thinkfan-cli

A minimalist, fast, and terminal-native fan control tool for ThinkPads. Directly interacts with /proc/acpi/ibm/fan for setting fan levels, no dependency on thinkfan.

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Features

• Set manual fan levels instantly
• Reads and writes directly to IBM ACPI fan interface
• No daemons or background services required
• Reading fan status instantly

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Installation

IMPORTANT!!!

Please enable thinkpad acpi module to make thinkfan-cli work properly

sudo modprobe thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1

For libreboot/coreboot devices:

sudo modprobe thinkpad_acpi force_load=1 fan_control=1

Arch Linux (via AUR)

yay -S thinkfan-cli

Manual

git clone https://github.com/rahmedi/thinkfan-cli.git
cd thinkfan-cli
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/thinkfan-cli /usr/bin/

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Usage

sudo thinkfan-cli -h            # Help message
sudo thinkfan-cli -s auto       # Switch to Auto controlled fan mode
sudo thinkfan-cli -s 3          # Set fan to level 3 manually (0–7)

Note: Requires root privileges to write to /proc/acpi/ibm/fan.

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Feedbacks

Open an issue or suggest a feature. Tested on T480 | X220 | R61i - reports for other models welcome.

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Author

Maintained by rahmed Licensed under the GPL v3 License.