CoinDesk reports:
Overview
- A developer used Claude Code to disable 25 Xiaomi packages on his parents' TV; his open-source project, cleanyourtv, now lists test configurations for 37 brands and 107 TV models.
- These tools use Android's built-in debugging bridge to disable the apps rather than delete them, allowing all changes to be undone with a restore script.
- TV manufacturers earn money through advertising and viewing data; Texas filed a lawsuit in December 2025 against Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL challenging this practice.
Smart TV users are directing AI agents at their living room TVs, asking them to remove manufacturer-preinstalled sponsored ads, tracking software, and sluggish home screen interfaces.
This trend quickly went viral on X over the weekend and has now been named: vibe coding for TV.
The most notable case came from a Xiaomi TV. Developer Gathin T. posted on Saturday that the TV displayed sponsored ads even before the user opened Netflix, so he provided the model number to Claude Code to handle it automatically.
The agent found this TV on his home Wi-Fi, disabled 25 Xiaomi packages, and created an entirely new home screen interface. As he put it, “Now it looks like an Apple TV, haha.”
This afternoon, I did vibe coding on my parents' TV!
It displays sponsored ads before you enter Netflix.
I gave the model number to Claude Code, which found the TV on Wi-Fi, removed 25 Xiaomi packages, and created a new launcher.
It looks like Apple TV now, haha pic.twitter.com/E5Q4A1b0yI
— Gathin (Ø,G) (@gathint) October 17, 2026
Anyone who bought a TV over the past decade has likely encountered the same issue, as many TVs run Automatic Content Recognition (ACR)—software that takes fingerprints of content on the screen, including cable TV, gaming consoles, and any device connected via an HDMI port, then sends the data back to manufacturers to enable targeted advertising. In December 2025, Texas sued Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL, alleging that these TVs…