How to Install and Use Openhue in OpenClaw

Open your terminal and install the openhue skill. This skill wraps the Hue Bridge local REST API, handling authentication, entity discovery, and command translation so you can control lights with natural language instead of raw API calls. After installation, ClawHub lists the required configuration: HUE_BRIDGE_IP is mandatory, and the skill will generate a HUE_USERNAME (local API key) automatically during the Bridge authentication step in Step 3. You do not need to find or generate the username manually. If you have multiple Hue Bridges on your network, you can configure them by running `clawhub install openhue` multiple times with different profiles, or by adding multiple bridge configurations to the skill's YAML config.

1clawhub install openhue

The Hue Bridge IP address (HUE_BRIDGE_IP) is the local network address of your Hue Bridge. There are several ways to find it: **Method 1 — Hue app:** Open the Philips Hue app > Settings > My Hue system > Hue Bridges. Tap your Bridge. The IP address is shown in the Bridge details screen. **Method 2 — Hue discovery portal:** Open a browser and navigate to `https://discovery.meethue.com/`. This Philips-provided service scans for Hue Bridges on your network and returns their IP addresses as JSON. **Method 3 — Router admin panel:** Log in to your home router and look at the list of connected devices. Find the device named 'Philips' or 'HueBridgeV2' and note its IP address. The IP address will be in the format `192.168.X.X` or `10.X.X.X` depending on your router's configuration. Make a note of it — you will configure it in OpenClaw in the next step. For a stable setup, consider assigning a static (reserved) IP address to your Hue Bridge in your router's DHCP settings. This prevents the IP from changing if the router restarts or reassigns leases.

1# Find Hue Bridge IP via discovery endpoint (run in browser or curl)
2curl https://discovery.meethue.com/
3# Returns: [{"id":"...","internalipaddress":"192.168.1.X"}]

Set your Hue Bridge IP address in OpenClaw's configuration, then run the pairing command to authenticate. The Hue Bridge uses a button-press pairing mechanism for security: to generate a local API username, you must physically press the large circular button on the top of the Bridge within 30 seconds of running the pairing command. This proves physical access to the Bridge. First, set the HUE_BRIDGE_IP config value. Then run the pairing command — you have 30 seconds after running it to press the Bridge's link button. Once you press it, the Bridge generates a local API username and the skill stores it in your OpenClaw configuration automatically. You will not need to press the button again unless you reset your OpenClaw config. If you miss the 30-second window, just run the pairing command again.

1# Step 1: Set the Bridge IP
2clawhub config set HUE_BRIDGE_IP 192.168.1.X
3
4# Step 2: Run the pairing command (then press the Bridge link button within 30 seconds)
5clawhub run openhue pair
6
7# The skill will output:
8# "Press the link button on your Hue Bridge now (30 seconds)..."
9# "Pairing successful. HUE_USERNAME saved to config."
10
11# Verify both values are set
12clawhub config get HUE_BRIDGE_IP
13clawhub config get HUE_USERNAME

With authentication complete, open OpenClaw chat and test the integration. The openhue skill maps natural language descriptions to your Hue lights using the friendly names you assigned in the Hue app. It also understands room and zone groupings as configured in your Hue app. Start with a simple on/off test for a light you can see. The skill will return the light name, its entity ID, and the new state after the command. This confirms the integration is working correctly before you start using more complex commands. For color commands, the skill understands color names (red, blue, warm white, cool white, purple), CSS hex codes (#FF5733), and descriptive terms like 'sunset orange' or 'ocean blue' — it translates these to the Hue color space internally. Brightness can be specified as a percentage (50%), a descriptive level (dim, medium, bright, full), or a 0-254 integer value for precision.

The openhue skill provides access to the full Hue API surface, including scenes, groups, and Hue Labs formulas. Scenes are multi-light presets saved in the Hue app — activating a scene adjusts multiple lights to their scene-specific colors and brightnesses simultaneously. The skill can list all available scenes, activate them by name, and even create new scenes programmatically. Rooms and zones defined in the Hue app are available as groups. Commands targeting a room name ('bedroom lights') apply to all lights in that room simultaneously. Zones work similarly but can span multiple rooms. For advanced users, the skill also supports Hue dynamic scenes — the animated lighting effects introduced in recent Hue firmware versions. Activate them by describing the effect: 'start the candle flicker effect in the dining room' or 'activate the northern lights dynamic scene in the bedroom'. RapidDev recommends pairing the openhue skill with OpenClaw's scheduling capabilities for automated lighting routines — for example, gradually warming the color temperature each evening starting at sunset, or dimming lights to 20% in children's rooms at bedtime.

1# ~/.openclaw/skills/openhue.yaml — optional advanced configuration
2openhue:
3  bridge_ip: ""       # Leave blank if using HUE_BRIDGE_IP env var
4  username: ""        # Leave blank — auto-populated during pairing
5  # Optional: configure multiple bridges
6  bridges:
7    main:
8      ip: "192.168.1.50"
9      username: ""    # Auto-populated per bridge during pairing
10    studio:
11      ip: "192.168.1.51"
12      username: ""