home-control

name	home-control
description	This skill should be used when the user wants to control smart home devices — lights, speakers, music playback, or scenes. Triggers on phrases like 'turn on the lights', 'play some jazz', 'dim the lights', 'stop the music', 'goodnight', 'movie mode', 'what's playing', or any reference to Yeelight bulbs, Google Cast speakers, or SomaFM radio.
argument-hint	natural language command (e.g., 'play jazz in the living room')
allowed-tools	["Bash","Read","Bash(python3:*)","Bash(pip3:*)"]
model	haiku

Home Control

Control Yeelight bulbs and Google Cast speakers on the local network using the scripts/home.py script bundled with this skill.

CLI Reference

All commands output JSON. Always run from the skill's scripts directory (the base directory is provided above as "Base directory for this skill"):

cd <base-directory>/scripts

Discover devices

python3 home.py discover [--timeout 5]

Device status

python3 home.py status [--cached]

Light control

python3 home.py lights --device NAME --action {on,off,toggle,brightness,ct} [--value N]

• --device: fuzzy name match or all-lights
• brightness: value 1-100
• ct: color temperature 1700-6500K (lower=warm, higher=cool)

Cast/speaker control

python3 home.py cast --device NAME --action {play,stop,pause,volume,status} [--url URL] [--stream GENRE] [--volume N]

• --device: fuzzy name match, all-speakers, or a specific group/speaker name
• --stream: genre keyword (jazz, ambient, metal, electronic, etc.) — maps to SomaFM AAC streams
• --url: direct audio URL (overrides --stream). Must be HTTP (not HTTPS) for Cast compatibility.
• --volume: 0-100

Known devices

Name	Type	Notes
Kitchen speaker	Google Home Mini	Individual speaker
Living Room speaker	Google Nest Mini	Individual speaker
Master Room speaker old	Google Home Mini	Individual speaker
Living Room TV 2	Chromecast	TV, may not play audio-only
Motz	Cast Group	Multi-room group — preferred for "play everywhere"
SoundedX	Cast Group	Multi-room group

Multi-room audio

For "play on all speakers" or "play everywhere", use --device all-speakers. This targets speaker groups (Motz, SoundedX) rather than individual devices. Playing on individual Cast speakers sequentially is unreliable; groups handle sync natively.

For single-room playback, target the specific speaker by name (e.g., --device kitchen).

Workflow

1. Parse the user's intent into one or more device actions (light control, audio playback, scenes).
2. Resolve devices: use fuzzy name matching. For compound commands ("play jazz and dim the lights"), issue multiple CLI calls.
3. Resolve genres autonomously: if a genre keyword returns an "unknown stream/genre" error, do NOT ask the user to choose. Instead, consult references/somafm-channels.md, pick the closest matching channel, and play it immediately. Mention which channel was chosen. Fallback priority: match by subgenre, then by mood/energy, then by era.
4. Execute commands via python3 home.py ... and read JSON output.
5. Report results naturally. On success, confirm briefly ("Lights dimmed to 40%"). On error, explain and suggest fixes.

Scene Presets

When the user says one of these, execute the corresponding commands:

"goodnight" / "bedtime":

• lights --device all-lights --action off
• cast --device all-speakers --action stop

"movie mode" / "movie time":

• lights --device all-lights --action brightness --value 15
• lights --device all-lights --action ct --value 2700

"reading mode":

• lights --device all-lights --action brightness --value 80
• lights --device all-lights --action ct --value 4000

"focus" / "work mode":

• lights --device all-lights --action brightness --value 100
• lights --device all-lights --action ct --value 5000
• cast --device all-speakers --action stop

"relax" / "chill":

• lights --device all-lights --action brightness --value 40
• lights --device all-lights --action ct --value 2700
• cast --device all-speakers --action play --stream ambient

SomaFM Genre Keywords

See references/somafm-channels.md for the full list. Common mappings:

Genre keyword	Channel
jazz, spy, lounge	Secret Agent
ambient, chill	Groove Salad
metal, heavy	Metal
electronic, electronica	cliqhop
folk	Folk Forward
80s	Underground 80s
country, americana	Boot Liquor
space	Space Station
drone	Drone Zone

If a genre is not directly mapped, autonomously pick the closest channel from references/somafm-channels.md and play it. Never ask the user to choose — just pick the best fit and mention what was selected.

Troubleshooting

• "no lights matching": Lights may be powered off at the switch. Run discover to re-scan.
• "pychromecast not installed": Run bash <base-directory>/scripts/setup.sh
• Cast device not found: Device may be asleep. Try increasing timeout: --timeout 10
• Cast plays but no sound / "IDLE" after play: Streams must use HTTP AAC format (not HTTPS MP3). The built-in SomaFM URLs already use the correct format. For custom URLs, ensure they are HTTP and the content type matches.
• Connection refused on Yeelight: Ensure "LAN Control" is enabled in the Yeelight app for each bulb.
• Stale cache: Run discover to force a fresh scan (bypasses the 30-min cache).
• Multi-room not working: Target a Cast group (Motz, SoundedX) instead of individual speakers. Playing on individual speakers sequentially is unreliable due to zeroconf session conflicts.