TapoController

100% local control (no cloud) of a TP‑Link Tapo L530 smart bulb — desktop app (Tauri 2 + React) with an own, reverse‑engineered implementation of the Tapo local protocol (KLAP), a smooth on‑device animated mode, a screen‑capture Ambilight that works with PotPlayer/VLC/anything, and a local API for plugins.

No third‑party SDK and no TP‑Link cloud during operation: every command goes straight to the bulb on your LAN. It can also auto‑detect the bulb's IP on your network.

  

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The bulb

Model	Tapo L530E (EU SKU reported by the device: L530EA)
Type	Smart Wi‑Fi LED bulb, multicolor
Socket	E27
Light	White 2500–6500 K + ~16M colors, dimmable
Brightness / power	≈ 806 lm, ≈ 8.7 W (60 W equivalent)
Connectivity	2.4 GHz Wi‑Fi (802.11 b/g/n), no hub required
Local protocol	KLAP over HTTP (firmware "SHIP 2.0", e.g. 1.4.2)
Matter	❌ Not supported by the L530 (the L535E is the Matter model)

Official product page: https://www.tapo.com/en/product/smart-light-bulb/tapo-l530e/

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Download & install

Grab the latest from Releases:

File	Use
TapoController_*_x64-setup.exe	NSIS installer (recommended)
TapoController_*_x64_en-US.msi	MSI installer (deployment/GPO)
TapoController_*_x64_standalone.exe	Portable, no install — just run it

The binaries are unsigned, so Windows SmartScreen shows an "unknown publisher" warning the first time → More info → Run anyway.

One‑time setup in the Tapo mobile app (Android / iOS)

The bulb only accepts local control after it has been onboarded with the Tapo app and the local API has been enabled there. This is enforced by the bulb's firmware — there is no software way around it. You only do this once.

1. Install Tapo (Android / iOS) and sign in (a free TP‑Link account is required just for setup).
2. Add the bulb: tap + → Add Device → Bulbs → follow the pairing (the bulb must end up connected to your 2.4 GHz Wi‑Fi). Note its IP (your router's client list, or in the app: device → Settings → Device Info).
3. Enable local/third‑party access. Open the app's account tab and turn the setting ON. The exact label/location varies by app version — look for one of these:
   • Me (bottom‑right) → Tapo Lab → Third‑Party Compatibility → ON
   • or Me → Third‑Party Services / Local Access → ON
   • (older builds: Settings → Allow local control)
4. Keep the same TP‑Link account credentials handy — you'll enter them once in TapoController's Settings tab (they're used only locally to derive the auth hash; never sent to any cloud).

If it was already paired before, you only need step 3. If TapoController's Diagnose says KlapGatedOff, step 3 is not enabled yet (toggle it OFF→ON and retry). Tip: after this, block the bulb's internet/WAN access on your router so a cloud re‑bind can't disable local access again.

After that, all control is 100% local — no cloud, no internet needed.

First run

1. Open TapoController → Settings tab.
2. Fill in IP/host, and the e‑mail/password of the TP‑Link account the bulb is linked to (used only locally to derive the auth hash — never sent to any cloud). Leave Protocol on Auto‑detect.
3. Press Save & apply. Use Diagnose connection if something fails:
   • KlapReady → good.
   • KlapGatedOff → you still need to enable Third‑Party Services (above).
   • Unreachable → wrong IP / not on the LAN.
4. Settings are persisted to %APPDATA%\TapoController\tapo-config.toml.

Recommended: block the bulb's WAN/internet access on your router (MAC prefix 3C‑6A‑D2…) so a cloud re‑bind can't overwrite the local setup.

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User manual

The app has three tabs. The header shows the bulb name and on/off state and auto‑refreshes every 5 s.

Normal tab

• Turn on / Turn off.
• Brightness 1–100 %.
• Hue / Saturation sliders (apply on release).
• Color (RGB) picker — pick any color.
• Temperature 2500–6500 K (warm ↔ cool white).
• Presets — quick color swatches.
• Animated mode (rainbow) — a smooth color cycle rendered by the bulb itself (its native dynamic‑effect engine, like the Tapo app: no flicker, no per‑frame network traffic). Speed slider sets the fade time.

Streaming tab — Ambilight

Captures the average color of a monitor and pushes it to the bulb, so the light matches what's on screen. Player‑agnostic — works with PotPlayer, VLC, browsers, games, anything.

1. Pick the Monitor (multi‑display supported — choose Display 1, 2, …).
2. Set Captures per second (1–30).
3. Change mode:
   • Fade (smooth) — eased transitions; set the Fade smoothness.
   • Instant — snap to the screen color.
4. Max bulb updates/s — caps how often the bulb is updated (LAN/KLAP latency is ~30–150 ms, so realistic sustained rate is ~5–15 Hz; the pipeline coalesces and rate‑limits so the bulb is never flooded).
5. Brightness cap (%) — the bulb brightness tracks the scene luminance but never exceeds this ceiling (dark scene → dim, bright scene → up to the cap).
6. Tick Enable ambilight (or press the button) to start/stop. Settings are saved and applied live.

Tip for PotPlayer: play the video full‑screen on the selected monitor and set mode to Fade with a medium smoothness for a relaxed backlight, or Instant at higher fps for a punchier effect.

Settings tab

• Connection: host, account user/password, protocol, Diagnose.
  • Detect bulbs: scans your LAN and lists Tapo bulbs found; the host field is an editable combo — pick a detected IP or type one. Handy when DHCP changes the bulb's address.
• Local API: enable/disable the embedded server, bind address and port.
• Language: System (auto‑detect), Spanish or English.
• Save & apply persists everything (changing API port/bind needs an app restart).

System tray (Windows)

Closing or minimizing the window sends the app to the tray (it keeps running — API and ambilight included). Tray menu: Turn on · Turn off · Show/Hide · Exit. Left‑click the tray icon toggles the window.

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Local API (for plugins)

With the app running, an HTTP + WebSocket server is available (default http://127.0.0.1:7755). Endpoints: /health, /monitors, /state, /power, /brightness, /color, /color_temp, /animation, and a WebSocket /stream for high‑rate color frames.

Full spec and examples: docs/API.md · sample client: examples/ambilight-demo.mjs.

curl http://127.0.0.1:7755/health
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:7755/power -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"on":true}'

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Build from source

Requirements: Rust (stable), Node 18+, and the Tauri prerequisites for your OS.

npm install
npm run app:dev        # run the desktop app in development (Tauri + Vite)
npm run app:build      # full build: installers (NSIS + MSI) + standalone exe
npm run icons          # regenerate icons from docs/icon.png
cargo test --workspace # run the test suite

(app:dev/app:build are aliases for tauri dev/tauri build, which run the Vite dev/build steps automatically.)

Project layout:

crates/tapo-proto/   Core: own protocol (KLAP + legacy securePassthrough),
                     config, ControlService (session, reconnect, color
                     pipeline, animation), diagnostics.
crates/tapo-cli/     Diagnostic CLI (doctor / info / set / raw …).
src-tauri/           Desktop app: IPC, tray, embedded API server, ambilight.
src/                 React/Vite/TypeScript UI (3 tabs + i18n).
docs/                API spec + screenshots.
scripts/             GitHub release helper.

How it works (reverse‑engineering notes)

• The bulb's embedded "SHIP 2.0" HTTP server is case‑sensitive on header names and rejects the lowercase headers hyper/reqwest emit, so tapo-proto ships its own raw HTTP/1.1 client (http.rs) with Title‑Case headers and Content-Length‑delimited reads.
• Protocol is KLAP; handshake1 needs a random seed and the credential hash for this firmware is sha256( sha1(user) ‖ sha1(pass) ) (auto‑resolved against the server hash among known schemes).
• The smooth rainbow uses the bulb's edit_dynamic_light_effect_rule + set_dynamic_light_effect_rule_enable (rule "L1", change_mode: "bln", exactly 8 color stops) — the firmware does the fades.

License

MIT.