Set up garden-room-lights, tested weekly against a fake WLED strip

Description and use

Automating WLED LED strip control in a garden room with weekly CI tests against a fake server to verify API calls and schedule coverage.

Problem

Automating WLED strip lighting schedules on a garden room while ensuring reliable operation without physical LEDs during CI tests.

Outcome

The script reliably applies the correct color and brightness for each phase, covers all 24 hours without gaps, and CI tests confirm functionality even without physical LEDs.

Workflow

• Clone repo
• Copy devices.example.json to devices.json
• Run python3 gardenroom.py status to verify devices
• Run python3 gardenroom.py apply --dry-run to simulate changes
• Run python3 gardenroom.py apply to apply schedule
• Set up a 10‑minute cron job to trigger the script

Evidence

GitHub has no LED strips, so the check runs against a fake WLED unit: a 54-line Python server that answers the same three JSON calls the script makes and records what it was sent.

Source

The README was wrong ... It uses the machine's clock. Harmless on my box, which is on UK time anyway, but on a server set to UTC your evening scene would land an hour late all summer.

Source

Python 3.10+, no packages, at least one WLED strip: ... git clone ... cp devices.example.json devices.json ... python3 gardenroom.py status ... python3 gardenroom.py apply --dry-run ... python3 gardenroom.py apply

Source