RK-Enhanced

RK-Enhanced — ROCKNIX Kontrol Enhanced is a Decky Loader plugin providing performance controls, automatic per-game presets, fan-curve management, RGB lighting controls, and live hardware monitoring for ROCKNIX-based ARM handhelds.

RK-Enhanced is built on the foundation established by Seilent's original ROCKNIX Control. Its ROCKNIX integration and Decky control concepts made this project possible.

Detailed changes for each published build are recorded in CHANGELOG.md.

The project later evolved through Rocknix-Control-Enhanced, with additional interface concepts and improvements inspired by NDC-Enhanced.

ROCKNIX and NovaDeck expose different services, settings, and hardware interfaces. RK-Enhanced therefore uses a ROCKNIX-specific backend rather than directly copying NDC-Enhanced.

Warning

RK-Enhanced is beta software. Hardware controls affect the running system, and support can vary between devices and ROCKNIX builds. Keep a recovery path available and expect unfinished areas.

What RK-Enhanced does

Live monitoring

The Monitor tab provides an at-a-glance view of:

• Stable battery policy, level, and time-estimate rows
• Compact battery flow shown as watts in, watts out, or zero
• CPU and GPU load
• Representative CPU temperature
• CPU hotspot temperature
• GPU temperature
• Fan speed
• Used memory
• Live CPU cluster clocks
• GPU clock and governor
• CPU scheduler
• CPU queue status
• Active thermal limits

Temperature and load indicators use severity-based colours so unusual conditions can be recognised quickly.

Battery estimates use smoothed measurements where kernel-provided values are unreliable. Longer estimates are shortened to forms such as 10h+ to preserve the Quick Access Menu layout.

Performance controls

Performance settings can be stored independently in every preset:

• CPU governor
• Minimum and maximum frequency for each CPU cluster
• Device-discovered CPU boost ceilings when ROCKNIX turbo mode is enabled
• GPU governor
• GPU maximum frequency
• Kernel or supported sched_ext scheduler

Save & Apply controls are available at convenient points throughout the Performance tab.

Boost clocks are discovered independently for every CPU policy. They are valid maximum limits, never minimum choices, and are labelled Boost in the UI. An adaptive governor such as schedutil treats the selected value as an upper limit and requests boost only when needed. The performance governor may hold an allowed boost clock continuously, so RK-Enhanced displays a red warning for that combination.

Fan curves

Every RK-E preset contains an independent, editable fan curve.

RK-Enhanced does not run a competing fan-control loop. ROCKNIX's native fancontrol.service continues to control the hardware.

When ROCKNIX cooling is already set to Custom, RK-Enhanced:

1. Protects the system ROCKNIX Custom curve.
2. Writes the active RK-E preset curve to fancontrol.conf.
3. Reloads native fancontrol.
4. Restores the protected curve when Steam exits or Decky stops unexpectedly.

RK-Enhanced never changes the active ROCKNIX cooling-profile selection.

For RK-E fan curves to operate, configure either:

• ROCKNIX Settings → Cooling Profile → Custom, or
• Per-System Advanced Configuration → Steam → Cooling Profile → Custom

Steam's Default option also works when the System cooling profile is Custom.

When another cooling profile is active, the Fan Curves tab displays a red warning and disables its Save & Apply controls. Performance settings remain available.

ROCKNIX Custom curve

ROCKNIX provides one native Custom curve through:

/storage/.config/fancontrol.conf

RK-Enhanced adds a graphical editor for this curve under:

Utils → Edit ROCKNIX Custom fan curve

If fancontrol.conf does not exist, Utils can create it with a safe initial curve. The file can then be inspected and modified graphically through RK-Enhanced; a terminal or external file manager is not required.

Curve configuration and curve activation are deliberately separate. RK-Enhanced provides the graphical configuration, while the active cooling profile is selected through ROCKNIX Settings or Steam's Per-System Advanced Configuration.

During first setup, the ROCKNIX Custom curve is copied into RK-E Default. After that initial copy, both curves are completely independent:

• ROCKNIX Custom is the protected system curve.
• RK-E Default is the standard Steam preset.
• Additional presets each contain their own fan curve.

Editing ROCKNIX Custom does not silently overwrite RK-E Default or other presets.

RGB control

On compatible devices, the RGB tab provides graphical control of ROCKNIX's native stick-ring lighting. Support is discovered from the running system, not from a device-name list, and the tab is omitted when the required native interfaces are absent.

The native LED Color modes remain:

• Off
• Battery
• RGB

ROCKNIX ledcontrol remains the authority for that mode selection. RK-Enhanced does not replace it, take background ownership of the LEDs, or restore an older mode when the plugin unloads.

On the Pocket FIT Elite, Battery is ROCKNIX's software battery indication on the stick rings. The device's separate charging LED remains firmware-controlled.

Where the running kernel exposes the known stick-ring effect interface, RK-Enhanced also offers:

• Static
• Breath
• Rainbow

Both stick rings are one shared lighting zone on the currently supported interface. Static mode persists through ROCKNIX's native analogsticks.led setting. RK-Enhanced stores the chosen source colour, brightness, optional colour correction, and animated effect so the draft remains coherent across modes. It may reapply a saved animation at startup only while the native LED Color mode is still RGB. It never silently switches another native mode to RGB.

Colour correction is off by default and applies only to Static and Breath. When enabled for a colour containing red, the red channel is unchanged while green and blue are scaled to 80%. Rainbow is always passed through unchanged.

Presets and automatic game switching

The preset system contains:

• RK-E Default
• Additional named presets

A new preset copies the complete currently selected preset, including:

• CPU configuration
• GPU configuration
• Scheduler
• Fan curve

Any preset can be selected as the Steam default.

While a game is running, the Presets tab provides a dedicated Game preset dropdown. Selecting an entry assigns and immediately applies that preset.

A lightweight backend watcher monitors Steam independently of the Decky panel:

Steam idle
    ↓
RK-E Default or selected Steam default
    ↓
Game starts
    ↓
Assigned game preset
    ↓
Game exits
    ↓
Steam default restored

The watcher reads the small Steam systemd process scope, avoids global process scanning, and debounces launch and exit transitions. Preset switching therefore continues while the RK-Enhanced panel is closed.

Utilities

The Utils tab contains:

• Current device IPv4 address and network interface
• The matching PC-side command for removing a stale SSH host-key record
• Runtime logs
• ROCKNIX Custom fan-curve editor
• Installed and latest release discovery
• Update to the latest published release
• Reinstall the current release
• Downgrade to the previous published release
• Hidden experimental controls

Release discovery includes GitHub pre-releases.

Updates are installed by a detached updater that:

1. Downloads and validates the selected release.
2. Creates a rollback copy.
3. Replaces the plugin.
4. Reloads Decky.
5. Leaves Steam and running games untouched.

Downgrading preserves the safer current updater so reinstalling a newer release cannot restore obsolete Steam lifecycle behaviour.

Downgrades are intended for recovery only. Releases predating the public charging-helper boundary may directly write, capture, or restore charging state. Before downgrading, use the current Experimental tab to select Battery policy Normal and Pump profile Qcom Normal, confirm both fresh statuses, then hide the experimental controls. Reboot immediately after the downgrade before using charging controls. Preserving the current updater makes it possible to return to a newer release, but does not make an older plugin's charging behaviour safe.

Experimental charging controls

Charging controls are currently hidden behind the experimental unlock in Utils. They are intended only for compatible devices whose ROCKNIX build provides the canonical native charging helpers and required runtime capabilities. Unlocking the Experimental tab does not add charging support to incompatible hardware. On supported KPFE builds, the tab provides two independent control families:

• Battery policy: Normal, Bypass, or Limit 50–100%
• Pump profile: Qcom Normal, Slow 25 W, or Fast 36 W

Limit 100% stops charging at 100% and resumes at 95%. The five-point gap is intentional hysteresis, preventing repeated stop/start cycling at the endpoint.

RK-Enhanced never writes charging sysfs controls directly. Battery policy is owned exclusively through /usr/bin/charging_mode, and the dual-pump profile is owned exclusively through /usr/bin/kpfe_fast_charge. Slow and Fast require a new risk confirmation for every enable request.

On newer compatible helpers, Experimental Status also reports USB input power from the optional atomic status fields returned by /usr/bin/kpfe_fast_charge status. Qualcomm and dual-pump measurements are shown as wattage only; Offline and Transitioning are shown without a fabricated zero. Missing, malformed, stale, unavailable, or incoherent telemetry shows Unavailable or Stale and never retains an earlier wattage. This is charging-path input power, distinct from Monitor's battery-derived Battery charge power. RK-Enhanced does not probe USB or pump sysfs as a fallback.

The same serialized status refresh reads the generic /sys/class/power_supply/battery/temp attribute once and shows Battery temperature in degrees Celsius. Missing or malformed samples show Unavailable. Temperature colours are green below 35°C, yellow from 35°C, orange from 45°C, and red from 50°C; sub-zero readings are also red. These conservative bands are informational and do not replace the helper or coordinator safety limits.

Experimental Status uses semantic colours for quick recognition: healthy or active states are green, inactive states are blue, transitions and unknown states are yellow or orange, and errors are red. Battery charging reports whether charging is Allowed or Paused; it does not claim that current is flowing.

The Limit 100 hysteresis explanation is shown only while Limit 100 is selected. Both selectors remain locked until a current, coherent status refresh succeeds. Either selector is disabled when either helper status is invalid, stale, or transitional. Hiding the tab, unloading RK-Enhanced, or crashing Decky does not issue a charging command or restore an earlier charging mode; the canonical ROCKNIX helpers and coordinator own that lifecycle.

Bypass behaviour still depends on the device and power supply. Sufficient power may hold the battery level, while a weaker source can allow partial discharge or continued slow charging.

Hardware support

Development and live testing currently focus on Qualcomm-based ROCKNIX handhelds, including:

• Snapdragon SM8650
• Snapdragon SM8750

RK-Enhanced discovers CPU policies, GPU interfaces, thermal zones, fan controls, RGB lighting, and battery features at runtime. Controls unavailable on a device should be omitted or reported as unavailable.

Broader hardware validation is still required.

GPU monitoring

On Qualcomm/Adreno devices exposing KGSL, RK-Enhanced reads:

/sys/class/kgsl/kgsl-3d0/gpu_busy_percentage

This provides system-wide GPU activity and closely follows the value used by MangoApp.

When KGSL activity is unavailable, RK-Enhanced can fall back to DRM client engine accounting associated with the active Steam application or gamescope. Process and file-descriptor discovery is cached to avoid expensive repeated scans.

Temperature monitoring

Thermal-zone discovery is designed to work across different Qualcomm layouts.

Current representation:

• CPU temperature: average of available CPU package sensors
• CPU hotspot: hottest valid CPU or CPU-package sensor
• GPU temperature: primary GPU package sensor, with a fallback to the hottest GPU sensor

Colour thresholds:

• Green: below 50°C
• Yellow: 50–69°C
• Orange: 70–84°C
• Red: 85°C and above

The representative CPU value is intended to describe overall package conditions, while CPU hotspot highlights the hottest observed area.

Design challenges

ROCKNIX has one Custom fan slot

ROCKNIX always reads the same fancontrol.conf file. Multiple RK-E curves therefore require controlled temporary replacement rather than separate native fan slots. The restoration guard exists to keep this process recoverable.

ROCKNIX cooling overrides are global

An explicit Steam cooling override can be copied into the global ROCKNIX setting. After Steam exits, ROCKNIX may leave that value active instead of restoring the earlier System profile.

For example:

System: Quiet
Steam: Aggressive

may leave the System profile at Aggressive afterward. RK-Enhanced deliberately does not alter or restore ROCKNIX profile selections.

Decky runs through FEX

On the tested ARM ROCKNIX environment, Decky and plugin workers run through FEX. This introduces several complications:

• System tools can inherit incompatible private libraries.
• Graceful PluginLoader shutdown can occasionally hang.
• Old child processes may survive a failed restart.
• Frontend bundles must be classic scripts rather than ES modules.

RK-Enhanced sanitises child-process library variables and emits its frontend as an IIFE bundle to remain compatible with this environment.

Hardware interfaces vary

Thermal names, CPU clusters, GPU drivers, battery controls, fan paths, and writable sysfs entries can differ between devices and ROCKNIX versions. Runtime discovery reduces hard-coded assumptions, but cannot replace testing across real hardware.

Monitoring must remain lightweight

Telemetry polling can itself affect performance if implemented carelessly. RK-Enhanced caches expensive discovery, avoids duplicate pollers, starts Monitor polling only while Quick Access is open on the Monitor tab, and serializes those requests. Experimental status polling likewise stops when its tab or Quick Access is hidden. Each response is bound to the current Monitor activation and charging revision, so late results are discarded after a panel close, tab change, or status failure.

RGB does not add a polling loop. Its current state is read on visible tab activation and after an explicit change; it performs no recurring read or write.

The automatic game watcher reads only Steam's small process cgroup rather than repeatedly scanning the whole system.

Runtime restoration

Before the first preset is applied in a Steam session, RK-Enhanced captures the native CPU, GPU, and scheduler state. It records only controls RKE actually changes and restores their native values when Steam exits, the plugin unloads, or Decky/plugin workers terminate unexpectedly.

Restoration is ownership-aware: a value is restored only while it still equals the last value written by RK-Enhanced. If ROCKNIX or another tool changes that control afterward, RK-Enhanced leaves the newer value intact. Runtime values are not carried across a reboot; the protected persistent ROCKNIX Custom fan curve is still recovered when necessary.

Current limitations

• Hardware coverage remains limited.
• Qualcomm KGSL and MSM DRM receive the strongest GPU-monitoring support.
• Thermal sensor naming may require additional device-specific handling.
• Utils can create /storage/.config/fancontrol.conf when it is missing and graphically edit the ROCKNIX Custom curve afterward. Activation still occurs through ROCKNIX or Steam cooling-profile settings.
• Native ROCKNIX profile overrides may remain active after Steam exits.
• Crash recovery and ownership-aware restoration need broader long-duration testing across devices.
• Touch, controller navigation, and compact-screen layouts still need refinement.
• Experimental charging controls are compatible-device-only and are not ready for general exposure.
• RGB controls are hidden unless the required native mode interface is present; animated effects additionally require the known stick-ring effect interface.
• Preset import, export, and sharing are not yet available.
• TDP control is not currently implemented.

Roadmap

Beta stabilisation

• Stress-test launch, exit, crash, sleep, resume, and reboot transitions
• Validate restoration after forced PluginLoader termination
• Expand SM8650 and SM8750 device testing
• Improve detection of unsupported and partially supported controls
• Add clearer diagnostics when sysfs writes fail
• Refine controller and touch navigation
• Reduce remaining layout inconsistencies
• Review every preset migration path

Hardware expansion

• Add more Qualcomm GPU layouts
• Improve non-KGSL GPU monitoring
• Build a reusable device-capability registry
• Validate additional battery and charging interfaces
• Improve thermal-zone classification
• Investigate safe power and TDP controls where hardware support exists

Preset improvements

• Import and export presets
• Duplicate presets explicitly
• Display the effective preset and reason for selection
• Add assignment summaries
• Add optional preset reset points
• Improve conflict handling when settings change outside RK-Enhanced

Diagnostics and recovery

• Export a compact diagnostic report
• Include device, ROCKNIX build, sensor discovery, and recent logs
• Add restoration self-tests
• Detect stale configuration sessions at boot
• Improve recovery guidance when Decky or Steam becomes unavailable

Longer-term direction

• Broader ARM handheld support
• More device-specific safeguards
• Optional performance recommendations based on detected capabilities
• Stable preset schema with backward-compatible migrations
• A polished 1.0 release after sufficient hardware coverage and recovery testing

Installation

Run the installer as root on the ROCKNIX device:

curl -fL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mrdidit/RK-Enhanced/main/install.sh | sh

The installer retrieves the latest published RK-Enhanced release, including pre-releases, and installs Decky Loader when required. Review install.sh before piping it into a shell.

Manual layout:

/storage/homebrew/plugins/RK-Enhanced/
├── dist/index.js
├── charging.py
├── main.py
├── rgb.py
├── runtime-restore.py
├── runtime-restore-guard.sh
├── updater.sh
└── plugin.json

Development

Requirements:

• Node.js
• pnpm
• Python 3

Validation and build:

pnpm install
python3 -m py_compile main.py charging.py rgb.py runtime-restore.py
python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -v
pnpm typecheck
pnpm build

The frontend is emitted as an IIFE because the tested Decky/FEX environment evaluates plugin bundles as classic scripts. An ESM bundle fails with:

Unexpected token: export

Reporting problems

Useful reports include:

• Device model and SoC
• ROCKNIX build
• RK-Enhanced version
• Exact reproduction steps
• Expected and observed behaviour
• Relevant output from Utils → Logs

Origins and acknowledgements

RK-Enhanced would not exist without Seilent's original ROCKNIX Control.

That project established the core idea of bringing ROCKNIX hardware controls into Decky's Quick Access Menu and provided the foundation from which Rocknix-Control-Enhanced and RK-Enhanced developed.

Further development draws from:

• ROCKNIX Control by Seilent — the original foundation
• Rocknix-Control-Enhanced — the earlier enhanced fork
• NDC-Enhanced — interface and workflow inspiration
• The ROCKNIX project and its device-specific services, quirks, and hardware support

RK-Enhanced continues that work with deep respect for the projects and contributors that made it possible.

Development collaboration

RK-Enhanced is developed through hands-on hardware testing, direct ROCKNIX inspection, and iterative coding collaboration with Codex.

Development has used GPT-5.6 Sol, with reasoning effort scaled from Light through Ultra according to task complexity. Hardware behaviour and final decisions are validated against real devices rather than accepted from generated output alone.

License

MIT

Screenshots

Utils

Presets

Fan curves and live fan output

Fan-curve editor

GPU performance controls

CPU performance controls

Monitor clocks and runtime

Live performance monitor