On Linux, OpenRGB needs permission to access the hardware interfaces used for RGB control. These include USB and I2C interfaces. To make accessing these interfaces easier, OpenRGB provides a udev rules file that tells your operating system to allow your user account control over these hardware interfaces, allowing OpenRGB to run without root access while still controlling the hardware.

If you're using OpenRGB packaged for your distribution, it is likely that the package includes the rules automatically, so you don't need to do anything extra. The Debian and Fedora packages provided on this website include the rules. The AUR packages openrgb and openrgb-git also include the rules.

However, if you are using the AppImage or Flatpak versions, or just building OpenRGB from source yourself, the rules file will not be installed. You can instead use the script below to install the udev rules.