lifxlan-go

lifxlan-go is a Go client library for discovering and controlling LIFX smart lights over your local network using the LIFX LAN protocol.

This library is designed to be lightweight, idiomatic, and suitable for both CLI and GUI applications that interact with LIFX devices on the same LAN.

Features

• Discover LIFX devices via UDP broadcast
• Send and receive messages using the LIFX LAN protocol
• Manage per-device sessions
• Track device state (power, color, label, etc.)
• Perform periodic discovery and session health checks
• Fully testable and modular architecture
• Extensible for advanced control

Installation

go get github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxlan-go

Usage

import (
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"time"

	"github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxlan-go/pkg/controller"
)

func main() {
	ctrl, err := controller.New()
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	defer ctrl.Close()

	time.Sleep(time.Second)

	devices := ctrl.GetDevices()
	for _, d := range devices {
		fmt.Printf("Found device: %s - %s (PoweredOn: %t)\n", d.Serial, d.Label, d.PoweredOn)
	}
}

🛠️ Creating Custom LIFX Messages

The messages package provides helpers to build your own LAN messages using the lifxprotocol-go types.

import (
	"github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxlan-go/pkg/protocol"
	"github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxprotocol-go/gen/protocol/packets"
)

var SetColor = protocol.NewMessage(&packets.LightSetColor{
	Color:    packets.LightHsbk{Hue: 65535, Saturation: 65535, Brightness: 32768, Kelvin: 3500},
	Duration: 1000,
})

Then you can send it using the controller:

err = controller.Send(deviceAddr, msg)

🔧 Using the Client Directly

If you prefer low-level control or want to use your own device management logic, you can use the Client directly without the higher-level Controller.

This is ideal for:

• Quick testing
• One-off commands
• Custom applications that don’t need device sessions or periodic discovery

import (
	"fmt"
	"net"
	"time"

	"github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxlan-go/pkg/client"
	"github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxlan-go/pkg/protocol"
	"github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxprotocol-go/gen/protocol/packets"
)

func main() {
	c, err := client.NewClient(nil)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer c.Close()

	done := make(chan struct{})
	go c.Receive(2*time.Second, false, func(m *protocol.Message, addr *net.UDPAddr) {
		fmt.Printf("Received: %+v from %v\n", m.Target(), addr)
		close(done)
	})

	msg := protocol.NewMessage(&packets.DeviceGetService{})
	err = c.SendBroadcast(msg)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}

	<-done
}

You can:

• Use client.Send() or client.SendBroadcast() to send commands.
• Start a background client.Receive() to process incoming messages.
• Build and customize your own logic for managing responses.

📦 Dependencies

This package depends on:

• (lifxprotocol-go)[github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxprotocol-go]: provides the generated protocol structs and enums.
• (lifxregistry-go)[github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxregistry-go]: provides products information through the generated LIFX public registry.

Add it to your project:

go get github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxprotocol-go
go get github.com/alessio-palumbo/lifxregistry-go

Environment Variables

LIFX_LOG_LEVEL: Set the log level (info, debug, warn, error). Default is info.

Project Structure

• pkg/controller – high-level controller for managing sessions and device state
• pkg/client – low-level UDP client for communicating with LIFX protocol
• pkg/protocol – contains the LIFX Message library
• pkg/messages – a selection of ready-to-use LIFX messages

Contributing

Issues, feature requests, and PRs are welcome!

License

MIT