ClawTweaks: MSIs Panther Lake Claw 8 EX Is Already in the Supported List
By Indie Kings | October 18, 2026
MSI's Claw is the Intel handheld in a handheld market heavy on AMD silicon, and the community tool now steering its software experience is an AGPL licensed fork of a widget built for a competitor's device. Per the ClawTweaks README, the project is a Windows Game Bar widget that replaces the AMD specific features of GoTweaks with Intel equivalents, adds MSI Claw specific hardware support, and reshapes the UI. Release 1.0.1, tagged on GitHub October 18, 2026, carries the title "ClawTweaks 1.0 - Gamebar UI Overhaul, New Tiles, Suspend Games, Mouse Mode for Every Button".
What ClawTweaks is and where it came from
ClawTweaks (CTW) is a Game Bar widget for MSI Claw handhelds, described in its README title as "ClawTweaks - CTW (Intel Only)". The README is explicit about its lineage: the project is built on the foundation of GoTweaks, a widget for the Lenovo Legion Go, and it swaps that project's AMD specific features for Intel equivalents while adding Claw specific hardware support and a streamlined UI. GitHub's repository listing agrees with the lineage: ClawTweaks is registered as a fork of the GoTweaks repository.
The project is written in C# and lives at enterTheVoidCode/ClawTweaks on GitHub. The repository was created May 22, 2026, hours were still being added to it the morning of October 18, 2026, when the pushed_at timestamp recorded the 1.0.1 release, and it counts 132 stars at the time of writing. Dependencies named in the README include LibreHardwareMonitor for sensors, RTSSSharedMemoryNET for the overlay, and USB/IP win 2 with HidHide for the virtual controller path.
Supported devices, including Panther Lake
The supported devices table in the README is the most hardware forward part of the project. It names five Claw variants across three Intel chip generations and, notably, one device that never came to market on the silicon MSI sells in A1M and Lunar Lake hardware.
Per the README, the breakdown is: the MSI Claw A1M on Meteor Lake is supported, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ A2VM on Lunar Lake (model MS-1T52) is supported, the MSI Claw 7 AI+ A2VM and A2VMX on Lunar Lake (model MS-1T42) are supported, and the MSI Claw 8 EX on Panther Lake is supported. The one explicitly rejected device is the MSI Claw A8 EX on AMD's Z2E chip, which the project marks as not supported, consistent with its Intel only label. The README adds a blunt guardrail: the installer aborts with an error message if run on an unsupported device.
| Device | Chip / model | Status per README |
|---|---|---|
| MSI Claw A1M | Meteor Lake | Supported |
| MSI Claw 8 AI+ A2VM | Lunar Lake, MS-1T52 | Supported |
| MSI Claw 7 AI+ A2VM / A2VMX | Lunar Lake, MS-1T42 | Supported |
| MSI Claw 8 EX | Panther Lake | Supported |
| MSI Claw A8 EX | AMD Z2E | Not supported |
A Panther Lake support row sitting in a community tool's table while most owners run Meteor Lake or Lunar Lake hardware is the detail that stands out. Support for the newest Intel mobile architecture is written in software terms already. Per the README, separately documented fan control works on Lunar Lake devices, which shows how hardware generation splits show up inside one tool's feature list.
MSI Center M kept as a base, hidden in one click
The setup requirement runs against the tool's own purpose. Per the README, MSI Center M must be installed and running on the device before ClawTweaks is installed, primarily for OEM button and controller virtualization support. The stated design then flips the relationship: ClawTweaks is built to completely disable and hide Center M with one click once it is running.
The README also covers migration fallout. Anyone arriving from a third party Center M replacement is told to uninstall everything and reinstall Center M properly first before installing CTW. The installer aborting on unsupported devices plus this cleanup requirement make the two supported failure modes bureaucratic rather than buggy.
MSI outsourcing its handheld's tuning experience to a fork of a Legion Go tool is the hook, and Center M's reduced role is the proof: MSI's own software remains on disk purely as load-bearing plumbing for the OEM button and virtualization, while a community widget built by another handheld's community takes over the actual controls.
One TDP slider covering PL1 and PL2
Per the README's core features table, the performance design keeps a single main TDP slider, with the second slider reserved for power users who need TDP boost and know what it does. The one slider handles both power limits on its own, because ClawTweaks automatically adds +1 W to PL2 so the chosen TDP value is applied correctly from a single slider. The 1.0.1 release notes describe the same arrangement in Game Bar terms: PL1 and PL2 sit on one slider, with the FPS limit, overlay type, CPU boost and power mode directly below.
The FPS limiting side is where the Intel profile shows most. Per the README, ClawTweaks offers Intel IGCL as the default limiter, a driver level limiter built into the Intel GPU that applies the limit before a frame renders, so it costs no extra GPU work and does not consume an FPS from your headroom. Its tiers are Performance (60), Balanced (40) and Efficiency (30). A second path uses RivaTuner Statistics Server for finer grained limits at 30, 40, 60, 90 and 120 FPS, which the README says adds roughly one FPS of overhead compared to IGCL. Users toggle between the two from the Quick Settings tile or the Performance tab.
Profiles, remapping and the revived front button
Profile handling spans two levels. Per the README, global profiles hold the full performance, display and button remapping baseline for most games, while per game profiles add a Performance and Display profile or a Controller profile for a game that needs different settings. Profile switching is automatic: the README describes profile changes firing on game detection through Xbox Game Bar's focus API, and profiles can optionally store separate values for plugged in (AC) versus battery (DC) power sources. A default game profile covers unconfigured games, for example capping FPS and setting one TDP for everything a player has not tuned yet.
Controller handling is software emulation: the README describes hiding the physical controller via HidHide and running all custom features through a virtual Xbox 360 controller via ViGEm, with MSI Center M detection suspending emulation automatically when Center M is active. Every hardware button on the Claw is remappable per game, including the M1 and M2 back buttons mapped to gamepad inputs, D-pad directions, stick clicks, or keyboard and mouse.
The left front MSI button is the package's party trick. With Center M gone, the README says this button gets a second life through single and double click detection, triggering almost any ClawTweaks action: opening Steam, Playnite or Xbox, switching from game to Desktop mode, running keyboard shortcuts, launching a user's own EXE or PowerShell scripts, or opening a browser or specific website.
Fan curves, charge limits and direct EC writes
Two features bypass the OS entirely and talk to the embedded controller. Per the README, fan control writes a custom drag to edit fan curve directly to the EC on Lunar Lake devices, with presets (Quiet, Default, Aggressive, Custom), a live CPU package temperature readout on the curve, and a verification step that reads the live EC bytes back and confirms they match the graph.
The battery charge limiter works at the same firmware level. Per the README, the granular charge cap is written to the EC via ACPI/WMI and is enforced by the EC even while the device sleeps or shuts down, as long as it stays plugged in, with the value re-applied on helper start or reboot so it survives an EC reset. The overlay side runs on RivaTuner Statistics Server and covers FPS, a frametime graph, CPU and GPU usage and temperatures, power consumption, memory and VRAM, battery and charge status, fan speed on supported devices, and TDP limits. and the Lossless Scaling integration rounds out the widget's launch and scaling management, covering scaling type, factor and frame generation mode (LSFG2 or LSFG3) per profile.
What release 1.0.1 changed
The latest release tag from the repository's releases API is 1.0.1, published October 18, 2026, and its release notes describe the biggest UI shakeup since the project's split from GoTweaks. The redesigned interface returns to a tab based layout with dedicated tabs for Intel graphics and color settings, fan controls and overlay settings, and a right stick flick still reaches the classic all in one tab.
New tiles land in the same release. Per the release notes, a game tile can suspend and resume the running game, End Task (which asks in the widget first), Embedded Controller and FSE tiles are new, and suspend and resume work as actions for tiles, controller shortcuts and front buttons. Game profiles gain a hand picker that creates a profile from the game banner chip or picks the running app from a list. Mouse mode expands so every button, stick click and D-pad direction can be remapped to keys or mouse actions, with new defaults of A as Enter, B as Esc and the D-pad as arrow keys.
Licensing and source
Licensing carries the story of a fork openly. Per the README, ClawTweaks is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3, meaning users can use, study, modify and share it, while any distributed or network hosted derivative must publish its complete source and it cannot become a closed source product. Original portions derived from GoTweaks and the Microsoft Game Bar widget sample remain under the MIT License, with a separate LICENSING.md explaining the split.
One caveat worth carrying through to anyone compiling expectations: the README states the repository does not ship ready to run signed packages, and that building and signing is left to the user. The releases API nonetheless shows a setup EXE asset attached to the 1.0.1 release, published by the same account that maintains the repository.
FAQ
What is ClawTweaks?
A free, open source Windows Game Bar widget for the MSI Claw. Per its README, it is built on GoTweaks, a Lenovo Legion Go widget, and replaces AMD specific features with Intel equivalents plus Claw specific hardware support.
Does ClawTweaks support the MSI Claw 8 EX?
Yes. The supported devices table lists the MSI Claw 8 EX on Panther Lake as supported, alongside the A1M on Meteor Lake and the Lunar Lake based Claw 7 and Claw 8 AI+ models.
Does the MSI Claw A8 EX work with ClawTweaks?
No. The README marks the AMD Z2E based Claw A8 EX as not supported, and the installer aborts with an error message on unsupported devices.
Do I still need MSI Center M installed?
Yes. The README says Center M must be installed and running as the base, mainly for OEM button and controller virtualization support, but ClawTweaks then disables and hides it with one click.
What is the latest ClawTweaks release?
Per the repository's releases API, the latest tag is 1.0.1, published October 18, 2026. Its notes describe a tab based UI overhaul, new tiles including game suspension, and full button remapping in mouse mode.
Why does the ClawTweaks TDP slider add 1 W to PL2?
Per the README, the tool automatically adds +1 W to PL2 so the value chosen on the main TDP slider applies correctly. The second slider exists only for power users who want TDP boost control directly.
Bottom Line
ClawTweaks is a C# AGPL fork of a Lenovo Legion Go widget that now steers performance, controller, fan and battery behavior on MSI's Intel handheld, with Panther Lake support already in its device table and the 1.0.1 release shipping on the day this article was written. The dependency chain is unusual but honest: Center M stays installed as a base, gets hidden, and a community widget owns the rest.
Our take: We think the supported devices table is the real signal here. A community tool listing Panther Lake hardware is planning for the next Intel generation before owners have it, and taking an AGPL fork of a competitor's widget to get there is faster than waiting on OEM software. The Center M dependency shows the limits of outsourcing: the OEM stack still has to exist so the widget can switch it off. We would like to see per game fan profiles land, since the README already flags the current fan curve as global.
Image: 
Image credit: enterTheVoidCode/GitHub.
Sources
ClawTweaks repository README and repository metadata, enterTheVoidCode/ClawTweaks on GitHub, fetched October 18, 2026 via the GitHub API. ClawTweaks releases API for the 1.0.1 release tag, publish timestamp and release notes, fetched October 18, 2026.