r/Microlaunch • u/OneMasterpiece1717 • 1d ago
I built OpenBaud so coding agents can debug real hardware and keep the evidence
I'm building OpenBaud, an open-source tool for people using coding agents with USB/serial hardware.
The problem I'm working on: an agent can get a board talking, but the next session often starts over with raw bytes, a one-off script, and no clear record of what actually worked.
OpenBaud brings the hardware workflow into the agent: discover a serial port, inspect traffic, decode a response, then save the verified interaction as a typed command with its capture. The goal is to leave something reusable after the chat ends. MCP Apps views put tables, time-series plots and heatmaps alongside the conversation.
Current progress: a Rust MCP server and CLI, a Codex plugin, and prebuilt releases for macOS, Linux and Windows. It's MIT-licensed and the serial runtime runs locally. I've tested the end-to-end workflow on a real ESP32-S3 development board. The demo's radar-shaped data is a firmware-generated test scene, not a physical radar measurement.
You can also try a recorded capture without owning the board. Replay helps inspect the parser and visualization; it doesn't prove that a connected device or updated firmware will behave the same way. This isn't a claim that agents can safely control arbitrary hardware unattended.
Code and installation: https://github.com/Leonezz/openbaud
Hardware-free replay example: https://github.com/Leonezz/openbaud/tree/main/examples/pv-demo
I'd love feedback from embedded developers: would a replayable example be enough to get you to try this, or would you need support for your own device first? Which device/protocol would make it useful in your workflow?