Cross-platform tool and drivers for liquid coolers and other devices

# liquidctl list
Device ID 0: NZXT Smart Device (V1)
Device ID 1: NZXT Kraken X (X42, X52, X62 or X72)

# liquidctl initialize all

# liquidctl --match kraken set fan speed  20 30  30 50  34 80  40 90  50 100
# liquidctl --match kraken set sync color spectrum-wave

# liquidctl --match smart set led color fading 350017 ff2608
# liquidctl --match smart set fan1 speed 50

# liquidctl status
NZXT Smart Device (V1)
├── Fan 1                        PWM  
├── Fan 1 current               0.04  A
├── Fan 1 speed                 1035  rpm
├── Fan 1 voltage              11.91  V
├── Fan 2                          —  
├── Fan 3                          —  
├── Firmware version           1.0.7  
├── LED accessories                2  
├── LED accessory type    HUE+ Strip  
├── LED count (total)             20  
└── Noise level                   60  dB

NZXT Kraken X (X42, X52, X62 or X72)
├── Liquid temperature     28.1  °C
├── Fan speed               851  rpm
├── Pump speed             1953  rpm
└── Firmware version      6.0.2  

1. Supported devices
2. Installing on Linux
3. Installing on Windows
4. Installing on macOS
5. The command-line interface
   1. Listing and selecting devices
   2. Initializing and interacting with devices
   3. Supported color specification formats
6. Automation and running at boot
   1. Set up Linux using systemd
   2. Set up Windows using Task Scheduler
   3. Set up macOS using launchd
7. Troubleshooting
8. Additional documentation
9. License
10. Related projects

The following devices are supported by this version of liquidctl. See each guide for specific usage instructions and other pertinent information.

^L Requires the --legacy-690lc flag.
^Z Requires replacing the device driver on Windows.
^E Experimental and/or partial support.

Packages for liquidctl are available for certain Linux distributions and package managers:

• Alpine Linux: liquidctl
• ArchLinux/Manjaro: liquidctl^AUR, liquidctl-git^AUR
• Fedora: liquidctl

On other distributions, or when more control is desired, liquidctl can be installed from PyPI or directly from the source code repository. In these cases the following runtime dependencies are necessary:

Setuptools and, optionally, pip and pytest are needed to locally test and manually install liquidctl:

If cython-hidapi is installed from sources or directly from PyPI, then build tools and development headers for Python, libusb-1.0 and libudev are also needed.

To install a release from PyPI, pip should be used:

# pip install liquidctl
# pip install liquidctl==<version>

For the latest changes and to contribute back to the project, it is best to clone the source code repository. You can directly execute the code, or install it from that local copy.

$ git clone https://github.com/jonasmalacofilho/liquidctl
$ cd liquidctl
$ pytest  # optional step
$ python -m liquidctl.cli <args>...
# pip install .

Note: in systems that default to Python 2, use pip3, python3 and pytest-3.

A pre-built executable for the last stable version is available in liquidctl-1.4.1-bin-windows-x86_64.zip.

Executables for previous releases can be found in the assets of the Releases tab, and development builds can be found in the artifacts on the AppVeyor runs.

Products that are not Human Interface Devices (HIDs), or that do not use the Microsoft HID Driver, require a libusb-compatible driver, see notes in Supported devices). In most cases Microsoft WinUSB is recommended, which can easily be set up for a device with Zadig¹: open the application, click Options, List All Devices, then select your device from the dropdown list, and click "Replace Driver". Note that replacing the driver for devices that do not require it will likely cause them to disapear from liquidctl.

The pre-built executables can be directly used from a Windows Command Prompt, Power Shell or other available terminal emulator. Even so, most users will want to place the executable in a directory listed in the PATH environment variable, or change the variable so that is true; this allows omitting the full path and .exe extension when calling liquidctl.

Alternatively to the pre-built executable, it is possible to install liquidctl from PyPI or directly from the source code repository. Pre-build liquidctl executables for Windows already include Python and libusb, but when installing from PyPI or the sources both of these will need to be manually set up.

The libusb DLLs can be found in libusb/releases (part of the libusb-<version>.7z files) and the appropriate (e.g. MS64) .dll and .lib files should be extracted to the system or python installation directory (e.g. C:\Windows\System32 or C:\Python36). Note that there is a known issue in PyUSB that causes errors when the devices are released; the solution is to either manually patch PyUSB or stick to libusb 1.0.21.

To install any release from PyPI, pip should be used:

> pip install liquidctl
> pip install liquidctl==<version>

For the latest changes and to contribute back to the project, it is best to clone the source code repository. You can directly execute the code, or install it from that local copy.

> git clone https://github.com/jonasmalacofilho/liquidctl
> cd liquidctl
> python -m liquidctl.cli <args>...
> pip install .

¹ See How to use libusb under Windows for more information.

liquidctl is available on Homebrew, and that is the preferred method of installing it.

$ brew install liquidctl
$ brew install liquidctl --HEAD

By default the last stable version will be installed, but by passing --HEAD this can be changed to the last snapshot from this repository. All dependencies are automatically resolved.

Another possibility is to install liquidctl from PyPI or directly from the source code repository, but in these cases Python 3 and libsub must be installed first; the recommended way is with brew install python libusb.

To install any release from PyPI, pip should be used:

$ pip3 install liquidctl
$ pip3 install liquidctl==<version>

For the latest changes and to contribute back to the project, it is best to clone the source code repository. You can directly execute the code, or install it from that local copy.

$ git clone https://github.com/jonasmalacofilho/liquidctl
$ cd liquidctl
$ python3 -m liquidctl.cli <args>...
$ pip3 install .

Note: installation into a virtual environment is recommended to avoid conflicts with Python modules installed with Homebrew. The use of virtual environments is outside the scope of this document. Their use will also restrict the availability of the liquidctl command to that virtual environment.

The complete list of commands and options can be found in liquidctl --help and in the man page, but the following topics cover the most common operations.

Brackets [ ], parenthesis ( ), less than/greater than < > and ellipsis ... are used to describe, respectively, optional, required, positional and repeating elements. Example commands are prefixed with a number sign #, which also serves to indicate that on Linux root permissions (or suitable udev rules) may be required.

The --verbose option will print some extra information, like automatically made adjustments to user-provided settings. And if there is a problem, the --debug flag will make liquidctl output more information to help identify its cause; be sure to include this when opening a new issue.

Note: when debugging issues with PyUSB or libusb it can be useful to set the PYUSB_DEBUG=debug or/and LIBUSB_DEBUG=4 environment variables.

A good place to start is to ask liquidctl to list all recognized devices.

# liquidctl list
Device ID 0: NZXT Smart Device (V1)
Device ID 1: NZXT Kraken X (X42, X52, X62 or X72)

In case more than one supported device is found, one them can be selected with --match <substring>, where <substring> matches part of the desired device's description using a case insensitive comparison.

# liquidctl --match kraken list
Device ID 0: NZXT Kraken X (X42, X52, X62 or X72)

More device properties can be show by passing --verbose to liquidctl list. Any of these can also be used to select a particular product.

# liquidctl --serial 1234567890 list
Device ID 0: NZXT Kraken X (X42, X52, X62 or X72)

Ambiguities for any given filter can be solved with --pick <number>. Devices can also be selected with --device <ID>, but these IDs are not guaranteed to remain stable and will vary with hardware changes, liquidctl updates or simply normal variance in enumeration order.

Devices will usually need to be initialized before they can be used, though each device has its own requirements and limitations. This and other information specific to a particular device will appear on the documentation linked from the supported devices section.

Devices can be initialized individually or all at once.

# liquidctl [options] initialize [all]

Most devices provide some status information, like fan speeds and liquid temperatures. This can be queried for all devices or using the filtering methods mentioned before.

# liquidctl [options] status

Fan and pump speeds can be set to fixed values or, if the device supports them, custom profiles.

# liquidctl [options] set <channel> speed (<temperature> <percentage>) ...
# liquidctl [options] set <channel> speed <percentage>

Lighting is controlled in a similar fashion. The specific documentation for each device will list the available channels, modes and additional options.

# liquidctl [options] set <channel> color <mode> [<color>] ...

When configuring lighting effects, colors can be specified in different representations and formats:

• as an implicit hexadecimal RGB triple: e.g. ff7f3f
• as an explicit RGB triple: e.g. rgb(255, 127, 63)
• as a HSV (hue‑saturation‑value) triple: e.g. hsv(20, 75, 100)
  • hue ∊ [0, 360] (degrees); saturation, value ∊ [0, 100] (percent)
  • note: this is sometimes called HSB (hue‑saturation‑brightness)
• as a HSL (hue‑saturation‑lightness) triple: e.g. hsl(20, 100, 62)
  • hue ∊ [0, 360] (degrees); saturation, lightness ∊ [0, 100] (percent)

Color arguments containing spaces, parenthesis or commas need to be quoted, as these characters can have special meaning on the command-line; the easiest way to do this on all supported platforms is with double quotes.

# liquidctl --match kraken set ring color fading "hsv(0,80,100)" "hsv(180,80,100)"

On Linux it is also possible to use single-quotes and \(, \), \ escape sequences.

In most cases you will want to automatically apply your settings when the system boots. Generally a simple script or a basic service is enough, and some specifics about this are given in the following sections.

For even more flexibility, you can also write a Python program that calls the driver APIs directly.

On systems running Linux and systemd a service unit can be used to configure liquidctl devices. A simple example is provided bellow, which you can edit to match your preferences. Save it to /etc/systemd/system/liquidcfg.service.

[Unit]
Description=AIO startup service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=liquidctl set pump speed 90
ExecStart=liquidctl set fan speed  20 30  30 50  34 80  40 90  50 100
ExecStart=liquidctl set ring color fading 350017 ff2608
ExecStart=liquidctl set logo color spectrum-wave

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

After reloading the configuration, the new unit can be started manually or set to automatically run during boot using standard systemd tools.

# systemctl daemon-reload
# systemctl start liquidcfg
# systemctl enable liquidcfg

A slightly more complex example can be seen at jonasmalacofilho/dotfiles, which includes dynamic adjustments of the lighting depending on the time of day.

If necessary, it is also possible to have the service unit explicitly wait for the device to be available: see making systemd units wait for devices.

The configuration of devices can be automated by writing a batch file and setting up a new task for (every) login using Windows Task Scheduler. The batch file can be really simple and only needs to contain the invocations of liquidctl that would otherwise be done manually.

liquidctl set pump speed 90
liquidctl set fan speed  20 30  30 50  34 80  40 90  50 100
liquidctl set ring color fading 350017 ff2608
liquidctl set logo color spectrum-wave

Make sure that liquidctl is available in the context where the batch file will run: in short, liquidctl --version should work within a normal Command Prompt window.

When not using a pre-built liquidctl executable, try installing Python with the option to set the PATH variable enabled, or manually add the necessary folders to the PATH.

A slightly more complex example can be seen in issue #14 ("Can I autostart liquidctl on Windows?"), that uses the LEDs to convey progress or eventual errors. Chris' guide on Replacing NZXT’s CAM software on Windows for Kraken is also a good read.

As an alternative to using Task Scheduler, the batch file can simply be placed in the startup folder; you can run shell:startup to find out where that is.

You can use a shell script and launchd to automatically configure your devices during login.

Create a script in /usr/local/bin/liquidcfg.sh and make it executable; it should contain the calls to liquidctl necessary to initialize and configure your devices.

#!/bin/bash -xe
liquidctl set pump speed 90
liquidctl set fan speed  20 30  30 50  34 80  40 90  50 100
liquidctl set ring color fading 350017 ff2608
liquidctl set logo color spectrum-wave

Afterwards, create a new global daemon in /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.liquidcfg.plist that executes the previous script.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "https://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
	<array>
		<string>/usr/local/bin/liquidcfg.sh</string>
	</array>
	<key>Label</key>
	<string>local.liquidcfg</string>
	<key>RunAtLoad</key>
	<true/>
	<key>KeepAlive</key>
	<false/>
	<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
	<dict>
		<key>PATH</key>
		<string>/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/?.?/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin</string>
	</dict>
</dict>
</plist>

It is important to adjust the location of Python 3 framework in the PATH environment variable above. launchd agents use the system profile and thus will by default only find the Apple-provided Python 2.7 and its packages.

You can enable and disable the agent with launchctl load|unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.liquidcfg.plist. Errors can be found in system.log using Console; search for liquidcfg or liquidctl.

A real world example can be seen in icedterminal/ga-z270x-ug.

This is likely caused by having replaced the standard driver of a USB HID. If the device in question is not marked in Supported devices as requiring a special driver, try uninstalling the custom driver.

This is usually caused by having an unexpected kernel driver bound to a USB HID. In most cases this is the result of having used a program that accessed the device (directly or indirectly) via libusb-1.0, but failed to reattach the original driver before terminating.

This can be temporarily solved by manually rebinding the device to the kernel usbhid driver. Replace <bus> and <port> with the correct values from lsusb -vt (also assumes there is only HID interface, adjust if necessary):

echo '<bus>-<port>:1.0' | sudo tee /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usbhid/bind

A more permanent solution is to politely ask the authors of the program that is responsible for leaving the kernel driver detached to use libusb_attach_kernel_driver or libusb_set_auto_detach_kernel_driver.

These errors are usually caused by a lack of permission to access the device. On Linux distros that normally requires root privileges.

Alternatively to running liquidctl as root (or with sudo), you can install the udev rules provided in extra/linux/71-liquidctl.rules to allow unprivileged access to the devices supported by liquidctl.

If your problem is not listed here, try searching the issues. If no issue matches your problem, you still need help, or you have found a bug, please open one.

When commenting on an issue, please describe the problem in as much detail as possible. List your operating system and the specific devices you own.

Also include the arguments and output of all relevant/failing liquidctl commands, using the --debug option to enable additional debug information.

Be sure to browse docs/ for additional documentation, and extra/ for some example scripts and other possibly useful things.

You are also encouraged to contribute to the documentation and to these examples, including adding new files that cover your specific use cases or solutions.

liquidctl – monitor and control liquid coolers and other devices.
Copyright (C) 2018–2020 Jonas Malaco, CaseySJ, Tom Frey and contributors

liquidctl incorporates work by leaty, Ksenija Stanojevic, Alexander Tong, Jens Neumaier, Kristóf Jakab, Sean Nelson, Chris Griffith, notaz, realies and Thomas Pircher.

Depending on how it is packaged, it might also bundle copies of python, hidapi, libusb, cython-hidapi, pyusb and docopt.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

This project uses short SPDX License List identifiers to concisely and unambiguously indicate the applicable license in each source file.

Open-source graphical interface to control many different types of RGB devices.

Initial conversion of liquidctl to Linux kernel hwmon drivers. Currently allows standard monitoring tools (for example lm-sensors, or tools built on top of it) to read sensor data from Kraken X42/X52/X62/X72 coolers and the Smart Device (V1).

Retired in 2020, but a great source of information on how Corsair devices work. There are ongoing efforts to port the drivers to liquidctl, and joining them is a great way to get involved.

Device information collected for developing and maintaining liquidctl, including USB descriptors, traffic captures and protocol analyzes.