Asus Fans Controler EC

Control ASUS laptop fans through the embedded controller when the standard ACPI interface is missing. A bar widget shows live RPM and temperatures; a panel lets you switch between BIOS, manual, and curve control, sync or split fans, and hand control back to the BIOS.

Based on asus-fan-control-ec.

Plugin

Field	Value
ID	cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec
Entries	Bar widget: fan-control; panel: panel; service: service

Features

• Live fan RPM polling with CPU, board, and peak temperature readouts
• Three explicit control modes — only one active at a time:
  • BIOS (auto) — setp -1, no plugin writes
  • Manual — fixed duty with sliders (setp)
  • Curve — saved temperature curve applied every few seconds (curve --once)
• Synchronized or per-fan sliders in manual mode (--fan when desynced)
• Fan curve editor with graph, point selection, and persistent profile file
• IPC for scripting, keybinds, and automation
• Singleton service — widget and panel render shared fan_status state

Requirements

• Install asus-fan-control-ec on PATH (upstream, AUR: asus-fan-control-ec-git, or build from source)
• Root access for writes — configure a passwordless privilege wrapper (see Privileges)

Before trusting writes on a new machine, validate hardware support:

sudo asus-fan-control-ec fan-info

Only continue when the output ends with Result: VALIDATED against the MMIO aperture.

Tested hardware

Model	Reporter
Asus TUF Gaming A17	@Cleboost

This table only reflects community testing with this plugin — it is not an official compatibility guarantee from ASUS or the asus-fan-control-ec authors.

If you validate the plugin on your laptop (fan-info validates, reads and writes behave as expected), open a pull request to add your model to the table. Do not wait or ask for permission first — a short PR with your machine name and GitHub handle is enough.

Usage

Add the fan-control widget to a bar.

Action	Effect
Left click	Open/close the control panel
Right click	Refresh RPM and temperatures

Open the panel from the CLI:

noctalia msg panel-toggle cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:panel
noctalia msg settings-open-plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec

Control modes

Mode	What it does
BIOS	Embedded controller manages fans. Plugin reads RPM only.
Manual	Sliders set a fixed duty (0–100%). Sync applies one value to all fans; desync uses --fan per slider.
Curve	The saved curve file drives fan duty from temperature while this mode is active. Edits are applied on the next tick.

Use Release to BIOS in the panel (or set-mode bios) when you are done with manual or curve control.

Persisted data

The service stores two files under Noctalia's plugin data directory:

File	Contents
fan-curve.conf	Curve points (percent,temperature per line)
control-mode.txt	Last active mode (auto, manual, or curve)

Settings

Plugin

Setting	Type	Default	Description
poll_interval	int	2000	Fan polling interval in milliseconds (250–60000).
privilege_command	string	sudo -n	Prefix applied to every asus-fan-control-ec call.

Bar widget

Setting	Type	Default	Description
show_label	bool	false	Show Auto, Manual, Curve, or the current percent beside the glyph.

Privileges

The plugin calls asus-fan-control-ec on PATH with the configured privilege prefix. A typical sudoers rule uses the resolved binary path:

# /etc/sudoers.d/asus-fan-control-ec
youruser ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/asus-fan-control-ec

Set Privilege command to sudo -n (default) or pkexec if you prefer polkit prompts.

IPC

IPC is handled by the service entry (service.luau). Dispatch format:

noctalia msg plugin <plugin-id>:<entry> <target> <event> [payload]

For this plugin:

noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all <event> [payload]

• :service is required — onIpc lives only in the service entry.
• all addresses every plugin instance (use this from scripts and keybinds).
• [payload] is a single positional token (no spaces). Pass a number or mode name as one word.

Examples

# Refresh RPM and temperatures
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all refresh

# Control mode
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all set-mode bios
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all set-mode manual
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all set-mode curve
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all switch

# Fan speed (enters manual mode automatically if needed)
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all set_speed 65
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all increment
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all decrement
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all increment 10
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all decrement 10

# Query snapshots (see "Query commands" below)
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all get-temp
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all get-fans refresh

Event reference

Event	Payload	Action
refresh	—	Re-read fan RPM; also refreshes PWM info and temperatures.
set-mode, set_mode	bios, manual, curve	Set control mode. auto is accepted as an alias for bios.
switch	—	Cycle modes: bios → manual → curve → bios.
set_speed, set_percent	0–100	Set fan duty for all fans (setp).
increment, speed_up	optional step (default 5)	Increase duty by step, clamped to 100.
decrement, speed_down	optional step (default 5)	Decrease duty by step, clamped to 0.
get-temp, get_temp	optional refresh	Publish temperature snapshot (see below).
get-fans, get_fans	optional refresh	Publish fan snapshot (see below).

Speed commands always target all fans. They switch to manual mode first when the plugin is in BIOS or curve mode.

Query commands (get-temp, get-fans)

Plugin IPC is fire-and-forget: noctalia msg plugin … always answers ok: dispatched N and does not print the query result on stdout. These events instead:

1. Update shared state keys fan_ipc_temp and fan_ipc_fans
2. Write JSON files in the plugin data directory:
   • get-temp.json
   • get-fans.json
3. Log the same JSON line through the plugin print() output

Use the cached values from the last poll by default. Pass refresh to re-read hardware before publishing:

noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all get-temp
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all get-fans refresh

Example get-temp.json:

{
  "available": true,
  "cpu": 84,
  "board": 68,
  "max": 84
}

Example get-fans.json:

{
  "available": true,
  "controlMode": "manual",
  "synced": true,
  "busy": false,
  "fanCount": 2,
  "fans": [
    { "index": 0, "rpm": 5324, "percent": 65 },
    { "index": 1, "rpm": 5827, "percent": 65 }
  ]
}

Read the files from a script after dispatching the IPC event (the write is immediate for cached data, or completes after the optional refresh):

noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all get-temp refresh
cat "$(find ~/.local/share/noctalia -path '*/cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec/get-temp.json' 2>/dev/null | head -1)"

Keybind example (Hyprland)

bind = , XF86Launch6, exec, noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all increment
bind = , XF86Launch7, exec, noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all decrement
bind = , XF86Launch8, exec, noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all switch
bind = , XF86Launch9, exec, noctalia msg plugin cleboost/asus-fans-controller-ec:service all set-mode bios

Notes

• This plugin writes to undocumented embedded-controller registers through asus-fan-control-ec. Use it only on supported hardware.
• Setting 0% can stop the fans entirely. The safe way back to automatic cooling is Release to BIOS / set-mode bios (setp -1).
• Per-fan writes (--fan) still put the EC into global manual mode — check both fans after changing only one.
• Temperature mapping: fan 1 is linked to CPU temp, fan 2 to board temp in the panel readout. The curve itself is temperature-driven via asus-fan-control-ec curve.
• The shared fan_command / fan_status state keys are also available to other plugin entries if you extend this plugin locally. Query IPC also publishes fan_ipc_temp and fan_ipc_fans.

Development

File	Role
service.luau	Hardware backend, curve persistence, IPC (onIpc)
widget.luau	Bar widget
panel.luau	Control panel (modes, sliders, curve editor)
translations/	User-facing strings

Disclaimer

This plugin is provided as is, without warranty of any kind. By using it, you accept full responsibility for how your machine is cooled.

Manual control and aggressive fan curves can keep laptop fans at high duty (including 100%) for extended periods. That may increase wear, noise, and power draw, and on some hardware it could contribute to premature fan or bearing failure. Running fans at 0% can also cause overheating.

The author and contributors are not liable for any hardware damage, data loss, instability, or reduced component lifespan resulting from use of this plugin or asus-fan-control-ec. When you are done, return control to the BIOS (set-mode bios or Release to BIOS in the panel).

License

MIT.