LG Buddy

Inspired by LGTV Companion for Windows, LG Buddy controls an LG WebOS TV from Linux so the TV follows the PC lifecycle more like a dedicated monitor.

The current runtime is implemented in Rust. Shell is still used for setup, installation, and removal.

LG Buddy currently uses bscpylgtv as its TV control backend.

Features

• Turn the TV on at boot and wake.
• Turn the TV off at shutdown and before system sleep.
• Blank and restore the panel on desktop idle and activity.
• Support GNOME and swayidle-based idle monitoring.
• Adjust OLED pixel brightness with a zenity slider.
• Configure TV and backend settings with configure.sh.

Requirements

Required:

• a Rust toolchain with cargo
• python3-venv
• python3-pip
• zenity

Backend-specific:

• gdbus for the GNOME monitor backend
• swayidle for the swayidle monitor backend

Notes:

• Wake-on-LAN is sent natively by the Rust runtime. A separate wakeonlan or wol package is no longer required.
• The installer builds lg-buddy from the local source tree. It does not download a prebuilt binary.
• The TV control path still depends on the Python bscpylgtvcommand CLI, which the installer places in /usr/bin/LG_Buddy_PIP.

Typical package installs:

Debian/Ubuntu/Pop!_OS

sudo apt install python3-venv python3-pip zenity libglib2.0-bin

Fedora

sudo dnf install python3 python3-pip python3-virtualenv zenity glib2

Arch

sudo pacman -S python python-pip python-virtualenv zenity glib2

If you want the swayidle backend, install swayidle separately for your distro.

Installation

1. Clone the repository.
2. Make sure cargo is installed and available in PATH.
3. Run the installer:

chmod +x ./install.sh
./install.sh

The installer will:

• run configure.sh
• build lg-buddy with cargo build --release -p lg-buddy
• create /usr/bin/LG_Buddy_PIP and install bscpylgtv
• install /usr/bin/lg-buddy
• install systemd units for boot, wake, sleep, and the user-session monitor
• install the brightness desktop entry
• install a NetworkManager pre-down hook that runs lg-buddy sleep

On first use, you may need to accept a pairing prompt on the TV:

https://github.com/chros73/bscpylgtv/blob/master/docs/guides/first_use.md

Runtime Commands

The installed runtime command is:

lg-buddy <command>

Current commands:

• startup [auto|boot|wake]
• shutdown
• sleep-pre
• sleep
• brightness
• screen-off
• screen-on
• monitor
• detect-backend

Examples:

lg-buddy detect-backend
lg-buddy monitor
lg-buddy brightness

Desktop Idle Monitoring

LG Buddy supports two session backends:

• gnome
• swayidle

screen_backend=auto prefers GNOME when GNOME Shell is available, then falls back to swayidle if installed.

GNOME

The GNOME backend uses:

• org.gnome.ScreenSaver
• org.gnome.Mutter.IdleMonitor
• gdbus wait, gdbus call, and gdbus monitor

LG Buddy follows GNOME’s own idle timing and uses Mutter idle-monitor activity to restore the screen early when possible.

swayidle

The swayidle backend delegates idle timing to swayidle and currently wires:

• timeout -> idle blank/power-off policy
• resume -> restore policy

When screen_backend=swayidle, configure.sh prompts for screen_idle_timeout.

Useful commands

Check the user-session monitor:

systemctl --user status LG_Buddy_screen.service

Temporarily force a backend:

systemctl --user edit LG_Buddy_screen.service

Then add:

[Service]
Environment=LG_BUDDY_SCREEN_BACKEND=gnome

Supported values are auto, gnome, and swayidle.

Configuration

To change settings after installation:

./configure.sh

The configurator writes config.env to:

• LG_BUDDY_CONFIG, if set
• otherwise ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/lg-buddy/config.env
• otherwise ~/.config/lg-buddy/config.env

Current config keys:

• tv_ip
• tv_mac
• input
• screen_backend
• screen_idle_timeout

Installed services receive the resolved config path through LG_BUDDY_CONFIG.

Uninstall

To remove LG Buddy:

chmod +x ./uninstall.sh
./uninstall.sh

This removes the installed services, desktop entry, Rust runtime binary, Python TV-control environment, and optionally the user config file.

Repository Layout

Path	Purpose
crates/lg-buddy/src/lib.rs	CLI parsing and command dispatch
crates/lg-buddy/src/commands.rs	Runtime lifecycle and policy commands
crates/lg-buddy/src/session/runner.rs	Session monitor loop
crates/lg-buddy/src/gnome.rs	GNOME backend integration
crates/lg-buddy/src/swayidle.rs	swayidle backend integration
crates/lg-buddy/src/tv.rs	TV transport boundary and facade
crates/lg-buddy/src/wol.rs	Native Wake-on-LAN support
configure.sh	Interactive configuration tool
install.sh	Installer
uninstall.sh	Uninstaller
bin/LG_Buddy_Common	Shared shell config helper used by setup scripts
systemd/	Installed unit files and tmpfiles config
docs/architecture-overview.md	Current runtime architecture
docs/session-backend-model.md	Session backend semantics and capability model
docs/testing-strategy.md	Test strategy and scope

Credits

• https://github.com/chros73 for bscpylgtv
• https://github.com/JPersson77 for the original inspiration