A simple python script to run Kodi only when someone has tried to connect to the webserver port.

kodistandby.py

from __future__ import print_function
import socket
import subprocess
import time
import sys


address = '0.0.0.0'
port = 8000
kodi_path = r'C:\Program Files (x86)\Kodi\Kodi.exe'
listen_timeout = 5
once = False


if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == '--once':
        once = True
    while True:
        print('Listening for connection...')
        sock = socket.socket()
        try:
            sock.bind((address, port))
        except socket.error:
            print('Somebody is already listening...')
            time.sleep(listen_timeout)
            continue
        sock.listen(1)
        s = sock.accept()
        s[0].close()
        sock.close()
        print('Starting Kodi...')
        retval = subprocess.call(kodi_path)
        if once:
            break