Cryo

The Alienware command center Dell never shipped for Linux. A root daemon + QML GUI + CLI built on the mainline alienware-wmi kernel driver — no acpi_call, no out-of-tree modules — that does things stock AWCC (and the Windows original) don't:

• Custom fan curves — temp→boost curves per fan group with hysteresis, driven through the kernel's custom platform profile.
• Thermal Guard — an emergency failsafe in any profile: trip temperatures force 100% fans, hold, then restore your previous state.
• Game detection — sustained dGPU load (NVML) flips the machine into G-Mode automatically, and restores your previous profile when you quit.
• Auto profiles — battery → quiet, AC → balanced, all configurable, fired on transitions only so manual picks stick.
• Live telemetry — CPU/GPU temps, fan RPM, dGPU load, sparkline history, in-window and in the tray tooltip.
• AlienFX lighting — 4-zone keyboard effects (protocol ported from AWCC), including a quantum cyan↔violet preset, restored on boot.

Developed on an Alienware m18 R2 (Pop!_OS); designed for the wider alienware-wmi ecosystem — the daemon probes what your machine supports at startup (profiles, G-Mode, fan boost, lighting, turbo control, NVML) and every client renders only what exists. See docs/COMPATIBILITY.md for the feature matrix and the tested-models table — reports welcome, working or not:

cryoctl doctor   # hardware/driver report, made for pasting into an issue

Architecture

┌──────────────┐   unix socket (JSON lines)   ┌─────────────────────┐
│ cryo-gui     │◄────────────────────────────►│ cryod (root,        │
│ (QML + tray) │      /run/cryo.sock          │  systemd service)   │
└──────────────┘                              │  · platform profile │
┌──────────────┐                              │  · hwmon fan boost  │
│ cryoctl (CLI)│◄────────────────────────────►│  · NVML game sense  │
└──────────────┘                              │  · AlienFX ELC USB  │
                                              └─────────────────────┘

Everything thermal goes through sysfs (alienware-wmi kernel driver): the per-handler node under /sys/class/platform-profile/ and the alienware_wmi hwmon (fan*_boost, fan*_input, temp*_input). Lighting talks to the AW-ELC USB controller (187c:0550/0551) directly.

Profile names are translated per machine from what the kernel advertises. On G-Mode-capable models:

Cryo/AWCC name	kernel platform_profile
performance	balanced-performance
gmode	performance
custom	custom (manual fans)

On models without G-Mode, kernel performance is AWCC Performance and Cryo labels it accordingly.

Install

git clone https://github.com/I4cTime/cryo.git && cd cryo
sudo packaging/install.sh   # venv sync + /etc/cryo + systemd unit + icons + .desktop

Requires: the alienware-wmi kernel driver (mainline), Python 3.12+, uv, and — for game detection — the NVIDIA proprietary driver.

Use

cryoctl status | watch
cryoctl profile gmode / cryoctl gmode
cryoctl boost cpu 60
cryoctl light quantum / cryoctl light static 00D1FF
cryoctl doctor
cryo-gui

Config lives at /etc/cryo/config.json (deep-merged over defaults in cryo/daemon/config.py) — fan curve points, guard thresholds, auto-rule targets, game detection thresholds, socket group.

Notes

• Lighting protocol ported from tr1xem/AWCC (GPL-3.0); this repo is GPL-3.0-or-later accordingly.
• Game detection needs the NVIDIA driver's NVML (present with the proprietary driver). Without it, Cryo degrades to manual + AC/battery rules only.
• Fan boost is not implemented by every model's firmware; when the startup probe finds it missing, curves and the Thermal Guard disable themselves visibly rather than failing silently.