Part of CachyOS Wiki Notes. From the official CachyOS wiki (last updated 2025-12-22).

CachyOS Kernel Manager

Installs/manages kernels from any Arch repo, builds custom CachyOS kernels, and controls sched-ext schedulers via GUI.

Install / uninstall a kernel

• Launch CachyOS Kernel Manager, tick the [] box for the desired kernel, press Execute.
• Uninstall: uncheck the [] next to the installed kernel and press Execute.
• Execute goes unavailable when an already-installed kernel is selected.

Configuring and building a custom kernel

Only builds CachyOS variants — it cannot build or configure a stock Arch kernel.

• Click Configure, adjust settings, then Build kernel.
• Built packages and cache land in ~/.cache/cachyos-km/.
• After a successful build you are prompted for your sudo password to install it.

Available options: custom package name (e.g. linux-custom-cachy); scheduler (BORE, RC, RT, RT+BORE, EEVDF, BMQ); enable CachyOS config; tweak via nconfig/menuconfig/xconfig/gconfig; NUMA; Modprobed-db; KBUILD CFLAGS (-O3/-O2); performance governor as default; enable BBR3; tick rate (100/250/300/500/600/750/1000Hz); tickless mode (idle/periodic/full); preemption (Full/Voluntary/Server); transparent hugepages (Always/Madvise); DAMON; automatic CPU arch detection; CPU-arch-specific optimizations; LTO (Full/Thin/No); build ZFS module; build NVIDIA closed module; build NVIDIA open module; include vmlinux with debug info/symbols; load/save Kernel Manager presets (its own only); Kernel Patches Management (remote and local).

Sched-ext framework management

Open with the sched-ext scheduler config button in the main window. The GUI can switch between sched-ext (scx) schedulers, enable/disable the scheduler service, show the running scheduler, and set scheduler flags and profiles.

It uses scx_loader, config at /etc/scx_loader.toml. Selecting a scheduler + profile starts it with that profile and persists the config for reboots. Example (scx_bpfland with the Gaming profile):

default_sched = "scx_bpfland"
default_mode = "Gaming"
 
[scheds.scx_bpfland]
auto_mode = []
gaming_mode = ["-m", "performance"]
lowlatency_mode = ["-k", "-s", "5000", "-l", "5000"]
powersave_mode = ["-m", "powersave"]

Profiles are presets that modify scheduler flags based on proven combinations for a use case. Details in the sched-ext guide’s scheduler-guide section — see sched-ext Schedulers.