# polychromatic/polychromatic

RGB lighting management software for GNU/Linux. Powered by OpenRazer.

Repository: https://github.com/polychromatic/polychromatic
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/polychromatic
Homepage: https://polychromatic.app
Language: Python
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: razer, python, openrazer, rgb, pyqt6
Last push: 2026-08-18T20:39:15+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 89/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 72, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3762, "days_push": 15, "days_rel": 25, "gap_med": 110, "n_releases_24m": 8}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1236, forks 120 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:04.862454+00:00)

## What it is
Polychromatic is an open-source RGB lighting management front-end for Razer peripherals on GNU/Linux, built on top of the OpenRazer driver. It provides a graphical controller, tray applet, and CLI for configuring lighting effects, brightness, DPI, and other device properties.

## Use cases
- control razer keyboard rgb lighting on linux
- create custom animated lighting effects for my razer mouse
- change dpi and polling rate on razer devices without windows software
- switch rgb presets from the system tray while gaming
- troubleshoot openrazer not detecting my device
- sync lighting effects across multiple razer peripherals

## When to choose
- you run GNU/Linux and own Razer peripherals supported by OpenRazer
- you want a graphical alternative to Synapse without cloud accounts
- you need per-device control of effects, brightness, DPI, and firmware info
- you want a tray applet for quick lighting changes

## When to avoid
- you are on Windows or macOS - this is Linux-only
- your peripheral is not supported by OpenRazer
- you need lighting control for non-Razer brands (limited/roadmap only)
- you want headless-only control without any GUI

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: gui, configuration-management, developer-tools
- domain: hardware, desktop-applications, self-hosted
- platform: python
- tags: rgb-lighting, razer, openrazer, peripherals, pyqt6, tray-applet, linux, desktop

## Member repositories
- polychromatic/polychromatic (main) score 89

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:04.862454+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T08:22:00.246062+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/polychromatic/polychromatic (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:04.862454+00:00, sha 09547b81587b)
  - homepage: https://polychromatic.app (fetched 2026-08-29T12:21:36.050290+00:00, sha 6adf9a18f90a)
  - site_page: https://docs.polychromatic.app (fetched 2026-08-29T12:21:36.064308+00:00, sha ae354cbdcd34)
  - site_page: https://polychromatic.app/features (fetched 2026-08-29T12:21:36.066186+00:00, sha 21cebeb61f07)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.