ElevenTV
A premium remote for Google TV and Android TV that runs on your laptop over Wi-Fi. No Google account, nothing installed on the TV.
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- Role
- Product, design & build
- Type
- Desktop app (tool)
- Stack
- Python · Android TV Remote protocol · JavaScript · Chrome MV3 · Vercel
- Live at
- eleventv.vercel.app ↗
(01)The problem
Google's phone remote ties the TV to whoever's Google account is signed in. I wanted to control the TV from the laptop I was already on, with no account and nothing installed on the TV.
(02)Approach · key decisions
01
Pair once with a code
Uses the TV's built-in remote service, the same one Google's phone remote uses. Type the 6-character code once and you're in.
02
More than a D-pad
Media keys, a volume slider, one-tap apps, scenes, a sleep timer and 9 themes.
03
Locked to your machine
The local server listens on 127.0.0.1 only, checks the Host header and needs a per-run token, so other websites can't drive your TV.
(03)What's inside
The build.
- Mac and Windows launchers, plus an optional Chrome toolbar button
- Finds the TV again on its own when its Wi-Fi address changes
- Demo-TV mode and end-to-end tests for UI work
Mobile · 390px
Desktop · 1440px
(04)Outcome
- ✓ Shipped
v0.3 live with a download site
- ✓ Shipped
Runs my own living-room TV
What I learned
Most of the polish in a tool like this is in the moments it breaks: a changed IP, a sleeping TV, a lost pairing.
Next project →
ReconElevens
