Smart TV owners have found a new use for AI: removing home screen clutter

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These days, turning on the TV means getting past whatever it wants you to watch first. A sponsored banner here, a row of recommendations there, and an app you never asked for that keeps showing up when you just want to open Netflix.

But some smart TV owners have had enough and are taking advantage of AI coding assistants.

Developers and other users on social media share their experiences using tools like Anthropic’s Claude Code to disable unwanted software, replace busy home screens, and make their TVs more responsive. The results range from simple app menus to custom interfaces, with open source projects collecting tools and prompts for anyone interested in trying them out themselves.

For one developer, his motivation was to fix his parents’ television. In an October 17 article on X, he described using Claude Code to review a Xiaomi TV that displayed an ad before it could reach Netflix. He said the assistant connected via Wi-Fi, removed 25 pieces of software and created a replacement home screen.

“Looks like an Apple TV now lol,” he wrote.

Another X user reportedly got rid of its “ads, bloatware, spyware (and) slow user interface.”

“I also received a beautiful screensaver with my income, calendar, weather and notifications for new Stripe payments. It was super easy!” he added.

These experiments are now part of CleanYourTV, an open source project originally called “tv-vibehack”. His goal? Replace promotional clutter with an interface organized around the apps you actually use. And people who try it seem excited about the reduced work their TV now requires.

“Now my TV works very smoothly, like a new one,” wrote one X user, who added a lightweight interface, a custom wallpaper slideshow, and a switch between Hindi and English for his parents.

I can understand the appeal. Pressing Home and seeing your own photos and favorite apps seems a lot more inviting than being greeted by another round of things to buy.

Additionally, there is documented frustration. In its Q4 2025 Video Trends Report, TiVo found that more than a third of respondents reported excessive advertising on their TV homepage.

But these displays also provide valuable real estate to the companies that run them. Roku, for example, cites earning more money from your home screen as a key growth initiative in its 2025 annual report.

That leaves some owners turning to AI to make changes that TV companies have little incentive to afford.

CleanYourTV website displaying

CleanYourTV Homepage
Credit: Screenshot: https://cleanyour.tv/

How to try it on your own TV

If you’re wondering what people are In fact Typing in Claude Code brings up a prompt behind the makeover, which tells the Coding Assistant how to connect to the TV, save its settings, disable unwanted software, and create a simpler home screen.

To do it yourself, you need Claude Code, or another coding wizard with command line access, running on a computer. Pasting instructions into a regular conversation with a chatbot won’t give it access to your TV.

This particular prompt is written for Android TV and Google TV devices. It’s not designed for Samsung’s Tizen, LG’s webOS, or Amazon Fire TV, which require different approaches. Check your TV’s operating system and model before you begin:

  1. Connect your computer and TV to the same Wi-Fi network.

  2. Enable Developer Options on the TV. On many supported models, go to Settings → Device Preferences → About, highlight Buildthen press OK seven times. Menu names may differ on your TV.

  3. Enable debugging. Go back to Settings, open Developer Options and enable USB debugging. If your TV also displays Network debugging Or ADB Debuggingenable this option. Despite its name, this workflow does not require a USB cable connection.

  4. Open Claude Code on your computer. Paste the project prompt (found in the link below), replacing the text in brackets with the exact model number of your TV.

  5. Stay close and follow him. You’ll need to approve the debug connection on the TV and answer questions about which apps and features you want to keep. If the assistant can’t find the TV, it can ask for the TV’s IP address, which is usually listed in the TV’s network settings.

See here for the full project prompt, which includes additional troubleshooting and design details. There are further procedures in the X posts below.

Once you paste it into the prompt, expect some back and forth. The assistant should ask you what apps you use, what shortcuts you want, and whether you want to keep features like casting and voice search. Review proposed changes before approving them, especially if you don’t recognize a service.

A handy warning: Debugging may temporarily cut power to USB accessories on some TVs. If a connected speaker or player stops working, it may return when you turn off debugging.

This setup may seem like an all-afternoon project, but some users say they got it done much faster. One user “Damn, that was smooth!” they wrote.

However, your TV model may limit what software you can disable or whether you can override the home screen. And a coding wizard can make mistakes, so a successful before-and-after release doesn’t mean you have to approve every suggested change.

It’s also important which prompt you paste. Take the related open source project, dumbtv, which provides scripts to disable ads and tracking services and to replace the home screen on compatible TVs. Its developer documents testing on a Fire TV Edition, but cleaning it also makes changes you might not want, including disabling Alexa and blocking software updates.

Undoing changes can also take some work. The project includes a restore script, but its documentation states that some streaming apps it uninstalls need to be reinstalled from the store.

TV tweaks also go beyond removing commercials. Another user shared a more unusual addition: “I gave my TV the @Polymarket game odds tables live,” they wrote. “Nowadays you can really do things.”

For television companies, there is a message in all this tinkering. People are willing to literally spend an afternoon working with a coding wizard to get a simpler TV. Giving them this option in the settings would save everyone some trouble, don’t you think?



Gn tech

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