV. Its "a fast, ad-free home screen for Google TV, LG and Samsung TVs." You get a glass shelf of your apps, a row of trending movies and shows where the one you land on opens wide and the rest show their posters, weather in a pull-out drawer, a theme that goes dark at sunset and a screensaver. The whole app is 2 MB.
An alternative is CleanMyTV
It's written for the AI as much as for you. The repo includes an instruction file that Claude Code, Codex or Antigravity reads before it starts. It also bans the agent from uninstalling anything. Apps get switched off, never deleted.
Undo is 1 button. Pick "Original" in the settings and "the factory home screen, screensaver and every app come back exactly as they were". If the new home screen crashes 3 times in 5 minutes, it switches back by itself.
It updates itself. On Google TV, the ready-made version checks for a new release once a week and asks before installing it. If you've changed your own copy, you ask Claude to rebuild it and push it to the TV again.
Once it's installed, every change is a prompt.
“Make the shelf 6 apps. Put my HDMI inputs on the home screen.“
“Make it look more like Apple TV.“
Claude edits the code, rebuilds it and sends the update to the TV.
If you want something different, there are others. tv-vibehack, from the developer who started the trend, does a pitch-black Apple TV look built for cheap TVs. dumbtv strips everything back: "Your TV should do what you paid for: your apps, your HDMI inputs, and nothing else."
Check your TV first
Most smart TVs run 1 of 3 systems, and Free My TV covers all 3. But they're not equal.
Google TV and Android TV (Sony, TCL, Hisense, Philips, Xiaomi, plus boxes like the Google TV Streamer and Nvidia Shield) get the full treatment. Free My TV replaces the home screen outright, and you can grab the ready-made app or have Claude build it.
LG runs webOS. You'll need a free LG developer account and the Developer Mode app from LG's store.
Samsung runs Tizen. Open Apps, type 1 2 3 4 5 on the remote and turn on Developer mode. Most sets from 2015 on work, some 2016 models refuse, and on 2023 or newer TVs you sign in with a Samsung account.
Fire TV gets the app but can't make it the home screen.
Anything else, the cheapest route is a Google TV box in a spare HDMI port.
Try it out
Give your TV a makeover. It works with Claude Code, Codex or any AI agent that can run commands on your laptop.
Turn on developer mode on your TV.
On Google TV: Settings, then System or Device Preferences, then About, and click Build 7 times. Then turn on USB debugging in the new Developer options menu.
On LG or Samsung, follow the steps above.Write down your TV's IP address from its network settings.
Open your AI agent on a laptop on the same Wi-Fi and paste this:
My TV is a [brand and model]. Its IP address is [IP]. I want to install Free My TV from github.com/simbasjungles/free-my-tv. Before you change anything, read the repo and its instructions, then tell me what you're going to do to my TV. Ask before every step that changes something, and tell me when I need to press something on the remote.Grab the remote. The TV will ask you to allow your laptop to connect. Tick "Always allow" and press OK.
If it can't reach the TV over Wi-Fi, plug a USB cable from your laptop into the TV and tell your agent. That's what saved mine.
Then start prompting for changes. That's the fun bit. And if you hate it, the original is a simple undo away.
Links worth your click
People are using AI to make their smart TVs dumb again: TechCrunch on how this took off in 2 days.
How I debloated my Android TV and built my own launcher with Claude Code: the most honest step-by-step I found, mistakes included.
Free My TV: the repo. The README is long but readable, and it lists known issues by TV brand.
From past issues
📊 Do you still need Power BI?: vibe coding a dashboard in 11 minutes.
🤝 Claude Duet: Always-on Agent: the agent that checks in before you do.
I hope you enjoyed the AI buzz today.
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Cheers, Tim
