The GNU General Public License
Four fundamental software freedoms, guaranteed for every user and developer.
Arsenal for Windows is released as free software under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later). The GPL guarantees that everyone who receives a copy of Arsenal has the exact same rights to use, study, adapt, and share the software.
Freedom 0: Run the program
You may run Arsenal on any number of computers, for any purpose — personal, commercial, competitive gaming, or hardware benchmarking — with zero licensing fees, product activation, or restrictions.
Freedom 1: Study how it works
You have full access to the source code to audit every ACPI call, WMI query, Embedded Controller register write, and network connection. There are no obfuscated binaries, hidden telemetry, or black-box drivers.
Freedom 2: Redistribute copies
You may pass on copies of Arsenal to friends, colleagues, or online communities so they can also control their ASUS hardware without vendor bloatware, provided you preserve the license and source availability.
Freedom 3: Modify and improve
You may adapt Arsenal to support newly released laptop models, craft custom fan curve presets, adjust voltage limits, or implement new features. When you share modifications, you must share your source under GPL-3.0.
Copyleft and Reciprocity
The GPL is a copyleft license. This means any derivative work or modified distribution that incorporates Arsenal's Windows code must also be licensed under GPL-3.0 or later. Nobody can take Arsenal, add proprietary restrictions or DRM, and distribute it without publishing their complete corresponding source code.
Patent Grants & Anti-Tivoization
GPLv3 includes explicit patent protections: contributors grant you an irrevocable patent license for any patent claims their code embodies, and upstream authors cannot assert patent claims against downstream users. Furthermore, Section 6 prohibits "tivoization" — distributors cannot supply hardware or firmware locks that prevent you from running your own modified versions of Arsenal.
Standing on Other People's Work: Built on G-Helper
Arsenal's hardware communication engine is derived directly from Serge's G-Helper.
96.7% Line Identity in Shared Hardware Files
Arsenal makes no pretense of having created its hardware layer from scratch. Everything Arsenal knows about communicating with ASUS gaming laptops — ACPI tables, WMI methods, Embedded Controller registers, fan curves, GPU multiplexer switching, panel refresh rates, battery charging thresholds, Aura keyboard lighting, and AniMe Matrix displays — originates from G-Helper by Serge (@seerge).
Across the 110 shared source files within Arsenal.Core, 96.7% of G-Helper's source code lines are present verbatim.
Arsenal is legally and architecturally an explicit derivative work of G-Helper, and for that reason the Windows application remains licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later.
Architecture Breakdown
What Came From G-Helper
- ASUS ACPI & WMI interface: Direct communication with
root\wmiAsusATK and\\.\ATKACPIhandles. - Embedded Controller (EC) communication: Reading hardware thermal sensors, fan RPM telemetry, and applying battery health charge thresholds (60%, 80%, 100%).
- Fan curve interpolation: 8-point temperature-to-percentage fan tables written directly to BIOS fan registers.
- GPU mode switching: Cutting dGPU power via ACPI in Eco mode, toggling NVIDIA Optimus in Standard, and triggering hardware MUX switches in Ultimate mode.
- Display panel management: Refresh rate switching, ASUS Panel Overdrive (OD), and Mini-LED multi-zone dimming controls.
- Aura & AniMe Matrix lighting: USB HID packet construction for keyboard backlighting and Slash/AniMe Matrix displays.
- ROG peripheral & hotkey support: ASUS mice, headsets, keyboards, and dedicated hotkey listeners.
What Arsenal Adds
- Native Fluent UI presentation layer: Complete Windows 11 Fluent interface built with WPF-UI and an MVVM architecture.
- Customizable desktop shell: Configurable Home dashboard, Quick Panel overlay, and compact notification area integrations.
- Cryptographically signed update client: Secure release verification against RSA-SHA256 signatures via
ReleaseFeedClient. - Local JSON configuration: Human-readable, portable profile storage in
%AppData%\Arsenal\config.json. - Local encrypted companion bridge: Direct HTTPS pairing, controls and optional remote sessions with the Android companion application.
If Arsenal is valuable to you, please support the person who did the hardest part. G-Helper is outstanding open-source software that came first.
Ecosystem Scope & Boundaries
Clear legal separation between the Windows application, mobile companion, and web services.
The Arsenal project encompasses three distinct components. Their licensing boundaries are precise:
Arsenal for Windows
The desktop application (comprising Arsenal, Arsenal.Core, and Arsenal.Tests) is an open-source derivative work of G-Helper, licensed under GNU GPL-3.0-or-later. Full corresponding source code is published with every release.
Arsenal Companion for Android
A separate, native Android application written in Kotlin and Jetpack Compose. It shares zero lines of code with G-Helper or Arsenal.Core and interacts with Arsenal across authenticated local-network connections. It is not a derivative work and is not licensed under the GPL.
Arsenal Website (get-arsenal.com)
The website, documentation, illustrations, stylesheets, and release hosting infrastructure are a standalone PHP web service. Serving web pages does not constitute software distribution, shares no code with G-Helper, and is not covered by the GPL.
Corresponding Source Code
Every release binary has an exact, public source commit.
Under Section 6 of the GNU General Public License v3, every recipient of an Arsenal Windows binary is entitled to the complete corresponding source code for that exact binary. This includes all source files, resource files, build scripts, and dependencies necessary to compile and package the executable.
The authoritative repository is hosted publicly on GitHub:
Browse branches, tags matching official release versions, and complete commit history.
If you ever receive an Arsenal binary without a direct, accessible way to obtain the corresponding source code for that specific version, that is a bug and a violation of our distribution policy — please report it to legal@get-arsenal.com.
Third-Party Open Source Components & Notices
Arsenal incorporates open-source libraries, each recognized here in compliance with their respective licenses.
| Component | License | Author / Origin | Role in System |
|---|---|---|---|
| WPF-UI | MIT | LepoCo | Windows 11 Fluent Design System styles, acrylic backdrops, and native controls. |
| CommunityToolkit.Mvvm | MIT | Microsoft | High-performance MVVM architecture, observable properties, and messenger bus. |
| Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection | MIT | Microsoft | Inversion of control, service locator, and dependency management. |
| NvAPIWrapper.Net | MIT | Ferrara / Community | Direct NVIDIA driver interop: GPU clock offsets, target power, and thermal limits. |
| HidSharpCore | Apache-2.0 | James F. Bellinger / Community | Direct USB HID communication with ASUS ROG peripherals and Slash LED strips. |
| Starlight | MIT | vddCore (via G-Helper) | AniMe Matrix matrix protocol, pixel mapping, and packet formatting algorithms. |
| AMD Display Library | MIT | AMD GPUOpen | Definitions and structures for AMD display interoperability. |
| FftSharp | MIT | Scott W. Harden | Fast Fourier Transform algorithms for real-time audio spectrum visualization. |
| NAudio.Wasapi | MIT | Mark Heath | Windows Audio Session API (WASAPI) loopback audio capture for lighting reactivity. |
| QRCoder | MIT | Raffael Herrmann | Local, offline QR code generation for Android Companion cryptographic pairing. |
| TaskScheduler | MIT | David Hall | Windows Task Scheduler integration for elevated startup without UAC prompts. |
| Lenis & Swup | MIT | Darkroom Engineering & Swup | Website smooth scrolling and seamless client-side page transitions. |
| Icons8 | Icons8 | Icons8 | Selected interface iconography used under Icons8 license terms. |
Trademarks & Brand Non-Affiliation
Independent community utility with no affiliation to hardware manufacturers.
ASUS, ROG (Republic of Gamers), TUF Gaming, Armoury Crate, Aura Sync, AniMe Matrix, Zephyrus, Strix, Flow, and Ally are registered trademarks of ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
AMD and Ryzen are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Intel and Core are trademarks of Intel Corporation. NVIDIA, GeForce, and Optimus are trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
These trademarks are referenced on this website and within the application strictly to describe hardware compatibility and operating systems. Their appearance implies no endorsement, sponsorship, partnership, or affiliation with ASUSTeK Computer Inc. or any other manufacturer.
Guidelines for Forks: The GNU General Public License grants rights to copy and modify code, but does not grant trademark rights to the name "Arsenal". If you distribute a modified build, you must remove or alter the branding so a reasonable user will not confuse it with official Arsenal releases (e.g. identify it clearly as "a fork based on Arsenal").