steamosctl
SteamOS system and hardware management tool
TLDR
SYNOPSIS
steamosctl \<command\> [arguments]
DESCRIPTION
steamosctl is a command-line utility for managing SteamOS system hardware and software settings. It communicates with the steamos-manager daemon over D-Bus to control hardware features on devices running SteamOS, including the Steam Deck and other supported handhelds.The steamos-manager system consists of a user daemon on the session bus and a root daemon on the system bus for privileged operations. steamosctl provides command-line access to all exposed functionality including fan control, CPU and GPU tuning, TDP limits, Wi-Fi configuration, battery management, and firmware updates.
COMMANDS
get-fan-control-state / set-fan-control-state \<bios|os\>
Get or set the fan control mode.get-cpu-scaling-governor / set-cpu-scaling-governor \<governor\>
Get or set the CPU scaling governor.get-cpu-boost-state / set-cpu-boost-state \<enabled|disabled\>
Get or set CPU boost.get-gpu-performance-level / set-gpu-performance-level \<auto|low|high|manual|profilepeak\>_
Get or set GPU performance level.get-gpu-power-profile / set-gpu-power-profile \<profile\>
Get or set GPU power profile.get-manual-gpu-clock / set-manual-gpu-clock \<freq\>
Get or set manual GPU clock frequency in MHz.get-tdp-limit / set-tdp-limit \<watts\>
Get or set TDP limit.get-tdp-limit-min / get-tdp-limit-max
Get minimum or maximum allowed TDP values.get-performance-profile / set-performance-profile \<profile\>
Get or set performance profile.get-wifi-backend / set-wifi-backend \<iwd|wpasupplicant\>_
Get or set Wi-Fi backend.get-wifi-power-management-state / set-wifi-power-management-state \<enabled|disabled\>
Get or set Wi-Fi power management.get-hdmi-cec-state / set-hdmi-cec-state \<disabled|control-only|control-and-wake\>
Get or set HDMI-CEC state.get-max-charge-level / set-max-charge-level \<1-100|-1\>
Get or set max battery charge level. Use -1 for default.update-bios
Update the BIOS firmware.update-dock
Update dock firmware.trim-devices
Trim applicable storage drives.prepare-factory-reset \<user|os|all\>
Prepare a factory reset.reload-config
Reload configuration from disk.get-all-properties
Get all properties from the manager.get-device-model
Get the model and variant of the device.
CAVEATS
Only available on SteamOS. Requires the steamos-manager daemon to be running. Some operations like firmware updates and factory resets require elevated privileges through the system D-Bus daemon. The tool has no traditional man page; documentation lives in the source code.
HISTORY
steamosctl was developed by Valve with contributions from Collabora and Igalia as part of the steamos-manager project. Written in Rust, it was open-sourced in May 2025 coinciding with the SteamOS 3.7 release. The tool provides a standardized D-Bus interface enabling third-party handheld devices to support SteamOS hardware management features.
SEE ALSO
steamos-update(1), cpupower(1), powerprofilesctl(1)
