One of the biggest complaints about RGB is the software ecosystem surrounding it. Every manufacturer has their own app, their own brand, their own style. If you want to mix and match devices, you end up with a ton of conflicting, functionally identical apps competing for your background resources. On top of that, these apps are proprietary and Windows-only. Some even require online accounts. What if there was a way to control all of your RGB devices from a single app, on both Windows and Linux, without any nonsense? That is what OpenRGB sets out to achieve. One app to rule them all.

[[TOC]]

Features

• Set colors and select effect modes for a wide variety of RGB hardware
• Save and load profiles
• Control lighting from third party software using the OpenRGB SDK
• Command line interface
• Connect multiple instances of OpenRGB to synchronize lighting across multiple PCs
• Can operate standalone or in a client/headless server configuration
• View device information
• No official/manufacturer software required
• Graphical view of device LEDs makes creating custom patterns easy

Website

• Check out our website at openrgb.org

Supported Devices

• See the Supported Devices page for the current list of supported devices.

Wiki

• More information is available on the OpenRGB Wiki

WARNING!

This project interacts directly with hardware using reverse engineered protocols. While we do our best to make sure we're sending the right data, there is always some risk in sending data to hardware when we don't understand exactly how that hardware works.

There have been two instances of hardware damage in OpenRGB's development and we've taken precautions to prevent it from happening again.

• The Mystic Light motherboard code bricked the RGB controller of some MSI motherboards. The code was disabled and reworked. We have been re-adding these motherboards to the support list as we verify that the new code works with them. Affected boards can be unbricked with a Nuvoton Nu-Link adapter.
• There were reports of bricked Gigabyte Aorus Z390 motherboards caused by dumping SMBus address 0x68 in an attempt to reverse engineer the RGB. Due to this, the SMBus Tools page on OpenRGB is hidden by default now as it has no real use to non-developers.

Windows

• You will need the Microsoft Visual 2019 C++ runtime installed. You can get it here
• Pre-built Release binaries are available for Windows 10 / 11 64bit under the Releases section on GitLab.
• If you want to test the latest (potentially unstable) code you can also get the Windows package from the pipeline builds.

Compiling

• To build the application yourself on Windows:
  1. Download the latest Visual Studio Community Edition and Qt Creator.
  2. When installing the QT toolset select the latest revision of Qt 5.15.x as OpenRGB is not yet compatible with QT6
  3. Optionally install Git if you intend to contribute your changes to the mainline codebase.
  4. Open the OpenRGB.pro project in Qt Creator.
  5. Use the MSVC compiler kit, either 32- or 64-bit, to build the application.
  6. Run the project from Qt Creator. If you want to use your custom build standalone, download the latest matching Release package and replace the OpenRGB.exe in it with your new build.

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SMBus Access

• You must run the application as Administrator the first time to allow WinRing0 to set up. It can be run as a normal user afterwards
• Early versions of OpenRGB used InpOut32. This is no longer needed and should be removed to avoid warnings by some anti-cheat software. You can uninstall Inpout32 by following the instructions here.

USB Access

• Early versions of OpenRGB used the WinUSB driver, installed using Zadig. This is no longer required, and you need to uninstall the WinUSB driver if you previously installed it. You can uninstall the WinUSB driver by following this guide.

Linux

• Pre-built binaries in AppImage format are available under the Releases section on GitLab.
• There is also a unofficial universal Flatpak build available on Flathub. Note: To ensure you have device permissions please install the latest UDEV rules.

Arch

Binaries

• OpenRGB is available in the AUR for both the release and pipeline builds

Debian / Ubuntu

Binaries

• OpenRGB builds an official Debian package for Bullseye and Ubuntu 21.04 onwards for both the 64bit release and pipeline builds
• There is also a legacy package for Debian 64bit Buster and it's derivatives (Ubuntu prior to 21.04) with release and pipeline builds

Compiling

1. Install build dependencies
   • sudo apt install git build-essential qtcreator qtbase5-dev qtchooser qt5-qmake qtbase5-dev-tools libusb-1.0-0-dev libhidapi-dev pkgconf libmbedtls-dev qttools5-dev-tools
2. git clone https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGB
3. cd OpenRGB
4. qmake OpenRGB.pro
5. make -j$(nproc)
6. You can then run the application from the compile directory with ./openrgb or install with make install
7. You will also need to install the latest UDEV rules.

Packaging

• You can also build a Debian package (.deb) from this source code with:
  • sudo apt install debhelper
  • /scripts/build-package-files.sh debian/changelog
  • dpkg-buildpackage -us -B

Fedora

Binaries

• OpenRGB builds an official Fedora package for the latest release of OpenRGB
• There are also pipeline builds for both Fedora 35 and Fedora 36 available

Compiling

1. Install build dependencies
   • sudo dnf install automake gcc-c++ qt5-qtbase-devel qt5-linguist hidapi-devel libusbx-devel mbedtls-devel
2. git clone https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGB
3. cd OpenRGB
4. qmake-qt5 OpenRGB.pro
5. make -j$(nproc)
6. You can then run the application from the compile directory with ./openrgb or install with make install
7. You will also need to install the latest UDEV rules.

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SMBus Access

• SMBus access is necessary for controlling RGB RAM and certain motherboard on-board LEDs.

• If you are not trying to use OpenRGB to control RGB RAM or motherboard LEDs, you may skip this section.

• ASUS and ASRock motherboards have their RGB controller on a secondary SMBus interface and requires a Linux kernel > 5.7 ^commit

• Allowing access to SMBus:

  1. Install the i2c-tools package.
  2. Load the i2c-dev module: sudo modprobe i2c-dev
  3. Create the i2c group if it does not already exist: sudo groupadd --system i2c
  4. Add yourself to the i2c group: sudo usermod $USER -aG i2c
  5. If you want you can load the i2c-dev module at boot: sudo touch /etc/modules-load.d/i2c.conf && sudo sh -c 'echo "i2c-dev" >> /etc/modules-load.d/i2c.conf'
  6. Load the i2c driver for your chipset:

  Intel

  • sudo modprobe i2c-i801
  • sudo modprobe i2c-nct6775 - Secondary controller for motherboard LEDs (requires kernel patch)

  AMD

  • sudo modprobe i2c-piix4
  • Unmodified kernel will have one interface, patched kernel will have two. The first at 0x0B00 and the second at 0x0B20. The 0x0B20 interface is for motherboard LEDs.
  • If RGB RAM or certain motherboard on-board LEDs are not loading the profile on startup, you need to add the loading entries to: /etc/modules-load.d/
    • i2c-dev
    • i2c-i801 or i2c-piix4 (according to your chipset)

  ---

• You'll have to enable user access to your SMBus if you don't run as root.

  • List all SMBus controllers: sudo i2cdetect -l
  • Note the number for PIIX4, I801, and NCT6775 controllers.
  • Give user access to those controllers. If you have not installed OpenRGB from a package (e.g. deb, RPM or from the AUR) then most likely you need to install the UDEV rules.

• The i2c-nct6775 kernel module requires patching, please refer to instructions here

• Some Gigabyte/Aorus motherboards have an ACPI conflict with the SMBus controller. Please add a kernel parameter to resolve this conflict.

USB Access

• USB devices require udev rules to access as a normal user.
• Alternatively you can run OpenRGB as root to detect all USB devices. (Not recommended)
• USB based Gigabyte AORUS motherboards may also have an ACPI conflict. Please add a kernel parameter to resolve this conflict.

Installing UDEV rules manually

• If you have installed OpenRGB from a package then latest UDEV rules are installed locally at /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/60-openrgb.rules
• Flatpak and Appimage "packages" will need to install this file manually.
• Udev rules are built from the source at compile time. When building locally they are installed with the make install step to /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/60-openrgb.rules
• If you need to install the UDEV rules file manually you can also download the latest compiled udev rules from Gitlab.
  • Copy this 60-openrgb.rules file to /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/
  • Then reload rules with sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger

Kernel Parameters

• To resolve an ACPI conflict add the acpi_enforce_resources=lax kernel parameter.

• If you want to check if the kernel was loaded with this option you can execute this command from the terminal once you've rebooted.

  • cat /proc/cmdline

  Arch

  • Please see the Arch wiki for details on how to update your bootloader.

  Debian / Ubuntu

  • Please see the Ubuntu Documentation for Kernel Parameters for more information on updating your boot parameters.

  Fedora

  • On Fedora, install grubby and then following command: grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="acpi_enforce_resources=lax"
  • For more information please refer to the Fedora docs for grubby.

  ---

MacOS

• Pre-built binaries in zipped application package format are available under the Releases section on GitLab.
• You can build the project using Qt Creator or on the command line.
  1. Install build dependencies with Homebrew
     • Install Homebrew by following the instructions at https://brew.sh/
     • brew install git qt5 hidapi libusb mbedtls@2
     • brew link qt5
  2. Create a local certificate called OpenRGB with code signing capability
  3. git clone https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGB
  4. cd OpenRGB
  5. qmake OpenRGB.pro
  6. make -j8
  7. macdeployqt OpenRGB.app -codesign=OpenRGB
  8. Copy the OpenRGB.app application package to Applications

SMBus Access

• For Intel devices using a controller in the I801 family you have to download and install the macUSPCIO driver

USB Access

• USB devices may require the Input Monitoring permission. You can add OpenRGB in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy.

Join Our Discord

• https://discord.gg/AQwjJPY

Visit Our Lemmy Community

• https://lemmy.ml/c/OpenRGB

How-Tos and FAQs

• Windows Setup and Usage
• Frequently Asked Questions

Support OpenRGB

• OpenRGB is a project I created to solve a problem I had with the RGB ecosystem. My goal isn't to make money off of this project. That said, people have requested to donate, and donations allow me to buy more RGB stuff to reverse engineer.
• Donate via PayPal
• Become a Patron (I'm not doing any Patreon-exclusive content, it's purely for donation)
• Donate via Bitcoin: 1N83YPu7btXYadPS1neB9zX7X1QTdpyZQ

History of OpenRGB

• OpenRGB is a continuation of OpenAuraSDK, which itself was created out of reverse engineering work done on the Keyboard Visualizer project. For a complete history of the RGB projects that led to OpenRGB's creation, see the History page.

Contributing

• Want to contribute support for a new device? Check out the RGBController API page for documentation of how OpenRGB implements device control.
• Want to create a new OpenRGB SDK client implementation? Check out the OpenRGB SDK Documentation page for documentation of how the OpenRGB SDK network protocol functions.
• Please read the Contributing Guidelines before starting work on your new changes.

OpenRGB SDK

• OpenRGB provides a network interface for controlling supported RGB devices from other software. These projects implement the OpenRGB SDK and provide additional ways for you to control your lighting setup.

  • OpenRGB Python Client (by bahorn): https://github.com/bahorn/OpenRGB-PyClient
  • OpenRGB Python Client (by jath03): https://github.com/jath03/openrgb-python
  • OpenRGB Node.js Client (by vlakreeh): https://github.com/vlakreeh/openrgb
  • D-Bus Connector for OpenRGB (by Vinno97): https://github.com/Vinno97/OpenRGB-DBus-Connector
  • OpenRGB.NET - C# OpenRGB Client (by diogotr7): https://github.com/diogotr7/OpenRGB.NET
  • OpenRGB-Client - Java Client (by morg): https://gitlab.com/mguimard/openrgb-client
  • OpenRGB-SDK - NodeJS client (by Mola19): https://www.npmjs.com/package/openrgb-sdk
  • OpenRGB-cppSDK - C++ client (by Youda008): https://github.com/Youda008/OpenRGB-cppSDK
  • openrgb-rs - Rust client (by nicoulaj): https://github.com/nicoulaj/openrgb-rs

Applications Supporting OpenRGB SDK

• While OpenRGB itself only provides control over the lighting effects built into hardware, several open source applications can use the OpenRGB SDK to provide synchronized lighting effects for your devices.

  • Keyboard Visualizer (by me): https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/KeyboardVisualizer
  • OpenRGB E1.31 Receiver (by me): https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGBE131Receiver
  • Project Aurora (support added by diogotr7): https://github.com/Aurora-RGB/Aurora
  • Artemis 2 (support added by diogotr7 as a plugin): https://github.com/Artemis-RGB/Artemis
  • RemoteLight (by Drumber, need OpenRGB plugin): https://github.com/Drumber/RemoteLight
  • OpenRGB-python-FX (by herosilas12): https://github.com/herosilas12/OpenRGB-python-FX
  • AllMyLights (by sparten11740): https://github.com/sparten11740/allmylights
  • OpenRGBRemote (by morg): https://gitlab.com/mguimard/openrgbremote

OpenRGB Plugins

• OpenRGB provides a plugin interface for adding features to the OpenRGB application. The following projects provide additional functionality in the form of plugins.

  • OpenRGB E1.31 Receiver Plugin (by me): https://gitlab.com/OpenRGBDevelopers/OpenRGBE131ReceiverPlugin
  • Effects Engine Plugin (by herosilas12, morg): https://gitlab.com/OpenRGBDevelopers/OpenRGBEffectsPlugin
  • OpenRGB Visual Map Plugin (by morg): https://gitlab.com/OpenRGBDevelopers/OpenRGBVisualMapPlugin
  • Scheduler Plugin (by morg): https://gitlab.com/OpenRGBDevelopers/OpenRGBSchedulerPlugin
  • Skin Plugin (by morg): https://gitlab.com/OpenRGBDevelopers/openrgbskinplugin
  • Hardware Sync Plugin (by morg): https://gitlab.com/OpenRGBDevelopers/OpenRGBHardwareSyncPlugin
  • Http Hook Plugin (by morg): https://gitlab.com/OpenRGBDevelopers/OpenRGBHttpHookPlugin
  • Razer extras Plugin (by morg): https://gitlab.com/OpenRGBDevelopers/OpenRGBRazerExtrasPlugin
  • Fan Hardware Sync Plugin (by Shady): https://gitlab.com/ShadyNawara/openrgbfansyncplugin
  • OpenRGB Ambient Plugin (by krojew): https://github.com/krojew/OpenRGB-Ambient

Projects Used

• WinRing0: https://openlibsys.org/
• libusb: https://github.com/libusb/libusb
• hidapi: https://github.com/libusb/hidapi
• libe131: https://github.com/hhromic/libe131
• NVFC: https://github.com/graphitemaster/NVFC
• Qt-Plus (ColorWheel): https://github.com/liuyanghejerry/Qt-Plus
• AMD ADL Libraries: https://github.com/GPUOpen-LibrariesAndSDKs/display-library
• hueplusplus: https://github.com/enwi/hueplusplus
• httplib: https://github.com/yhirose/cpp-httplib
• mdns: https://github.com/mjansson/mdns
• macUSPCIO: https://github.com/ShadyNawara/macUSPCIO

Projects Researched

While no code from these projects directly made its way into OpenRGB, these projects have been invaluable resources for protocol information.

• OpenRazer: https://github.com/openrazer/openrazer
• OpenRazer-Win32: https://github.com/CalcProgrammer1/openrazer-win32
• ckb-next: https://github.com/ckb-next/ckb-next
• linux_thermaltake_riing: https://github.com/chestm007/linux_thermaltake_riing
• Aura Addressable Header Controller: https://gitlab.com/cneil02/aura-addressable-header-controller
• OpenPyAURA: https://gitlab.com/thelastguardian/openpyaura
• AsrLed: https://github.com/EUA/AsrLed
• asrock-leds: https://github.com/RattyDAVE/asrock-leds
• hue-plus: https://github.com/kusti8/hue-plus
• rogauracore: https://github.com/wroberts/rogauracore
• msi-rgb: https://github.com/nagisa/msi-rgb
• OpenCorsairLink: https://github.com/audiohacked/OpenCorsairLink
• msi-keyboard: https://github.com/bparker06/msi-keyboard
• rivalcfg: https://github.com/flozz/rivalcfg
• VRMTool: https://github.com/rbrune/VRMtool
• g810-led: https://github.com/MatMoul/g810-led
• liquidctl: https://github.com/jonasmalacofilho/liquidctl
• Annemone: https://github.com/manualmanul/Annemone
• libcmmk: https://github.com/chmod222/libcmmk
• Signal RGB Plugins: https://gitlab.com/signalrgb/signal-plugins/-/tree/master/Plugins
• k550-macos https://github.com/vookimedlo/ck550-macos/tree/master