A command line interface to phillips hue
First, install Node.js, then:
npm install -g hue-cli
...and the executable will be installed globally as hue
Usage: hue [-H host] [--json] [command]
control phillips hue over the command line
examples
hue config # view the hue config
hue lights # get a list of lights
hue lights 5 # get information about light 5
hue lights 5,6,7 on # turn lights 5 6 and 7 on
hue lights on # turn all lights on
hue lights 1 ff0000 # turn light 1 red
hue lights 1 red # same as above
hue lights 1 +10 # increase the brightness by 10
hue lights 1 -10 # decrease the brightness by 10
hue lights 1 =100 # set the brightness to 100
hue lights 4,5 colorloop # enable the colorloop effect on lights 4 and 5
hue lights 4,5 alert # enable the blink effect on lights 4 and 5
hue lights 4,5 clear # clear any effects on lights 4 and 5
hue lights 1 state # set the state on light 1 as passed in as JSON over stdin
hue rename 1 light-name # set light 1's name to the given string
hue lights reset # reset all lamps to default (on, as if the bulb was just flipped on)
hue lights 1,2 reset # reset just bulbs 1 and 2
hue help # this message
hue register # register this app to hue
hue search # search for hue base stations
commands
config, lights, help, register, search
options
-h, --help print this message and exit
-H, --host the hostname or ip of the bridge to control
-i, --init initialize the config file at ~/.hue.json
-j, --json force output to be in json
-s, --save save the config file at ~/.hue.json, same as --init
-u, --updates check for available updates
-v, --version print the version number and exit
First, let's search for nearby base stations
$ hue search
1 stations found
1: 10.0.1.218
Pass in -j for json if you'd like
$ hue -j search
[
"10.0.1.218"
]
Next, let's try to list the lights on that base station
$ hue -H 10.0.1.218 lights
error: application not registered, run `hue register` first
This app isn't registered yet, let's go ahead and do that
$ hue -H 10.0.1.218 register
please go and press the link button on your base station
Hue Base Station paired!
All you had to do was press the button on your base station to register, cool right? Let's re-run the lights command
$ hue -H 10.0.1.218 lights
1 Mike 1
2 Mike 2
3 Dave closet
4 Hallway 2
5 Hallway 1
6 Front hallway
7 Dave Ledge Left
8 Dave Ledge Right
9 Dave's Piano
10 Dave's Lamp
11 Balcony Mike
12 Balcony Dave
13 Balcony Living Room
14 Mike 3
15 Living room 3
16 Living room 1
Again, -j if you'd like json output.
Running with the command lights will give us a list of all the lights
connected to the base station.
Before we continue, let's create a configuration file. In the file we can
set the default host to connect to, so we don't have to keep supplying the
-H argument. Run:
$ hue --host 10.0.1.218 --save
config file written to `~/.hue.json`
{
"host": "10.0.1.218"
}
Now we'll no longer have to supply the -H argument
with every command.
From here, we can get information about a single light like:
$ hue lights 1
1 on 141 Mike 1
141 in the above example is the brightness.
And -j for json
$ hue -j lights 1
{
"state": {
"on": true,
"bri": 141,
"hue": 13122,
"sat": 211,
"xy": [
0.5119,
0.4147
],
"ct": 467,
"alert": "none",
"effect": "none",
"colormode": "ct",
"reachable": true
},
"type": "Extended color light",
...
}
Let's actually mess with the lights now. Let's turn on the light in my closet.
$ hue lights 3 on
light 3 success
What about both lights in the hallway?
$ hue lights 4,5 on
light 4 success
light 5 success
What if we try to turn on a non-existent light?
$ hue lights 99 on
light 99 failed: resource, /lights/99/state, not available
Cool, errors handled properly. Let's see some more examples
$ hue lights off
light 1 success
light 2 success
light 3 success
...
This is shorthand for
$ hue lights all off
Where all is a recognized keyword for all lights in the system. You can also:
$ hue lights off
To quickly turn off all lights on the system
We can turn the lights on and off, that's great... what about colors?
How about hex
$ hue lights 4 ffffff
light 4 success
We just set the light in the hallway to pure white, hex ffffff. Let's go crazy
and turn all of the lights in the house red (this is where we need the all keyword)
$ hue lights all ff0000
light 1 success
light 2 success
...
It's worth noting here that, because this tool is written in Node, all requests to the lights are done concurrently. This means we don't have to wait for light 1 to finish before we instruct light 2 to change, nor wait for light 2 to finish before we instruct light 3 to change, and so on.
Shorthand hex is also supported
$ hue lights 3,4 0f0
light 3 success
light 4 success
Now lights 3 and 4 are green
Last but not least, any CSS name is supported for colors
$ hue lights 1 yellow
light 1 success
Light 1 is now yellow. The full list of colors is available here http://xahlee.info/js/css_color_names.html
Brightness can also be changed using the =, + and - operators
$ hue lights 1 +20
light 1 brightness 200 -> 220
$ hue lights 1 -30
light 1 brightness 220 -> 190
$ hue lights 1 =150
light 1 brightness 150
You can enable the colorloop effect on lamps by running
$ hue lights 4,5,6 colorloop
light 4 success
light 5 success
light 6 success
and clear all effects with
$ hue lights 4,5,6 clear
light 4 success
light 5 success
light 6 success
Last but not least, you can pass the state as JSON over stdin. The possible values are found at http://developers.meethue.com/1_lightsapi.html in section 1.6.
$ echo '{"bri": 240, "hue": 25500}' | hue lights 7 state
The state keyword tells hue to read from stdin
An optional config file can be created at ~/.hue.json that looks like...
{
"host": "1.2.3.4",
"colors": {
"myred": "fe0000",
"myblue": "0000fe"
}
}host: the host to connect to (normally passed in as-H)colors: a key-value pair of color aliases to their hex mapping, you can use these when changing the colors of a light
- Phillips hue: I assume you know what this is by now
- hue.js: Node.js hue client
- css-color-names: color aliases provided by this module
MIT