python-firetv

firetv is a Python 2.x package that provides state information and some control of an Amazon Fire TV device over a network. This is achieved via ADB, so therefore requires ADB Debugging to be turned on. It includes firetv-server, an HTTP server to facilitate RESTful access to configured devices.

Installation

Install the following ADB dependencies via your package manager:

swig libssl-dev python-dev libusb-1.0-0

Be sure you install into a Python 2.x environment.

pip install firetv

If you want the HTTP server component installed as a script, use:

pip install firetv[firetv-server]

Server

To run the server when installed as a script:

firetv-server

If you want to set a default Amazon Fire TV device:

firetv-server -d X.X.X.X:5555

If you want to run on a port other than 5556:

firetv-server -p XXXX

Routes

All routes return JSON.

• GET /devices/list (list all registered devices and state)
• GET /devices/connect/<device_id> (force connection attempt)
• GET /devices/state/<device_id> (return state)
• GET /devices/<device_id>/apps/running (return running user apps)
• GET /devices/<device_id>/apps/state/<app_id> (returns if appid is running)
• GET /devices/action/<device_id>/<action_id> (request action)
• POST /devices/add (see below)

Add A Device

If you use the -d option, the specified device is added automatically with the device identifier default. If you want to add further devices, or don't want to use the command line option for the initial device, use the POST /devices/add route. The device identifier can be any string meaningful to you, matching [-\w] (any alphanumeric character, plus -).

POST JSON in the following format with the HTTP header Content-Type: application/json:

{
  "device_id": "<your_device_id>",
  "host": "<address>:<port>"
}

Features

firetv can detect device state and issue a number of actions. It can also get the running state of user apps.

Detected States

• off (TV screen is dark)
• standby (standard UI is active - not apps)
• idle (screen saver is active)
• play (video is playing)
• pause (video is paused)
• disconnected (can't communicate with device)

Actions

• turn_on (turn on the device, showing the UI on screen)
• turn_off (turn off the device, screen goes dark)
• home (emulate Home button)
• media_play_pause (emulate Play/Pause button)
• media_play (simulate Play button)
• media_pause (simulate Pause button)
• media_next (emulate Fast-Forward button)
• media_previous (emulate Rewind button)
• volume_up (raise volume)
• volume_down (lower volume)

Apps

• GET /devices/<device_id>/apps/running
• /devices/<device_id>/apps/state/<app_id>

app_id can be anything from a single word, e.g. 'netflix' or the full package name, e.g. com.netflix.ninja

Python 3

firetv depends on python-adb, a pure-python implementation of the ADB protocol. It and its dependency M2Crypto are written for Python 2. Until they support Python 3, or an alternative is available, firetv will not support Python 3. The HTTP server is provided as a way for Python 3 (or other) software to utilize the features of firetv.

Contribution

This package does not fully exploit the potential of ADB access to Amazon Fire TV devices, and lacks some robustness. Contributions are welcome.