Introduction

TLP is a feature-rich utility for Linux, saving laptop battery power without the need to delve deeper into technical details. Version 1.9 introduces tlp-pd, which enables easy profile switching with a mouse click. tlp-pd replaces power-profiles-daemon by implementing the same D-Bus API that major Linux desktop environments like GNOME, KDE and Cinnamon already use.

TLP’s default settings are already optimized for battery life. Nevertheless, TLP is completely customizable to get even more power savings or meet your exact requirements.

Last but not least, TLP provides a unified approach to battery charge thresholds on supported laptops.

Important

TLP will take care of the majority of settings that powertop --autotune would, and with less trial and error, see Powertop.

How it works

What TLP basically does is tweak kernel tunables that have an impact on power consumption.

So what are kernel tunables?

First, kernel tunables are volatile in nature. Their state is held in RAM during runtime, and the kernel provides no persistence for them. At boot time, the kernel creates a default state, and changes must be reapplied by a userspace tool at each boot. TLP is one such userspace tool.

Most kernel tunables TLP works on are exported to user space as sysfs nodes i.e. files below /sys/. The output of tlp-stat will show the paths.

Important

Not all sysfs nodes shown by tlp-stat are actually touched by TLP when applying settings, some are displayed for information or diagnostic purposes only.

Power Profiles

TLP has a number of profiles, whose settings can be configured separately.

Version 1.9 and newer supports three profiles:

  • performance: is automatically selected on AC power, or manually by the user.

  • balanced: is automatically selected on battery power, or manually by the user.

  • power-saver: is manually selected by the user.

You can manually change the active profile with:

Version 1.8 and older supports two profiles:

  • AC: is automatically selected on AC power, or manually by the user.

  • BAT: is automatically selected on battery power, or manually by the user.

You can manualy change the active profile with the command tlp (as root).

Event-driven architecture

To accomplish all of the above, TLP’s actions are event-driven. The following events cause settings to be applied:

Charger plugged in (AC powered)

Applies the settings profile performance (AC).

Charger unplugged (battery powered)

Applies the settings profile balanced (BAT).

USB device plugged in

Activates USB autosuspend mode for the device (if not excluded or denylisted).

System startup (boot)

Applies the settings profile corresponding to the current switching mode, power source and/or configured default. Applies charge thresholds and switches bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WWAN devices depending on your individual settings (disabled in the default configuration).

System shutdown (power off)

Saves or switches bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WWAN device state and disables USB autosuspend depending on your individual settings (disabled in the default configuration).

System reboot

Same as shutdown, then continues with startup.

System suspend to ACPI Sleep States S0ix (Idle standby), S3 (Suspend to RAM) or S4 (Suspend to disk)

Saves bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WWAN device states and powers off removable optical drives depending on your individual settings (disabled in the default configuration).

System resume from ACPI Sleep States S0ix (Idle standby), S3 (Suspend to RAM) or S4 (Suspend to disk)

Applies the settings profile corresponding to the current switching mode, power source and/or configured default. Restores charge thresholds and bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WWAN device states depending on your individual settings (disabled in the default configuration).

LAN, Wi-Fi, WWAN connected/disconnected or laptop docked/undocked (Radio Device Wizard)

Enables or disables builtin bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WWAN devices depending on your individual settings (disabled in the default configuration).

Note

  • TLP will not make dynamic or adaptive changes to the settings beyond the events described above

  • In particular, TLP will not adjust the settings due to CPU load, battery charge level or else on its own initiative

See also

Refer to Architecture for technical details.

Features

Power saving settings are organized into profiles, enabling you to adjust between savings and performance independently for battery and AC operation. Version 1.9 introduces a third profile called power-saver.

Settings per profile are:

  • Kernel laptop mode and dirty buffer timeouts

  • AMD/Intel CPU scaling driver operation mode (active/guided/passive)

  • Processor frequency scaling and turbo boost

  • Intel CPU max/min P-state limits to control power dissipation

  • AMD/Intel CPU energy/performance policies (EPP) and dynamic boost

  • Platform profile to control power/performance levels, thermal and fan speed

  • Hard disk advanced power magement level (APM) and spin down timeout (per disk)

  • AHCI link power management (ALPM) with device denylist

  • AHCI runtime power management for NVMe/SATA/USB disks and SATA ports

  • PCIe active state power management (ASPM)

  • Runtime power management for PCIe bus devices

  • Intel GPU frequency limits

  • AMD GPU power management

  • Wi-Fi power save

  • Enable/disable integrated bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WWAN devices

  • Power off removable optical drives (in drive bays)

  • Audio power save

Additional power saving settings - independent of the power source - are:

  • I/O scheduler (per disk)

  • USB autosuspend with device denylist/allowlist

  • Enable or disable radio devices (bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WWAN) upon boot and shutdown

  • Restore radio device state on boot (from previous shutdown)

  • Radio device wizard: enable/disable radios upon network connect/disconnect and dock/undock

  • Disable Wake-On-LAN

  • Bluetooth and WWAN state is restored after suspend/hibernate

Battery care settings are:

  • Charge thresholds and recalibration