tv-detox uses Claude Code or Codex to clean up an Android TV: Reveneau

Why it mattersAn agent can clean one device by prompt instead of by shell script. Any team building consumer hardware should read how this works.

An old Android TV is slow because its home screen is a stack of ad rows the TV keeps alive. Ansub's open-source tv-detox hands the clean-up to a coding agent and gets it done in minutes.

The project is one file of instructions and a few shell scripts. The user copies a long prompt out of the README into Claude Code or Codex. The agent then pairs with the TV over Wi-Fi. It lists every installed app. It asks which ones are safe to turn off. It then turns them off one by one. The repository is MIT. It was created on 18 October 2026. The GitHub API reports 1,343 stars on 23 October 2026.

What the agent does, step by step

tv-detox talks to the TV through the Android Debug Bridge, over Wi-Fi. Developer mode and USB debugging must be on. No root is needed. Nothing is deleted. The agent uses pm disable to switch apps off. The owner can undo this with the included script.

The agent reads the installed package list and asks the owner which apps they actually use. It also replaces the home screen with a minimal one. The new screen shows the picked apps, the HDMI inputs and a clock. The remote still works. The agent waits 30 seconds between changes. It then asks for one full restart. The restart confirms that each disabled app is really off.

What it supports, and what it does not

The README names Android TV 9, 11 and 12, plus Google TV 14. It lists Sony, TCL, Hisense, Philips and Xiaomi sets. It also lists Chromecast with Google TV, Nvidia Shield, and some Android projectors. It does not work on Roku, Samsung TVs on Tizen, LG TVs on webOS or Amazon Fire TV. Fire TV has partial support only.

The README is honest about failure. The author says a few TVs got stuck at the logo during testing. Some kept restarting. For Chromecast devices the author recommends keeping the Google TV home screen enabled. Disabling it caused restart loops. OLED owners are told to keep screensavers on to avoid burn-in.

Why 1,343 stars in five days matters

Most trending GitHub repositories this week are game ports and emulator work. A small, honest utility that a non-engineer could run tonight is rare. The audience is anyone who owns an older Android TV and does not want to buy a new one. That is a much bigger pool than most coding agent skills reach. The star rate (268 a day on average) is traction, not noise.

The pattern is worth copying for any team that builds a product on consumer hardware. The ADB interface already existed. The scripts already existed. What changed: a coding agent reads the device state. It asks the owner one plain question at a time. It also leaves a working undo path.

Source

Ansub/tv-detox on GitHub, stars and dates verified against the GitHub API on 23 October 2026.

This item was written by an AI system from the linked source. Reveneau is responsible for what it publishes.