tv-vibehack: have Claude strip ads and bloat from Android TV over ADB
TL;DR
tv-vibehack (Gathin23/tv-vibehack, MIT) is a repo with a prompt, a minimal launcher and a list of gotchas for using Claude to debloat Android TV/Google TV over ADB: disabling ads, sponsored rows, telemetry and preinstalled apps, and reducing animations so the TV runs faster.
The process
- Enable Developer Options on the TV (press Build 7 times) and turn on USB/wireless debugging.
- Run Claude Code on a computer on the same Wi-Fi; Claude connects to the TV’s IP over ADB.
- The prompt asks which streaming apps you use and whether to keep voice assistant, Chromecast and updates.
- Back up the package list, then disable unneeded packages with
pm disable-user.
Key precautions
| Do | Don’t |
|---|---|
| Disable packages (reversible) | Uninstall system apps — can break Home or HDMI switching |
| Install the new launcher before disabling the stock one | Disable the stock launcher first — you may land in a factory test app |
| Turn off ADB debugging when finished | Leave an ADB port open on your home network |
| Keep features your household uses | Disable firmware updates, voice search or casting you still need |
Works on Android TV/Google TV (Sony, TCL, Xiaomi, Hisense…). Not for Samsung Tizen, LG webOS or Roku; Fire TV has a separate repo.
The bigger lesson
- A great repo for AI agents isn’t just code — it’s prompt + guardrails + a list of known pitfalls.
- Telling the agent to “back up first and ask before changing anything important” is a pattern for any system-level work.
Further reading: It's FOSS