Google Meet - On Air Light Automation

Photo by OCV PHOTO on Unsplash

These days I tend to spend a lot of my time in Google Meet meetings. I recently created some automated tools to address a couple of problems.

The Problems

I work from home. I have a family, and my office has glass doors. My family often wonders when it’s safe to talk to me or when I’m in a meeting. I need a reliable way to let them know when I’m in an online meeting.
My window lets in a lot of light, making my face too dark to see in webcam videos.

I tried a few solutions, such as using the door or a remote-controlled LED light, but I often forgot to control them manually. Then, I found a better solution using automation.

The Solution

Hardware

Hardware needed:

Smart Plug
Lamp (I started with $7 lamp from Walmart)

IFTTT vs Home Assistant

I've updated this post, so consider this version 2.0. I originally used IFTTT to automate the light. But, they changed their free tier so that you need a paid subscription to control SmartLife devices.

There is a better, free alternative: Home Assistant. I run this on home server I have in the basement. Here’s how I set it up:

Step 1: Docker Setup

You can use Docker to run Home Assistant. Here’s the docker-compose.yml file to get started:

version: '3'
services:
  homeassistant:
    container_name: homeassistant
    image: homeassistant/home-assistant:stable
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    environment:
      - TZ=America/Denver # Replace with your timezone
    ports:
      - '8123:8123' # Maps port 8123 on the host to the container
    restart: unless-stopped

Once the Docker container is running, access Home Assistant at http://<your-local-ip>:8123.

Step 2: Connect Home Assistant to Tuya (SmartLife)

Go to Configuration -> Devices & Services -> Add Integration.
Search for Tuya and follow the prompts to link your SmartLife account.

Step 3: Create Webhooks in Home Assistant

Now, create webhooks to control your desk switch (or any other device).

Go to Settings -> Automations & Scenes -> Create Automation.
Set a Trigger of type Webhook, and use the ID desk_switch_on to turn the switch on, and desk_switch_off to turn it off.
Set Actions to switch.turn_on or switch.turn_off, and use the entity ID of your switch (switch.desk_socket_1).

Updated Bash Script

Here’s my updated checkmeet script that checks for open Google Meet or Microsoft Teams tabs and calls the appropriate webhook to toggle the light:

#!/bin/bash

# Path to store the last state
state_file="/tmp/desk_switch_state.txt"

# Initialize the state file on first run
echo "off" > "$state_file"

# Function to check if the browser has a meet.google.com or a teams.microsoft.com tab open
check_tabs_for_meet_or_teams() {
  browser=$1
  osascript <<EOF
  if application "$browser" is running then
    tell application "$browser"
      set meetOrTeamsTabExists to false
      repeat with w in windows
        repeat with t in tabs of w
          if (URL of t contains "meet.google.com") or (URL of t contains "teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join") then
            log "Matched tab URL in $browser: " & URL of t
            set meetOrTeamsTabExists to true
          end if
        end repeat
      end repeat
      return meetOrTeamsTabExists
    end tell
  else
    return false
  end if
EOF
}

# Function to call Home Assistant webhook
call_webhook() {
  webhook_id=$1
  curl -X POST http://192.168.1.4:8123/api/webhook/$webhook_id
}

# Infinite loop to check every 5 seconds
while true; do
  # echo "Checking for Meet or Teams..."
  # Check Arc and Chrome browsers
  arc_meet_or_teams_open=$(check_tabs_for_meet_or_teams "Arc")
  chrome_meet_or_teams_open=$(check_tabs_for_meet_or_teams "Google Chrome")

  # Determine current state
  if [[ "$arc_meet_or_teams_open" == "true" ]] || [[ "$chrome_meet_or_teams_open" == "true" ]]; then
    current_state="on"
  else
    current_state="off"
  fi

  # Read the last state
  last_state=$(cat "$state_file")

  # Only call the webhook if the state has changed
  if [ "$current_state" != "$last_state" ]; then
    if [ "$current_state" == "on" ]; then
      call_webhook "desk_switch_on"
      echo "💡 ON AIR 💡"
    else
      call_webhook "desk_switch_off"
      echo "🔇 OFF AIR 🔇"
    fi
    # Update the last state
    echo "$current_state" > "$state_file"
  fi

  # Wait for 5 seconds before the next check
  sleep 5
done

Keeping the Script Running

To make sure the script starts at login and keeps running, you can use launchd on macOS. Here’s how to set it up:

Create the following plist file in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.dustin.checkmeet.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.dustin.checkmeet</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/path/to/your/checkmeet</string> <!-- Replace with the full path to your script -->
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/checkmeet.out</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/checkmeet.err</string>
  </dict>
</plist>

Load the service:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.dustin.checkmeet.plist

Now, your "On Air" light will automatically turn on and off based on your Google Meet or Microsoft Teams meeting status, and the script will restart automatically if needed.

That’s it

Now, when I open a Google Meet window or tab, within a few seconds my lamp turns on. When I close the tab, the lamp turns off.

Working GIF

Hardware Update

I found this ON AIR light on eBay for about 30 bucks. I hot-glued some clips to the top of my monitor and mounted it for fun look.