docs.coolercontrol.org

Start with the section that matches what you are trying to do: new users should open Getting Started, server operators should go to Running a server?, and developers should use Building something?. If you are unsure whether your devices will work at all, check Is my hardware supported? before installing anything. The documentation home page is organized around exactly these entry points, so you can pick one without reading the whole site.

Choose your path

If you are a new user

The home page describes the intended first-run flow in three steps: install for your distribution, check that your hardware is detected, and let the Auto-Create wizard build a working setup. Follow them in that order — the wizard depends on detected hardware, so verifying detection first avoids configuring devices that are not visible.

A practical check after each step:

1. Install — complete the instructions for your distribution, then confirm the application starts.
2. Detect — verify your fans, pumps, and temperature sensors appear. If something is missing, switch to the hardware support section before continuing.
3. Auto-Create — run the wizard and confirm it produces a setup; then adjust from there.

Common sticking point: skipping the detection check and going straight to the wizard, which can leave you with a partial configuration.

If your hardware may not be supported

Use the Is my hardware supported? section first. It is the fastest way to avoid spending time on installation when a device will not be recognized. If your hardware is listed, continue to Getting Started; if not, you know early where the limit is.

If you run a server

Go directly to Running a server?. This is a separate entry point from the desktop getting-started flow, so server operators do not need to work through the new-user path first.

If you build or develop

Use Building something? for build and development material. This is the right starting point for anyone working with the project beyond normal use.

The short version

Open the documentation home page and pick the heading that matches your goal — new user, hardware check, cooling setup, server, or building. New users should follow install → detect → Auto-Create in that order, because each step depends on the previous one.

CoolerControl is a cooling control application for managing fans and cooling on your system, documented at docs.coolercontrol.org. Its stated purpose is to let you "take control of your cooling," and it includes an Auto-Create wizard that builds a working setup for you. It is aimed at people who want to manage fans and cooling rather than rely on default behavior. Before installing, confirm your hardware is supported and that your distribution is covered by the installation documentation.

What the documentation covers

The docs are organized around the tasks you need to complete, from first install to advanced use:

• Installation — install for your distribution.
• Hardware detection — check that your hardware is detected before configuring anything.
• Cooling setup — use the Auto-Create wizard to build a working configuration.
• Server use — guidance for running CoolerControl as a server.
• Building/extending — material for people building something on top of it.

Who it is for

CoolerControl fits two broad groups:

1. New users who want a working cooling setup without hand-tuning every fan curve. The documented path is: install, verify hardware detection, then let Auto-Create produce a baseline.
2. Server operators and builders who need to run cooling control as a service or extend the project.

If you only need to confirm whether your fans and sensors are recognized, start with the hardware detection step — it determines whether the rest of the setup is possible.

How to get started

The documentation's own "New here?" path is the shortest route:

1. Install the package for your distribution.
2. Check that your hardware is detected.
3. Run the Auto-Create wizard to build a working setup.

Expected result: a functioning cooling configuration you can then adjust. Common blocker: hardware that is not detected — resolve that before attempting the wizard, since Auto-Create depends on detected devices.

When to look elsewhere

CoolerControl is a cooling management tool, not a general system monitoring suite. If your goal is only to read temperatures occasionally, or your hardware is not detected after installation, the documentation's hardware support section is the place to check before investing time in configuration.

To set up cooling in CoolerControl, start with the Auto-Create wizard: install the package for your Linux distribution, confirm your hardware is detected, and let the wizard build a working baseline configuration. From there, adjust fan and cooling settings to match your preferences and verify the result. The documentation's "Setting up cooling?" section is the entry point for this workflow.

Before You Start

The setup path assumes three things:

• CoolerControl is installed for your distribution. The "New here?" section of the docs links installation instructions per distribution.
• Your hardware is detected. The docs include an "Is my hardware supported?" check — confirm your fans, pumps, or AIO are visible before configuring anything.
• You have the privileges to change cooling settings. Fan and pump control typically requires elevated access; the docs cover this in the setup material.

If hardware isn't detected, configuration steps won't help — resolve detection first.

Step 1: Build a Baseline with Auto-Create

The documentation recommends the Auto-Create wizard as the starting point for a working setup. The wizard inspects detected hardware and generates a configuration that controls your fans and cooling devices.

What you do: open the Auto-Create wizard from the setup flow described under "Setting up cooling?" and let it run against your detected hardware.

What to expect: a baseline configuration that already controls your cooling devices — not a blank slate. Treat this as the reference point you adjust from, not the final state.

Step 2: Adjust Cooling and Fan Settings

Once the baseline exists, tune it:

• Fan curves — map temperature to fan speed so cooling responds to load instead of running at a fixed rate.
• Device assignments — confirm each fan, pump, or AIO is controlled by the profile you intend.
• Profiles — keep a quiet profile and a performance profile if your use alternates between idle and load.

Change one thing at a time and note the previous value, so you can revert if a setting behaves unexpectedly.

Step 3: Verify the Setup

Verification means observing behavior, not just saving settings:

1. Check reported sensors — temperatures and fan speeds should update and look plausible.
2. Apply load — run a workload and confirm fan speeds rise with temperature per your curve.
3. Return to idle — confirm speeds fall back rather than staying pinned.
4. Restart — confirm the configuration persists and is applied on boot.

If a fan doesn't respond, re-check detection and whether that device is assigned to an active profile.

Running a Server

The docs include a "Running a server?" section for headless or remote setups. If your machine has no local desktop session, follow that path rather than the desktop setup flow — the configuration concepts are the same, but access differs.

Where the Setup Documentation Lives

All of this is documented at docs.coolercontrol.org, organized by task:

Start with "Setting up cooling?" — it is the canonical reference for the wizard and the settings described above.

CoolerControl is a Linux cooling control application, and installation is distribution-specific: follow the guide for your distro, then confirm your hardware is detected and let the Auto-Create wizard build a working setup. The official documentation at docs.coolercontrol.org is the entry point — its "New here?" section points you to install instructions for your distribution, and its "Is my hardware supported?" and "Setting up cooling?" sections cover the checks that follow.

Before you start

• Know your distribution and package manager. The install path differs between distros, so identify yours first (for example, a Debian/Ubuntu-based system versus a Fedora-based one).
• Have your hardware details handy. You will want to confirm that your fans, pumps, and temperature sensors are detected after installation.
• Use the official documentation as your source. The site's Getting Started material is organized around the three steps below, so follow it rather than third-party instructions that may be out of date.

Step 1: Install for your distribution

Open docs.coolercontrol.org and go to the "New here?" / Getting Started section. It directs you to install for your distribution. Select the guide that matches your system and follow its steps exactly — package names and commands are not interchangeable between distros.

Expected result: CoolerControl is installed and its service or application is available on your system.

Common snag: Using a guide written for a different distribution. If a package name or command is not found, go back to the documentation and confirm you are on the correct distro page.

Step 2: Verify your hardware is detected

Once installed, check that CoolerControl sees your cooling hardware. The documentation addresses this directly under "Is my hardware supported?" — use that section to confirm your fans, pumps, and sensors appear.

Expected result: Your cooling devices and temperature sensors are listed in the interface.

Common snag: A device that does not appear. This usually means the hardware is not supported or a required kernel driver or module is not loaded; the hardware-support section is the place to check before troubleshooting further.

Step 3: Let the Auto-Create wizard build a setup

With hardware detected, run the Auto-Create wizard. As described in the documentation, it builds a working cooling setup for you, which gives you a functioning baseline before you fine-tune anything.

Expected result: A working cooling configuration is generated and applied.

Common snag: Skipping this step and configuring everything by hand first. Starting from the wizard's output makes it easier to see what a valid setup looks like before you adjust curves or fan assignments.

Where to go next

The documentation's main sections map to the tasks above:

If you are still asking "What is CoolerControl?" — it is the application these steps install: a tool for taking control of your cooling on Linux. Work through the three steps in order, and use the matching documentation section whenever a step does not produce the expected result.

CoolerControl works with hardware that the Linux kernel already exposes through its standard sensor and fan-control interfaces; there is no separate compatibility list to check before installing. The practical answer is to install CoolerControl, open it, and see whether your fans, temperature sensors, and controllers appear. The documentation's own onboarding path reflects this: install for your distribution, confirm the hardware is detected, then let the Auto-Create wizard build a working setup.

What "supported" means in practice

CoolerControl does not ship its own hardware drivers. It reads from and writes to the kernel's hwmon (hardware monitoring) subsystem, so a device is controllable only if a kernel driver has already claimed it and exposed it. That has two consequences:

• If a sensor or fan shows up in the kernel's hwmon interfaces, CoolerControl should see it.
• If the kernel has no driver for a device, CoolerControl cannot add support for it.

This is why the docs frame the question as detection rather than a fixed supported-hardware matrix.

How to check that your hardware is detected

1. Install CoolerControl for your distribution using the Getting Started instructions on the docs site.
2. Launch the application and look at the device list. Fans, temperature sensors, and fan/pump controllers appear as separate entries.
3. Cross-check against the kernel if something seems missing. Listing the hwmon devices on your system shows what the kernel exposes; anything present there but absent in CoolerControl points to an application-side issue rather than missing support.
4. Run the Auto-Create wizard once devices are visible. It builds a working cooling setup from the detected fans and sensors, which is also a quick confirmation that the devices are not just listed but actually controllable.

The expected result at the end of step 4 is a configuration where fan speeds respond to the sensors you selected. If the wizard cannot find fans to assign, detection has failed somewhere upstream.

What to do if devices are not detected

Work from the kernel outward, since that is where support actually lives:

• Confirm the kernel sees the device at all. If it is absent from the hwmon listing, the problem is a missing or unloaded kernel driver, not CoolerControl.
• Check for a driver for your specific chip or controller. Many fan controllers and motherboards need a dedicated kernel module; some are supported only on newer kernel versions.
• Verify permissions. Reading sensors and changing fan speeds requires appropriate access to the hardware interfaces. If devices appear but cannot be controlled, access is the usual cause.
• Re-check after kernel or driver changes. A device that was invisible before a driver update may appear afterward without any CoolerControl change.

Hardware categories the documentation addresses

The docs organise the product around three things you will be looking for after installation:

If your device fits one of these categories and the kernel exposes it, it should be manageable in CoolerControl.

Where to look for compatibility guidance

The docs site is organised around the questions new users actually ask, and the "Is my hardware supported?" entry is the intended starting point. From there, the Getting Started section covers installation and first-run detection, and the server section matters if you plan to run CoolerControl as a background service on a headless machine — in that setup, detection is confirmed through the server's device listing rather than a desktop window.

For anything not covered, the project's community channels are the place to ask about a specific chip or motherboard, since support depends on kernel drivers that change between versions.