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  *     |  .   A I R G L O W   .  |     *
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      .    *   .   *   .   *   .   .
        * . * . * . * . * . * . * .

airglow

Watch Claude think. A Philips Hue MCP server + Claude Code hooks that animate your lights in real time based on what Claude is doing — cyan while thinking, magenta while working, green on success, red on permission prompts. Every session, every tool call, every moment of focus: visible. Works even when your screen is locked or off — glance at the light to know if Claude needs your attention.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or later

• Philips Hue bridge (gen 2+) on your local network

• At least one color-capable Hue bulb

Related MCP server: Philips Hue MCP Server

Install

npm install

Setup

The setup tool handles everything. Call it from Claude at any point — it checks your config and tells you exactly what to do next.

1. Add to Claude Code

Drop this into ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hue": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/airglow/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

2. Run guided setup

setup()

The tool will auto-discover your bridge, walk you through registering an API key (press the link button, call create_user), then list your lights and suggest one for animations — matched by name. Finish with one call:

setup({ default_group: 0, hook_light_id: 6 })

This saves everything to .env and returns a ready-to-paste hook block for your project's .claude/settings.json.

Environment variables

Copy .env.example to .env to configure manually, or let setup() write these for you.

Claude Code Session Hooks

        thinking          working           prompt
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~      ~~~~~~~~~~      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     ~ CYAN pulse ~    ~ MAGENTA  ~    ~  RED pulse   ~
     ~ slow breathe~   ~ pulse    ~    ~  30s then    ~
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~     ~~ ~~~~~ ~~~    ~  idle        ~
                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hue-status.js animates a single light based on Claude Code session events. Every hook invocation kills the previous pulse and starts fresh — no orphaned processes, no stuck colors.

The pre-session light state is saved on the first prompt of each session and restored when the session stops.

Hook configuration

Generated automatically by setup(). To configure manually, add to your project's .claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "UserPromptSubmit": [
      { "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "node /path/to/airglow/hue-status.js thinking" }] }
    ],
    "PreToolUse": [
      { "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "node /path/to/airglow/hue-status.js working" }] }
    ],
    "PostToolUse": [
      { "matcher": "exit_plan_mode", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "node /path/to/airglow/hue-status.js success" }] },
      { "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "node /path/to/airglow/hue-status.js thinking" }] }
    ],
    "Notification": [
      { "matcher": "permission_prompt", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "node /path/to/airglow/hue-status.js prompt" }] }
    ],
    "Stop": [
      { "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "node /path/to/airglow/hue-status.js restore" }] }
    ]
  }
}

The light ID defaults to HUE_HOOK_LIGHT from .env. To pin a project to a specific light, pass the ID as the second argument:

node hue-status.js thinking 55

To bind different projects to different lights without git conflicts, use settings.local.json (automatically gitignored by Claude Code) in each project's .claude/ directory.

Available Tools

Status Colors

set_status maps named statuses to specific light states — great for CI pipelines, agents, or anything that has a "mood."

set_status({ status: "thinking" })
set_status({ status: "success", group_id: 3 })
set_status({ status: "pulse_once", light_id: 6 })

Dynamic Scenes

get_dynamic_scenes and activate_dynamic_scene use the Hue v2 CLIP API to access animated smart scenes. Requires gen 2 bridge with current firmware and scenes created in the Hue app.

get_dynamic_scenes()
activate_dynamic_scene({ scene_id: "uuid-from-above" })
activate_dynamic_scene({ scene_id: "uuid", speed: 0.7 })   // speed: 0.0–1.0

Scene Snapshots

create_scene captures exactly what your lights look like right now as a named scene you can recall anytime:

create_scene({ name: "Evening Work" })                      // captures HUE_DEFAULT_GROUP
create_scene({ name: "Office Focus", group_id: 3 })         // specific room
create_scene({ name: "Desk Only", light_ids: [6, 55] })     // specific lights

Returns a scene ID ready for activate_scene.