To my surprise, Nanoleaf tech support responded to me within 4 hours, with a full description of the protocol that’s used both by the Desk Dock as well as their RGB strips. The docs mostly confirmed what I had already discovered independently, but there were a couple of other minor features as well (like power and brightness management) that I did not know about, which was helpful.

Combo of investigating and a foot up from the manufacturer.

When I’ve done this in the past for game controllers I’ve not received such an emphatic response (other than when I was working for the vendor).

Did get some via FOI for a few other products though.