@bugsounet I know, I appreciate how much work goes into this. I am a full stack LAMP dev and i understand the pains of programming.
OFFTOPIC: I know oyu forked the MMM-PiLights module in an attempt to implement it as an EXT. If you have the time, can you make it work with the latest MagicMirror (I am lost). After that, I will do a PR into your plugin. I have added some extra features to the original module but only kept the code locally. I would happily contribute it to your project (light effects, full rbg passthrough), integrated already as a recipe with your module. In my use case I do MQTT messages to trigger a notification, which via a recipe controls the lights. PM me (or i can start a separate thread) if you would like us to join forces on that. Thank you!