gitwtfhub

wtf is nest?

dutchcoders/nest — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-08-03 · repo last pushed 2015-01-06

6GoAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · moderate

TL;DR

A lightweight command-line tool that lets you check and control your Nest thermostat and home/away status directly from your terminal using simple text commands.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Check temperature
      Check humidity
      Set home or away
      List thermostats
    How it works
      One-time web login
      Enter a PIN
      Save access token
    Use cases
      Shell shortcuts
      Prompt status display
      Terminal workflow
    Tech stack
      Go
      CLI
    Audience
      Developers
      Terminal tinkerers

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Check your Nest thermostat's current temperature and humidity from the terminal.

REASON 2

Set your home to away mode by typing a quick shell command.

REASON 3

Display your current room temperature as part of your command prompt while you work.

REASON 4

Create shell shortcuts so typing home or away instantly updates your Nest device status.

What's in the stack?

Go

How it stacks up

dutchcoders/nestbeastmastergrinder/turbopuffer-engine-opensourceburrow-cloud/burrow
Stars666
LanguageGoGoGo
Last pushed2015-01-06
MaintenanceDormant
Setup difficultymoderatemoderatemoderate
Complexity2/55/54/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperops devops

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires a one-time web-based OAuth login and PIN entry to generate an access token that must be saved as an environment variable.

Wtf does this do

Nest is a command-line tool that lets you check and control your Nest thermostat and home/away status straight from your terminal. Instead of opening an app or walking over to the device, you type a quick command to see the current temperature, check humidity, or set the house to "away" mode. The tool first walks you through a one-time login process that opens a web page where you authorize it to access your Nest account. After you enter a PIN, it gives you an access token to save as an environment variable. Once that's set up, you can run simple commands like asking for your thermostat's ambient temperature, checking which thermostats exist on your account, or flipping your home between "home" and "away" states by passing a structure ID. This would appeal to developers or tinkerers who already live in the terminal and want to integrate Nest data into their existing workflow. For example, you can set up shell shortcuts so typing "home" or "away" instantly updates your Nest, or even display the current room temperature as part of your command prompt so it's always visible while you work. The project is written in Go and is lightweight by design, it does a handful of specific things without a graphical interface or complex setup. The README doesn't go into detail on edge cases or advanced configuration, but the core functionality is straightforward: authorize once, then query and control your Nest devices through short text commands.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Write a bash script that uses the nest CLI to set my home to away mode when I lock my screen, and back to home when I unlock it.
Prompt 2
Show me how to use the nest CLI to display my current room temperature in my shell prompt using powerlevel10k or starship.
Prompt 3
Create a cron job that uses the nest CLI to check my thermostat temperature every 30 minutes and log it to a file.
Prompt 4
Help me set up shell aliases so typing home sets my Nest to home mode and away sets it to away mode.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is nest?

A lightweight command-line tool that lets you check and control your Nest thermostat and home/away status directly from your terminal using simple text commands.

What language is nest written in?

Mainly Go. The stack also includes Go.

Is nest actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2015-01-06).

How hard is nest to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is nest for?

Mainly developer.

View the repo → Decode another repo

This repo across BitVibe Labs

Don't trust strangers blindly. Verify against the repo.