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October 28, 2026

Hack your TV with Claude!

My smart TV shipped with a cleaner app, a gift-card app, three browsers nobody asked for, apps that I never open, and a home screen built…

By Felix Ivance Runye

3 min read

My smart TV shipped with a cleaner app, a gift-card app, three browsers nobody asked for, apps that I never open, and a home screen built to sell me things. So I debloated it down to the apps I needed — no root, nothing uninstalled, every change reversible, and skinned it to look like a $200 Apple TV.

Everything in this guide is built on cleanyourtv, an open-source toolkit for Android TV / Google TV sets. No root. Nothing uninstalled. Every step has an undo.

Before you touch anything

You'll need

  • Claude Code (or another coding agent with shell access) on a computer on the same Wi-Fi as the TV
  • Nothing else. No ADB knowledge, no Python, no Android SDK — Claude installs and drives whatever the repo's scripts need
  • 30–60 minutes, done in one sitting, with you nearby to accept a prompt on the TV screen and answer a few preference questions.

The steps

Step 1: Clone the repository


git clone git@github.com:Gathin23/cleanyourtv.git

Step 2: Unlock Developer options in your tv, then paste the prompt

On the TV: Settings → Device Preferences → About → press OK on "Build" seven times, then turn on USB debugging under the new Developer options menu. Then open Claude Code and paste this, filling in your TV's model:

PROMPT.md — paste into Claude: clean your TV

I want to debloat my Android TV and replace its launcher with a clean
Apple TV style home screen. My TV model is: <YOUR TV MODEL>.
Work on the real device, step by step, and verify everything you do
with screenshots pulled from the TV. Ask me before anything that
depends on my preferences.

That's the opening of the repo's own PROMPT.md — the full version has every safety rule below baked in, so Claude already knows not to brick your TV before you've sent a single message.

Step 3: Claude connects to your tv, then backs up everything first

Claude finds your TV, has you accept the "Allow USB debugging?" prompt, then — before touching a single package — saves the full package list, what's already disabled, every device property, and every setting.

Claude: Connected — accept the "Allow USB debugging?" prompt
on the TV, then let me know.
Claude: Backup saved to backup/. 23 packages already disabled
at the factory — here's what I found and how I'd sort it...

Step 4: Claude reads what every app actually does, then asks you

A manufacturer package name tells you almost nothing — so Claude checks each ambiguous one's real permissions and purpose before proposing anything, then asks the one question that actually needs your judgment: which streaming, voice, and casting apps do you use?

Claude: Which of these do you actually use? I'll disable the
rest: Netflix, Prime Video, Tubi, Showmax, NBA GameTime, voice
assistant, Chromecast, Miracast...
You:   Keep Netflix, Prime Video, voice assistant, casting

Step 5: Claude disables apps in small batches, screenshotting each one

One package per shell call, a real screenshot pulled off the TV after every batch so a broken tile gets caught immediately instead of three reboots later — nothing is ever uninstalled.

The repo's own scripts refuse to let Claude disable anything that owns the HDMI inputs, Bluetooth remote pairing, the on-screen keyboard, or whichever app currently answers the Home key — there's no override for the mistakes that have bricked other people's TVs.

Claude reboots once at the end, then checks the disabled list held — some firmware quietly re-enables a package or two at every boot, and when it does, Claude finds the background service responsible and disables that too.

Step 6: Claude Builds, installs, and hands over the new launcher

It asks how many dock apps you want and in what order, builds the launcher from source, installs it, confirms it actually starts and responds to input — then, only then, disables the stock launcher.

Home now resolves to com.gathin.tvhome/.MainActivity
Claude: Installed and verified — here's a screenshot of your
new Home screen.

Step 7: You press the real buttons on your real remote

An injected key press over ADB proves a screen redraws, not that your physical remote still works — some buttons route through accessibility helpers ADB never touches. So Claude asks you to press Home, Input, Settings, and any dedicated app buttons yourself, and remaps whatever doesn't respond.

Final Step

Step 8: Claude Closes the door behind itself

Once you confirm everything works, Claude switches debugging off (or leaves USB debugging on, if you'd rather keep tweaking later), revokes the authorization, and actually verifies the port closed instead of trusting the toggle.

Remember, if this is on, anyone on your network can perform similar actions to your tv.

If it goes wrong

Everything from step 4 onward has an undo, and you don't have to remember the command — just tell Claude "undo the debloat" or "put the stock launcher back" and it runs the one script that re-enables everything the way it was.

credits: https://x.com/gathint/status/2111379571744657874

AI possibilities are just being realised, and this is surface-level modification to improve day-to-day gadgets and devices