When comparing 3rd Party Phillips Hue APIs vs Colors for Hue, the Slant community recommends Colors for Hue for most people. In the question“What are the best apps for controlling and automating Philips Hue lights on Macs?” Colors for Hue is ranked 2nd while 3rd Party Phillips Hue APIs is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose Colors for Hue is:
Launching the app and pressing the button on your Hue is all it takes to connect them.
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Pros
Pro Some command line friendly tools.
Some of the APIs are command line friendly. There was a Bash API on the list. It might be very easy to pick up and use. It could be a fun project to learn how to design an application that uses a ncurses interface.
Pro Flexibility
Make what you want with less sweat equity than starting completely from scratch. The frameworks are there, it's a matter of learning them and building with them.
Pro Easy to set up
Launching the app and pressing the button on your Hue is all it takes to connect them.
Cons
Con Time investment required
Requires time to learn your way around an API and write anything from a bash script to a full-blown application.