Philips Hue Thinking Indicator 🚦

Give your AI assistant a physical presence through smart lights

What Is This?

A visual AI activity indicator that connects your AI assistant's work status to your physical environment through Philips Hue lights.

Why Use This?

• Ambient awareness — Know when your AI is working without checking screens
• Flow state protection — Visual indicator prevents interruptions during deep work
• Satisfying completion — Green light signals "ready for next task"
• Conversation starter — "My AI has a physical presence in my house"

Quick Start

# 1. Install
brew install your-tap/philips-hue-thinking  # or copy hue to PATH

# 2. Find your Hue Bridge IP
# Check your router admin or the Hue app
# Usually something like: 192.168.1.xxx

# 3. Setup (press Hue Bridge button when prompted)
hue setup 192.168.1.100

# 4. Find your light
hue lights

# 5. Use it!
hue thinking 5   # Light pulses red (AI working)
hue done 5       # Light turns green (AI done)

Installation

Option 1: Homebrew (Recommended)

brew tap yourusername/philips-hue
brew install philips-hue-thinking

Option 2: Manual

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/philips-hue-thinking.git
cd philips-hue-thinking

# Add to PATH
sudo cp hue /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/hue

# Or add to your shell profile
export PATH="$PATH:$(pwd)"

Option 3: With AI Assistant

If your AI assistant (Claude, GPT, etc.) supports skills:

Install skill: philips-hue-thinking

The assistant will automatically use hue thinking and hue done during long tasks.

Usage

Core Commands

# Setup (one-time) - use your bridge IP
hue setup 192.168.1.100

# List lights
hue lights
# Output:
#   2: Bed room 1 💡 ON
#   3: Bedroom 2 ⚫ OFF
#   5: Front door 💡 ON  ← Use this one

# AI thinking mode (pulsing red)
hue thinking 5

# AI done (solid green)
hue done 5

All Commands

Colors Available

• Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Purple, Orange, Pink, Cyan, White

hue set 5 purple
hue set 5 blue

Workflow Examples

With AI Assistants

Planning Mode:

User: "Planning mode — I want to build a website"
AI:  [runs 'hue thinking 5'] 🔴 Pulsing red...
     "Let me analyze this..."
     [asks clarifying questions]
     
User: [answers questions]

AI:  [runs 'hue done 5'] ✅ Green
     "Plan ready! Starting build..."
     [runs 'hue thinking 5'] 🔴 Solid red
     [builds for 30 minutes]
     
AI:  [runs 'hue done 5'] ✅ Green
     "Done! Website is live."

Shell Aliases

Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

alias think='hue thinking 5'
alias done='hue done 5'

Then just type:

think   # Red
done    # Green

CI/CD Integration

# GitHub Actions example
- name: Run tests
  run: |
    hue thinking 5
    npm test
    hue done 5

Requirements

• Philips Hue Bridge (v2)
• Philips Hue color bulb(s)
• macOS or Linux
• curl (installed by default)
• bash 4.0+

How It Works

1. Hue Bridge API — Communicates via local HTTP API
2. CIE Color Space — XY coordinates for accurate colors
3. Background Process — Bash loop creates breathing effect
4. Stateless — Stores config in ~/.config/philips-hue/

The Pulse Effect

Brightness: 254 (bright) → 60 (dim) → 254
Timing: ~2.4 second cycle

Troubleshooting

"Link button not pressed"

Press the physical button on your Hue Bridge, then run setup within 30 seconds.

# Try again with your bridge IP
hue setup 192.168.1.100

Light not responding

# Check connection
hue status

# Test with lights command
hue lights

# Verify IP hasn't changed
# (Check your router or Hue app)

Pulse won't stop

# Kill all pulse processes
pkill -f "hue-pulse-loop"

# Or reset specific light
hue done 5

Configuration

Stored in: ~/.config/philips-hue/config.json

{
  "bridge_ip": "192.168.1.151",
  "username": "your-api-key-here"
}

API Reference

Color XY Values

Future Ideas

• Auto-trigger via AI session lifecycle
• Multiple lights for different task types
• Heartbeat mode (gentle pulse every 30 min)
• Error state (flash purple)
• Success celebration (rainbow effect)
• Home Assistant integration
• Siri Shortcuts support

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Submit a pull request

Credits

Created by Jesse & Kate (Clawdbot)

Inspired by the need for AI physical presence in the real world.

License

MIT — See LICENSE

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Questions? Open an issue or reach out on Twitter @yourusername