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OpenRGB – An Open Source RGB Lighting Control App for Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

OpenRGB, formerly OpenAuraSDK, is a free open-source RGB lighting control that doesn’t depend on manufacturer software.

OpenRGB supports ASUS, ASRock, Corsair, G.Skill, Gigabyte, HyperX, MSI, Razer, ThermalTake, and more (See supported devices).

While every manufacturer has their own app, proprietary and Windows-only, some even require online accounts, OpenRGB aims to control all of your RGB devices from a single app, on both Windows and Linux.

OpenRGB features include:

  • 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
OpenRGB interacts directly with hardware using reverse engineered protocols. It’s said that there have been two instances of hardware damage in the software development. Use it at your own risk!

How to Get OpenRGB:

The source code, Windows binary, universal Linux Appimage package, and Deb package for Ubuntu / Debian are available to download at the gitlab releases page:

Download OpenRGB

For Ubuntu users, either grab the Appimage package and run to open the software (after adding executable permission), or,  download the Deb package (Debian Buster amd64 for 20.04 and earlier, Debian Bullseye amd64 for later) and click install via Gdebi (Gdebi is available in Ubuntu Software/App Center) package installer.

(Optional) To remove OpenRGB deb package, run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove openrgb
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    6 responses to OpenRGB – An Open Source RGB Lighting Control App for Linux

    1. Camo April 2, 2021 at 4:55 pm

      I tried this on my Windows 10 64bit install and it just closes after opening when I try to run it as admin. I have Gigabyte board. Big sad :(

    2. Neil June 10, 2021 at 10:09 am

      This is awesome. Works with my Asus motherboard and HyperX keyboard on Ubuntu 20.04. Never thought I’d see that!

    3. linux user June 30, 2021 at 2:40 am

      thank you for this

    4. jeremy August 31, 2021 at 3:16 pm

      Great App! For my Corsair RAM only sees and controls 1 stick :(