Polylux

Open-source replacement for ASUS Armoury Crate.
Drives ROG hardware without 700 MB of bloat.

Download • Changelog • Architecture docs • Support

Claude's project. v0.5 ships an end-to-end installer + Windows service + tray app. Daily-driveable on a ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme. If it saves you 700 MB of RAM and your sanity, tip Vlad — he runs the test rig.

A lightweight, native Windows app that drives ROG hardware — AniMe Matrix, motherboard LiveDash OLED, Ryujin AIO LCD, Aura RGB, fan PWM — without 700 MB of telemetry, auto-updaters, and background services.

Before: Armoury Crate + AsusCertService + Aac3572MbHal + ArmouryCrateService
        + Aura Service + LiveUpdate + LightingService          ≈ 700 MB RAM
After:  Polylux.exe + PolyluxSensorDaemon.exe                  ≈ 230 MB RAM

Screenshots

Tabbed UI, live previews, fan PWM control with radial gauges.
(Screenshots coming with the next push — the live app is what ships in v0.5.)

Status

v0.5 — installer ships, daily-driveable.

What's running end-to-end on a ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme:

• AniMe Matrix — clock (3 bitmap fonts: Bold 7 / Slim 7 / Mini 5), scrolling text marquee (Arial Bold uppercase, font picker), static image / animated GIF (auto-scrolls when bigger than the panel), rotation 0/90/180/270, brightness, live preview that matches the physical panel.
• LiveDash OLED — hardware monitor (CPU/GPU temp/load, fan RPM, memory) with single or rotating metric modes, custom text mode with horizontal scroll for long values, factory-preset GIF mode.
• Aura RGB — every OpenRGB mode exposed as a scene (Static, Breathing, Spectrum Cycle, Rainbow, etc.), HSV colour picker, motherboard-only by default with explicit opt-in for keyboard / mouse / RAM.
• Ryujin LCD — firmware-driven hardware monitor.
• Fan PWM control — tools/PolyluxSensorDaemon/ (C# / .NET 8 Windows service) wraps LibreHardwareMonitorLib.IControl, exposes HTTP POST /control/fan/<id> so any client can set PWM 0-100% on any Super-IO fan header. Polylux UI presets: AUTO / OFF / SILENT (30%) / MEDIUM (60%) / FULL (100%) / CURVE (4 anchor points, linear interp against a temperature source). Auto- calibration on first run measures each fan's max RPM so the radial gauges scale correctly.
• Dashboard — radial gauges (CPU + GPU temp), fan RPM cards, memory bar, per-device status row.
• Tray app with auto-launch on install, auto-start at logon, proper close-to-tray.

What's tested:

• ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme (motherboard with AniMe Matrix + LiveDash OLED + 7 PWM fan headers via Nuvoton NCT6798D)
• Aura RGB on the motherboard controller
• 73 Python unit tests green

What's not tested yet:

• Ryujin II 360 custom image upload (protocol decoded but unverified)
• Other ASUS motherboard models (only Z690 Extreme captures exist)
• OLED brightness control + per-preset GIF selection (USBPcap research ongoing — see docs/PROJECT_STATE.md §15.9)

Install

One-liner (PowerShell, downloads + runs the latest installer):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vladulus/polylux/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Or manual: download Polylux-Setup-<version>.exe from Releases and run it. One UAC prompt for the whole install — never again afterwards.

What the installer does:

1. Uninstalls any prior Polylux cleanly (so every install produces a pristine %PROGRAMFILES%\Polylux\ tree).
2. (Optional task, default on) Disables the Armoury Crate service stack (ArmouryCrateService, AsusCertService, AsusFanControlService, LightingService, etc.). Fully reversible — re-enable from services.msc.
3. Installs PolyluxSensorDaemon as a Windows service running as LocalSystem, auto-starting at boot. Zero further UAC prompts.
4. (Optional task, default on) Registers Polylux to auto-start in your tray at logon via HKCU\…\Run.
5. Adds a Start Menu + Desktop shortcut.
6. Launches Polylux immediately in the tray so you don't have to reboot to start using it.

Build from source (developers):

git clone https://github.com/vladulus/polylux.git
cd polylux
python -m venv .venv && .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m polylux.service                 # dev mode, no installer
# OR
.venv\Scripts\pyinstaller installer\polylux.spec --noconfirm
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Inno Setup 6\ISCC.exe" installer\Polylux.iss
# -> installer\Output\Polylux-Setup-<version>.exe

Architecture

Two cooperating processes:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   Polylux.exe   (PyQt6 tray app, user-mode)        │
│   ─────────────                                    │
│   - matrix/oled/aura/ryujin/fans drivers           │
│   - tabbed UI (Dashboard / per-device / Settings)  │
│   - reads sensors via HTTP from the daemon         │
│   - writes hardware via libusb / OpenRGB SDK       │
└──────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘
                       │ HTTP localhost:8085
                       ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   PolyluxSensorDaemon.exe   (Windows service)      │
│   ──────────────────────────                       │
│   - wraps LibreHardwareMonitorLib                  │
│   - GET /data.json  → sensors (LHM-compat tree)    │
│   - POST /control/fan/<id>  → IControl write       │
│   - runs as LocalSystem (ring-0 access for         │
│     SuperIO fan control without UAC at runtime)    │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Plugin-based core. Each device family is a separate driver module:

• polylux/drivers/anime_matrix/ — AniMe Matrix USB direct, bitmap clock fonts, image renderer
• polylux/drivers/livedash_oled/ — OLED hardware monitor scenes
• polylux/drivers/ryujin_lcd/ — Ryujin II/III LCD (320×240)
• polylux/drivers/aura_rgb/ — Aura RGB (delegates to OpenRGB SDK)
• polylux/sensors/ — LHM-tree parser + fan-control HTTP client
• polylux/service/ — main entry point, signal handling, runner threads, ASUS-stack neutralisation
• polylux/ui/ — PyQt6 frontend (tabbed window + system tray)
• tools/PolyluxSensorDaemon/ — the .NET 8 sensor daemon source
• installer/ — PyInstaller spec + Inno Setup script

Documentation:

• docs/PROJECT_STATE.md — full architectural log, protocol decode notes, every shipped milestone (§1 → §19).
• docs/NEXT_SESSION.md — pickup file for the next dev session.

Status of the broader ASUS ecosystem

Polylux is a clean-room reverse engineering effort. Where ASUS ships a driver / SDK we use it (OpenRGB, LHM). Where they don't, the USB protocols were decoded from USBPcap captures of the AC stack.

The decoded protocols live in docs/PROJECT_STATE.md §6, §8, §9. Pull requests to extend Polylux to other ROG motherboards are welcome — typically all you need is a USBPcap capture of the manufacturer software controlling the new hardware, plus a willingness to send single-frame test commands to find the chip's command opcodes.

Support

If Polylux saved you the headache of running AC:

• Revolut: revolut.me/vladrev76 (UK / EU, zero fees, instant). Vlad runs the Z690 Extreme test rig and burns the test cycles.
• Star the repo — it costs you nothing and helps people find the project.
• Report breakage with polylux.crash.log (in %APPDATA%\Polylux\) and we'll get to it.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.