ClawShorts#

YouTube Shorts limiter for Fire TV. Monitors watch time per device and auto-blocks when daily limit is reached.

Invocation#

Primary entry point:

bash

~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/clawshorts/scripts/clawshorts.sh <command>

Commands#

CommandWhen to usestatusCheck today's usage, remaining quota, daemon healthreset [IP]Reset today's counter (all devices or specific IP)startStart the daemon if not runningstopStop the daemonhistory [days]Show watch history (default 30 days)logs [N]Show last N daemon log lines (default 50)listList all configured devices with per-device configsetup <IP> [NAME]First-time setup for a new deviceadd <IP> [NAME]Add another Fire TVconnect <IP>Connect ADB to device + auto-detect screenenable <IP> / disable <IP>Enable/disable a deviceconfig [show|get|set|reset]View/set global or per-device configdetect <IP>Re-detect screen resolution via ADB, update DB

Detection Logic#

Detection requires both conditions to be true simultaneously:

1. Player width < 30% of screen width (configurable per-device)
2. Aspect ratio < 1.3 (portrait — distinguishes Shorts from 16:9 landscape previews)

• Poll interval: 3 seconds via ADB
• Shorts: ~32% screen width, 9:16 portrait (ar ~0.56)
• Regular video: ~100% screen width, 16:9 landscape (ar ~1.78)
• Home/browse: no video active
• Only actual Shorts playback counts toward limit

Configuration#

All detection parameters are stored in SQLite with global defaults and per-device overrides.

Global defaults ( shorts config):

keydefaultdescriptionshorts_width_threshold0.30player width must be < this ratio of screen widthshorts_max_aspect_ratio1.3portrait if ar < this valueshorts_fallback_height_ratio0.4fallback: player height must exceed this ratio of screen heightshorts_delta_cap300max seconds accumulated per polldefault_screen_width1920fallback assumed screen widthdefault_screen_height1080fallback assumed screen height

Per-device overrides — any of the above can be set per-device in the devices table. NULL = use global default.

Config commands:

bash

shorts config                    # show all global defaults
shorts config get <key>         # get a specific value
shorts config set <key> <value> # set global default
shorts config set <IP> <col> <value>  # set per-device override
shorts config reset <IP>        # clear per-device overrides
shorts detect <IP>              # re-detect screen via ADB

Data Locations#

• Database: ~/.clawshorts/clawshorts.db (SQLite)

  • config — global detection defaults
  • devices — per-device settings (IP, name, limit, screen size, thresholds)
  • daily_usage — daily watch time per device

• Daemon log: ~/.clawshorts/daemon.log

• LaunchAgent: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.fink.clawshorts.plist

Requirements#

• adb (Android platform tools)
• Python 3
• Fire TV with ADB debugging enabled
• shorts symlink at /opt/homebrew/bin/shorts (optional)

⚠️ Security Notes#

ADB has no built-in authentication. Only enable ADB Debugging on a trusted, password-protected home network. Never on public WiFi. Anyone on the same network with ADB enabled can connect to your Fire TV.

This tool only accepts private IP addresses (10.x.x.x, 172.16–31.x.x, 192.168.x.x). Public IPs are rejected to prevent accidental targeting of unrelated hosts.