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Merged
mlutonsky merged 1 commit into from
May 27, 2026
Merged

idle-power-manager: restore profile active before idle, not a fixed one #13

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9 changes: 5 additions & 4 deletions README.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -182,9 +182,10 @@ ln -s "$PWD/git-commit-msg" ~/.local/bin/git-commit-msg

Monitors user activity via GNOME Mutter DBus (Wayland-native, no sudo needed).
Switches to a powersave [tuned](https://tuned-project.org/) profile after a
configurable idle timeout and restores the performance profile as soon as
activity is detected. The performance profile is auto-detected from the active
tuned profile at startup.
configurable idle timeout. The profile that was active right before going idle
is remembered and restored as soon as activity is detected — so whatever mode
you were using (e.g. `balanced`) comes back on wake. Set `PERFORMANCE_PROFILE`
to force a fixed profile instead.

**Requirements:** `gdbus` (glib2), `tuned` + `tuned-adm`, GNOME session (Wayland), `wheel` group membership

Expand All @@ -202,7 +203,7 @@ All settings are controlled via environment variables:
| Variable | Default | Description |
|----------------------|------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| `IDLE_THRESHOLD_MINS`| `15` | Minutes of inactivity before switching profiles |
| `PERFORMANCE_PROFILE`| auto-detected from current tuned profile | Profile to restore when activity is detected |
| `PERFORMANCE_PROFILE`| remembered profile from before idle | Force a fixed profile on wake instead of restoring |
| `IDLE_PROFILE` | `powersave` | Profile to apply when idle |
| `CHECK_INTERVAL` | `30` | Seconds between idle checks |
| `WAKE_THRESHOLD_SECS`| `3` | Idle must drop below this to count as "woke up" |
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56 changes: 37 additions & 19 deletions idle-power-manager.sh
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -2,9 +2,10 @@
# idle-power-manager.sh — automatic CPU power profile manager based on idle detection
#
# Monitors user activity via GNOME Mutter DBus (Wayland-native, no sudo needed).
# Switches to a powersave tuned profile after a configurable idle timeout and
# restores the performance profile as soon as activity is detected.
# Performance profile is auto-detected at startup from the current tuned profile.
# Switches to a powersave tuned profile after a configurable idle timeout. The
# profile that was active right before going idle is remembered and restored as
# soon as activity is detected, so whatever mode you were on (e.g. balanced)
# comes back on wake. Setting PERFORMANCE_PROFILE forces a fixed profile instead.
#
# Requirements:
# gdbus - DBus CLI tool (glib2 package, usually pre-installed on GNOME)
Expand All @@ -20,7 +21,8 @@
#
# Configuration (environment variables):
# IDLE_THRESHOLD_MINS - minutes of inactivity before switching to idle profile (default: 15)
# PERFORMANCE_PROFILE - tuned profile to restore on activity (default: auto-detected)
# PERFORMANCE_PROFILE - force this tuned profile on activity instead of restoring
# the one active before idle (default: remember & restore)
# IDLE_PROFILE - tuned profile to use when idle (default: powersave)
# CHECK_INTERVAL - seconds between idle checks (default: 30)
# WAKE_THRESHOLD_SECS - idle must drop below this to count as "woke up" (default: 3)
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -129,19 +131,26 @@ mkdir -p "$(dirname "$LOG_FILE")"

log "INFO" "Starting idle-power-manager (threshold: ${IDLE_THRESHOLD_MINS}m, check every: ${CHECK_INTERVAL}s)"

# Auto-detect performance profile: use current profile at startup (unless it's already powersave)
# PERFORMANCE_PROFILE (if set) forces a fixed profile on wake. Otherwise the
# profile active right before each idle switch is remembered and restored.
PERFORMANCE_PROFILE="${PERFORMANCE_PROFILE:-}"
if [[ -z "$PERFORMANCE_PROFILE" ]]; then
startup_profile=$(get_current_profile)
if [[ "$startup_profile" == "$IDLE_PROFILE" ]]; then
# Was left in powersave from a previous run, use a sane default
PERFORMANCE_PROFILE="throughput-performance"
log "WARN" "System was already in idle profile at startup, defaulting performance profile to: $PERFORMANCE_PROFILE"
else
PERFORMANCE_PROFILE="$startup_profile"
fi

# Fallback used only when the active profile can't be read, or is already the idle
# profile at the moment we switch (e.g. left in powersave by a crashed run).
RESTORE_FALLBACK="throughput-performance"

# Seed the restore target from the current profile at startup; it is refreshed
# right before each switch to the idle profile.
restore_profile=$(get_current_profile)
if [[ -z "$restore_profile" || "$restore_profile" == "$IDLE_PROFILE" ]]; then
restore_profile="$RESTORE_FALLBACK"
fi

if [[ -n "$PERFORMANCE_PROFILE" ]]; then
log "INFO" "Performance profile (forced): $PERFORMANCE_PROFILE | Idle profile: $IDLE_PROFILE"
else
log "INFO" "Restore profile (remembered): $restore_profile | Idle profile: $IDLE_PROFILE"
fi
log "INFO" "Performance profile: $PERFORMANCE_PROFILE | Idle profile: $IDLE_PROFILE"

wait_for_session_bus || exit 1

Expand All @@ -162,16 +171,25 @@ while true; do

if [[ "$state" == "active" ]] && (( idle_ms >= IDLE_THRESHOLD_MS )); then
idle_mins=$(( idle_secs / 60 ))
log "INFO" "Idle for ${idle_mins}m ${idle_secs}s — switching to $IDLE_PROFILE"
# Remember the profile active right now so we can restore it on wake
# (unless an explicit PERFORMANCE_PROFILE override is in effect).
if [[ -z "$PERFORMANCE_PROFILE" ]]; then
current_profile=$(get_current_profile)
if [[ -n "$current_profile" && "$current_profile" != "$IDLE_PROFILE" ]]; then
restore_profile="$current_profile"
fi
fi
log "INFO" "Idle for ${idle_mins}m ${idle_secs}s — switching to $IDLE_PROFILE (restore on wake: ${PERFORMANCE_PROFILE:-$restore_profile})"
if switch_profile "$IDLE_PROFILE"; then
log "INFO" "Switched to $IDLE_PROFILE"
state="idle"
fi

elif [[ "$state" == "idle" ]] && (( idle_ms < WAKE_THRESHOLD_MS )); then
log "INFO" "User activity detected (idle dropped to ${idle_secs}s) — restoring $PERFORMANCE_PROFILE"
if switch_profile "$PERFORMANCE_PROFILE"; then
log "INFO" "Restored to $PERFORMANCE_PROFILE"
target_profile="${PERFORMANCE_PROFILE:-$restore_profile}"
log "INFO" "User activity detected (idle dropped to ${idle_secs}s) — restoring $target_profile"
if switch_profile "$target_profile"; then
log "INFO" "Restored to $target_profile"
state="active"
fi
fi
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