OpenLogi: a local-first Rust replacement for Logitech Options+

The case against Options+, and what stands in for it

OpenLogi's one-line pitch is blunt: a native, local-first alternative to Logitech Options+, written in Rust, unlocking the full capabilities of Logitech mice, keyboards and webcams over HID++ and UVC. The positioning paragraph is even blunter: fed up with Options+, try OpenLogi.

The differentiation list reads like a complaint file against the official app. Stay light, native Rust with the GPUI toolkit. Run on Linux, which is a first-class platform here and a non-citizen in Options+. Keep gestures assignable on supported buttons, or turn them off entirely. Store everything in one plain-text TOML file you can sync between machines however you like. And script it, with a real CLI alongside the GUI.

The privacy posture is stated as an absolute: no account, no telemetry, local-first. That is the axis on which alternatives to vendor configuration tools live or die, and OpenLogi commits to it in the repository description itself.

One caveat belongs up front, in the project's own words: OpenLogi is still being developed and not yet stable, and features and configuration may still change. The README is also localized across seven languages, which says something about who is using it.

What it controls, device by device

Devices connect over Logi Bolt receivers, Unifying receivers, Bluetooth or a wire, with battery percentage and charge state surfaced. On the mouse side, OpenLogi captures and remaps the middle, mode-shift and thumbwheel buttons, and adds per-direction gesture bindings with live capture on supported hardware: back and forward, DPI and mode-shift, the dedicated gesture button and the haptic panel.

Three HID++ feature registers are worth naming because they indicate depth rather than surface: DPI control with presets and cycle actions on register 0x2201, SmartShift wheel mode, sensitivity and a permanent-ratchet panel on 0x2111, and per-device native scroll inversion on 0x2121. An Actions Ring provides a cursor-centred, eight-slot overlay of actions with per-application layouts, which is a feature Options+ users ask for and do not get.

Keyboards get global F-key remapping with the same action catalog plus power-user actions: typed text, key combinations and multi-step workflows, on macOS and Windows, with static RGB lighting on supported devices. Litra lights are controlled for power, brightness and colour temperature, with optional auto power that follows camera activity. The camera story is large enough for its own section.

Remapping mechanics, and their honest limits

Button remapping runs through the operating system's input hook, with a built-in action catalog plus custom keyboard shortcuts authored in the TOML config. Independent short-press and long-press actions per button, and hold-until-release chords for push-to-talk, are first-class.

The limits are documented rather than discovered. DPI and mode-shift gestures require device-reported diversion and raw-XY support. Primary clicks and wheel controls cannot be newly assigned gestures, and existing middle-click gesture bindings are preserved rather than broken. A footnote details platform behaviour for media keys: they route through D-Bus MPRIS on Linux, a handful of macOS-specific actions have no Linux equivalent and are no-ops there, and Windows maps platform actions to native equivalents where available.

Per-application profile overlays switch automatically on focus, on macOS and Windows, and on Linux only under X11 or XWayland. That last exclusion is the kind of detail Wayland users need before installing, and the README states it plainly instead of letting them find out.

The camera controls nobody else exposes

For any Logitech UVC webcam, which means the Brio, StreamCam and C920 families and their kin, OpenLogi offers plug-and-play control with one genuinely thoughtful behaviour: the live preview opens the camera only while you are watching it, and leaving the view releases the camera entirely, LED off. In an era of camera-in-use indicators and permanent-meeting fatigue, releasing the hardware when the settings pane closes is correct design.

The image controls are written straight to the UVC hardware: zoom, focus, exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, white balance, tint, anti-flicker and low-light compensation, with auto-mode toggles for focus, exposure and white balance. Because the settings live in the camera rather than in the app, they persist into Meet, Zoom, OBS and every other application using the device.

One-click profiles cover built-in Default, Streaming and Video call setups plus custom snapshots, and settings persist per camera, written back to the hardware the next time you view it. This is the feature set Logitech's own software fragmented across tools, consolidated and made local.

Installing, and the one rule about coexistence

The important instruction comes before any command: quit Logitech Options+ first. The two applications fight over HID++ access, and only one can own a given receiver at a time. That is a hardware-protocol constraint, not a grudge, and knowing it saves an afternoon of phantom failures.

On macOS 13 or later, the signed and notarized disk image comes from the releases page, or via Homebrew:

brew install --cask openlogi

That is the official cask and the default path. To track the newest GitHub release instead:

brew tap aprilnea/tap
brew install --cask aprilnea/tap/openlogi@latest

The tap variant is maintained by OpenLogi's release workflow and may update before the official cask autobump lands; install one or the other, not both. On Linux, release packages install with the distribution's own tools:

sudo dpkg -i openlogi-*.deb

sudo rpm -i openlogi-*.rpm

with an Arch package also published, and Windows builds complete the platform set.

Maturity, licence, and the alternatives

The release cadence argues the project is alive even while it warns you it is unstable: v0.8.5 on 2026-09-16, v0.8.4 the day before, v0.8.3 on 2026-08-30, and the last push on 2026-09-16. The licence is Apache-2.0, unusually permissive for hardware companion software, and the repository carries a Cargo manifest consistent with the Rust claims.

The alternatives define the trade. Logitech Options+ itself is the official path: full device support, an account, telemetry, and no Linux. Solaar has long served Linux Unifying and Bolt users for receiver and device configuration, but it stops at HID++ device management, with no UVC camera controls, no actions overlay and no cross-platform presence. Piper with libratbag covers a different, non-Logitech-centric periphery on Linux. OpenLogi's bet is that one local, scriptable, TOML-configured application can cover the whole Logitech stack on all three desktop platforms, and the feature list above is the evidence for that bet; the instability warning is the evidence it is not finished.

Editorial conclusion

OpenLogi fits Logitech hardware owners who want local-first configuration with no account and no telemetry, Linux users whom Options+ never served, and anyone who wants their button mappings in a syncable text file instead of a vendor database. It does not fit anyone needing stability guarantees today, since the project declares itself unstable, or Wayland-only Linux users, whose per-application profiles do not follow them. Verify first: that your devices are HID++ capable and connected through a supported receiver, that Options+ is fully quit before first run, and which Homebrew track you want to follow. The licence is Apache-2.0, and the last push was on 2026-09-16.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. AprilNEA/OpenLogi on GitHub
2. License: Apache-2.0
3. Project website
4. README
5. Releases