Philips Hue

The Philips Hue package starts a local MCP service for bridge discovery and light control. The agent must have network reachability to the Hue Bridge.

Network prerequisite

A public Cloud agent normally cannot reach a bridge on your home LAN. Use Tailscale with subnet routing or another deliberately configured private path. Confirm reachability before creating or rotating credentials.

See Tailscale setup and network boundaries.

Create a Hue application key

1. Find the Hue Bridge IP address or hostname.
2. Press the physical link button on the bridge.
3. Within 30 seconds, send the documented registration request to the bridge’s /api endpoint.
4. Copy the returned username value. Hue also calls this an application key.
5. Enter the bridge address and key in the connector.

Only perform registration from a trusted device on the bridge network.

Discover before controlling

Install Hue List Lights first. Ask the agent to list lights and record their stable IDs and names. This read-only step confirms connectivity and prevents accidental control of a similarly named device.

Control tools are writes and remain unchecked by default. Enable only the operations you need, such as power, brightness, or color.

Approval strategy

Routine reversible controls can use a narrow policy after testing. Keep broader group operations or automation that affects safety-critical lighting under explicit approval.

Troubleshoot

• Connection timeout: verify the agent can route to the bridge address.
• Unauthorized: generate a new application key while the link button is active.
• Empty light list: check the bridge account and local discovery, then retry the read-only tool.
• Wrong light changes: use IDs rather than ambiguous names and narrow the request.