Some smart TV owners are using AI agents to remove sponsored ads, tracking features and unwanted software, and to redesign their home screens. Developers have shared tools for “vibe-coding” these changes, making device customization more accessible.
One project, dumbtv, is tested end to end on Fire TV Edition and on Android TV and Google TV devices from Sony, TCL, Philips, Hisense and Xiaomi, as well as Nvidia Shield. Another project, cleanyourtv, targets Android TV and Google TV devices over Wi-Fi. Its creator, Gathin T., said he used Claude Code to remove 25 Xiaomi packages from his parents’ TV and build a replacement launcher. He said a few thousand people tried the GitHub prompt on their own TVs over the following two days. In a separate example, Mihir Gupta said he replaced a 192 MB stock launcher with a custom 83 MB one.
Smart TVs commonly use Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), which can identify on-screen content through screenshots, audio or other digital fingerprints. Viewing data can be sold to advertisers or used to personalize ads, and frustration with those practices has helped spur interest in TV modifications.
The projects are works in progress, and users are testing them across different platforms. Some users report that AI agents may need more detailed prompts; others warn that mistakes can disable important software or break a TV. One user said Claude bricked an Android TV, while another got stuck partway through modifying a Fire TV. Existing Android-based alternatives include ATV Launcher, Projectivity Launcher and FLauncher.
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