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Uncrash is a system protection daemon that prevents desktop crashes caused by GPU power spikes, VRM overheating, and motherboard power delivery issues.

Uncrash monitors your GPU power consumption in real-time and automatically throttles CPU frequency when the GPU exceeds a configurable power threshold. This prevents system crashes by reducing total power draw when your hardware is under stress.

Key Features:

• 🔄 Background daemon - Runs as a systemd service, protecting your system 24/7
• 📊 Real-time monitoring - Tracks GPU power consumption every second
• ⚡ Automatic throttling - Dynamically limits CPU frequency when GPU power exceeds threshold
• 🎨 GUI client - Kirigami-based interface for configuration and monitoring
• 🔧 DBus interface - Control the daemon programmatically or via command-line
• 🐧 NVIDIA & AMD support - Works with both GPU vendors automatically
• 🔐 Security hardened - Systemd service runs with minimal privileges

nix run github:pbek/uncrash

nix run github:pbek/uncrash --override-input nixpkgs nixpkgs

Enable Uncrash as a NixOS system service for continuous protection:

# In your flake.nix inputs
inputs.uncrash.url = "github:pbek/uncrash";
inputs.uncrash.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";

# In your NixOS configuration
{
  imports = [ inputs.uncrash.nixosModules.uncrash ];

  services.uncrash = {
    enable = true;
    gpuPowerThreshold = 100;  # GPU power in watts (default: 100)
    cpuMaxFrequency = 3.5;    # CPU frequency in GHz when throttling (default: 3.5)
    autoProtection = true;    # Enable automatic throttling (default: true)
  };
}

After enabling, the uncrashd daemon will:

• ✅ Start automatically on boot
• ✅ Monitor GPU power continuously
• ✅ Apply CPU throttling when GPU exceeds threshold
• ✅ Run in the background (no GUI required)

You can then use the GUI to monitor status and adjust settings:

uncrash

• Type: boolean
• Default: false
• Description: Enable the Uncrash system protection daemon.

• Type: package
• Default: pkgs.callPackage ./package.nix { }
• Description: The Uncrash package to use. Override this to use a custom build.

• Type: integer (watts)
• Default: 100
• Description: GPU power threshold in watts. When GPU power exceeds this value, CPU throttling will be applied.

• Type: float (GHz)
• Default: 3.5
• Description: Maximum CPU frequency in GHz when GPU power threshold is exceeded.

• Type: boolean
• Default: true
• Description: Enable automatic CPU throttling when GPU power exceeds threshold.

# Start the daemon
sudo systemctl start uncrashd

# Stop the daemon
sudo systemctl stop uncrashd

# Check status
sudo systemctl status uncrashd

# View logs
journalctl -u uncrashd -f

# Restart the daemon
sudo systemctl restart uncrashd

Settings are stored in /etc/uncrash/uncrash.conf:

[General]
gpuPowerThreshold=100
cpuMaxFrequency=3.5
autoProtection=true

1. GPU Monitoring: The daemon continuously monitors GPU power consumption using:

   • nvidia-smi for NVIDIA GPUs
   • /sys/class/drm/card*/device/hwmon/hwmon*/power1_average for AMD GPUs

2. Threshold Detection: When GPU power exceeds the configured threshold, the daemon triggers CPU throttling.

3. CPU Throttling: The daemon writes to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq to limit CPU frequency (requires root privileges).

4. Automatic Recovery: When GPU power drops below the threshold, CPU frequency limits are automatically removed.

5. DBus Communication: The GUI client communicates with the daemon via DBus (org.uncrash.Daemon), allowing real-time monitoring and configuration changes.

┌─────────────────┐
│   uncrash GUI   │  (User Interface)
│   (KF6/QML)     │
└────────┬────────┘
         │ DBus: org.uncrash.Daemon
         │
┌────────▼────────┐
│   uncrashd      │  (System Daemon)
│  (systemd)      │  - Runs as root
│                 │  - Monitors GPU power
└────┬───────┬────┘  - Controls CPU frequency
     │       │
     │       └──────► /sys/devices/system/cpu/.../scaling_max_freq
     │
     └──────────────► nvidia-smi / /sys/class/drm/card*/hwmon/

• Language: C++ (Qt6)
• UI Framework: QML with KDE Kirigami
• Build System: CMake 3.20+
• Dependencies:
  • Qt6 (Core, Gui, Qml, Quick, Widgets)
  • KDE Frameworks 6
  • KF6 Kirigami

This project uses devenv for a reproducible development environment with all necessary dependencies:

# Enter the development shell
devenv shell

# Or use direnv (if configured)
direnv allow

The project provides Just recipes for common build and development tasks:

# Configure the project with CMake
just build

# Run the application
just run

# Build the nix package
just nix-build

# Run the application from the nix package
just nix-run

See LICENSE.md for details.

This is an early-stage project. Contributions are welcome!