Abstract: Most materials in nature have positive coefficients of thermal expansion, which expand with increasing temperature. Excessive thermal expansion can affect the thermal stability of structures and bring in adverse effects on the functionality and safety of precision components. Metamaterials rely on ingeniously designed microstructures to achieve exotic properties that can not exist in natural materials, providing a good platform for realizing negative thermal expansion, near-zero thermal expansion and programmable thermal expansion. This paper reviews the recent efforts in programmable thermal control metamaterials from these three aspects, and offers an outlook into the application prospects and future directions. This review can provide reference for applications in variable temperature environments, such as observation satellites, phased array antennas, fuel cells, etc.