TV Detox: a plain home screen for an old Android TV

A launcher plus a prompt, and you press OK on the remote

TV Detox is two things in one repository. The first is a small Android TV home screen, which the README describes as your apps, your HDMI inputs and a clock and nothing else. The second is a prompt you paste into Claude Code or Codex on a laptop, and the whole flow is that the coding agent does the work while you approve each step on the remote. The project is written in Java, and the root listing shows the pieces: an AndroidManifest.xml, a src directory for the launcher, an apps.txt, and a family of shell scripts named build.sh, candidates.sh, check.sh, install.sh and undo.sh. The licence is MIT, and the repository is not archived with the last push on 2026-10-22.

The prompt asks for a plan before it asks for permission

The pasted prompt is the interesting part, because it encodes a procedure rather than a single task. It tells the agent to connect over Wi-Fi and walk the user through anything that has to be tapped on the TV, then to list every app in plain English in three buckets before changing anything: safe to turn off, needed by the TV, and apps the user actually uses, and to check free memory.

Help me clean up my Android TV and make it faster.
My TV is a <brand and model>.

1. Connect to my TV over Wi-Fi. Walk me through anything
   I need to tap on the TV.
2. Before changing anything, list every app in plain English:
   safe to turn off, needed by the TV, and apps I use.
   Check free memory.
3. Ask me before every change. Turn apps off instead of
   deleting them. Keep a list of what you changed and how
   to undo it.

The instruction to turn apps off instead of deleting them is what makes the change reversible, and the prompt also names the packages that must never be disabled, including Google Play services, the keyboard, Bluetooth, the HDMI inputs and the TV's input and tuner framework. If you are not sure about an app, the instruction is to leave it on, which is the right default for a device that has to boot.

The Google TV launcher is the one thing left alone by default

The README opens with two warnings, and the first is the one that can cost you a factory reset. On Google TV and Chromecast with Google TV, turning off the TV's own home screen left some devices stuck restarting, and the only fix was a factory reset. Since version 1.4.1, install.sh leaves the Google TV home screen on unless you opt in explicitly with GOOGLE_TV=1, so the cleanup still happens and the TV still gets faster, but you keep the stock launcher. The second warning is about OLED panels, where the screensaver should stay on to avoid a still picture burning into the screen, and where no home screen, including this one, should be left displayed for hours. The prompt handles the second case by asking the agent to check the model name and ask whether the TV is an OLED before touching the screensaver.

Undo, and the other scripts in the root

The README's pitch for reversibility is in a single line: apps are turned off, never deleted. On the home screen that reads as an undo button, and in the repository it is undo.sh, a script that reverses what install.sh did. The other scripts have narrower jobs. candidates.sh and check.sh round out the set, and the prompt requires waiting 30 seconds after the last change, restarting the TV once, confirming it starts normally, and then showing free memory before and after. build.sh is the build of the launcher itself. None of this is automatic: the scripts run from the laptop against the TV's IP address, the decision making happens in the agent on the laptop, and the repository is deliberately a set of scripts rather than an app that talks to the TV by itself.

Wireless debugging needs a pairing step and a second port

Connecting is where most attempts stall, and the README's help section covers the details. Developer mode is turned on in Settings, Device Preferences, About, by pressing Build seven times, then USB debugging is enabled under Developer options. The first connection from the laptop triggers an Allow debugging prompt on the TV, and the README advises ticking Always allow. On Chromecast with Google TV and other newer Google TVs, only Wireless debugging exists, and it needs a pairing code. The sequence is to open Pair device with pairing code and leave that screen open, run adb pair with the address shown under the code, then note the different port shown on the Wireless debugging screen and connect to that:

adb pair <IP>:<pairing port>
adb connect <IP>:<port>

That second address is then the argument for every script, in the form sh install.sh <IP>:<port> and sh undo.sh <IP>:<port>. The port changes every time the TV restarts, and the README warns against restarting the TV halfway through a cleanup, since the connection drops and the pairing has to be repeated.

Which sets work, and how fast the project moves

Support is bounded and the README is specific about the boundaries. Android TV 9, 11 and 12 are listed as working on real TVs, along with Google TV 14, tested on a real TCL television, and every change is tested automatically on emulators in the CI workflow. Amazon Fire TV is described as partly working, since Fire TV is Android underneath and the cleanup applies, but Amazon blocks changing the home screen on current devices so you keep Amazon's, and the README suggests telling the agent that you want to keep Alexa voice search. Roku is a flat no, because it runs its own system rather than Android. Menus also differ by brand, which is why the README suggests asking the agent directly for the connection steps for your model. The release pace is intense, with v1.4.2, v1.5.0 and v1.5.1 all published on 2026-10-20, and the project also runs a community on a hosted forum linked from the README.

Editorial conclusion

TV Detox suits someone with an ageing Android TV whose launcher is full of sponsored rows and vendor apps, and who is willing to enable developer mode and follow a script. It does not suit a Fire TV user who wants Amazon's launcher replaced, or a Roku owner at all, since the former blocks the change and the latter is not Android. Before running it, read the Google TV warning in the README, because leaving that launcher disabled left some devices stuck restarting with only a factory reset to recover.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Ansub/tv-detox on GitHub
2. License: MIT
3. Project website
4. README
5. Releases