Ambient light sensor control of keyboard and screen brightness in Linux
I have always wanted cool features in Linux because I use it day to day as my OS. I have always wanted to implement this feature and do it properly: one that automatically adjusts keyboard and LCD backlights using data from the Ambient Light Sensor. I enjoy low-level programming a lot. I delved into writing this program in C. It came out well and worked seamlessly on my device. Currently, it only works for keyboard lights. I designed it in a way that the support for LCD will come in seamlessly in the future. But, in the real world, people have different kinds of devices. And I made sure to…
Ambient light sensor control of keyboard and screen brightness in Linux launched on November 2, 2025 with 26 votes, #558 of 9,795 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches.
In plain words
This program automatically adjusts keyboard backlight brightness on Linux systems based on ambient light sensor data. Written in C, it reads sensor input through the kernel's iio interface to provide real-time lighting adjustments. Currently supporting keyboard backlights, the software is architected to add LCD screen brightness control in future updates. It is designed for Linux users who want automatic display adaptation and is intended to work across different device types.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Auto control of keyboard and LCD backlight throught Ambient Light Sensor - donjajo/als-led-backlight
This program takes in data from the Ambient Light Sensor if found present on your laptop, and automatically adjust the light and its intensity on your keyboard if detected. make Running # ./build/als-led-backlight Installing Install the this package as a service by running with root privilege: Currently, it reads config file from /etc/als-led-backlight.conf . You can adjust the base reading threshold with thisfrom github.com
In the maker’s words, at launch
I have always wanted cool features in Linux because I use it day to day as my OS. I have always wanted to implement this feature and do it properly: one that automatically adjusts keyboard and LCD backlights using data from the Ambient Light Sensor. I enjoy low-level programming a lot. I delved into writing this…
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Clight, small C linux user daemon to turn webcam into light sensor2017 · github.com · ▲14A C daemon that turns your webcam into a light sensor. It will adjust screen backlight based on ambient brightness. - FedeDP/Clight
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