ESP32 Bit Pirate, a Hardware Hacking Tool with WebCLI That Speaks Every Protocol
Comments
geotp
wila
This looks great! Thank you.
coldcity_again
The snark in these comments! @geotp please don't be put off, this is great work.
Found it in recent days and couldn't have been better timing for what I needed to do.
I have it running well on a Heltec WiFi LoRa 32(V3) with very minor patches to support the CP2102 UART.
geotp
Thanks for your support
If you want, you can push the platformio env for your specific board to add it to the list of supported boards
nhecker
+1 for V3 support, and if there's anything I can do to help with V4 support, let me know. I've not got the most free time, but would be happy to contribute if possible.
coldcity_again
Happy to PR. I'll do in 2 parts, as needs the platformio env as well as UART-aware serial init in adapters and terminal.
coldcity_again
Now done.
atVelocet
True! Also a perfect timing for me.
Do you mind sharing the changes?
coldcity_again
Just a ping to say that's done and waiting to be merged.
coldcity_again
On it :)
dbl000
@geotp Ignore a lot of the mean comments, this is an excellent project and something that I've being meaning to hack together for myself. Having web access to remotely debug I2C/UART is a literal godsend. I cannot wait to just drop in an ESP32 instead of having to connect a rats nest of wires.
geotp
Thanks for the support
officialchicken
I have an old v3.6 from Dangerous Prototypes that I still frequently use and works fine with a coding assistant over serial terminal for doing some wire-level debugging of firmware. I am definitely not interested in paying the Pi tax for a new one just to get improved scripting. The roughly $100 BP v6 price point means looking into a other analyzers is required. How does this ESP firmware really compare - can anyone who's used both say what's different other than wireless?
geotp
The two projects have fairly different directions, even though they overlap on most core wired protocol features.
The original Bus Pirate relies heavily on a more complex bytecode-style syntax for many lowlevel operations. The ESP32 version replaces most of that with simple, explicit commands that perform the same tasks through a more straightforward workflow
The ESP32 version also avoids flag heavy commands and uses interactive shells where appropriate. Its main additional strength is radio support not present on the original Bus Pirate, including WiFi, RFID/NFC, SubGHz, NRF24, FM, infrared, and Bluetooth.
It can also be controlled through the Web CLI from any phone, tablet, or device with a web browser, using integrated AI assistant to help with hardware task.
So it is not simply a cheaper Bus Pirate v6 clone
rigonkulous
One thing in BP v6's favor is the RP2350 - which can be put into operation as a "data-cap analyser for GPIO" - true - but it can also be programmed for use as a full protocol tap for embedded projects which will also integrate the RP2350, or something like it, in an embedded design.
The ESP32 is great - I will get a couple for my toolbox, sitting alongside my own ancient Bus Pirate and things - but the RP2350 is a bit more BOM-friendly, imho. All of these things can be used to bring-up an embedded system - I'd really want to use the BP v6 to bring up an embedded system with an IO package I could emulate/integrate with the RP2350 on both sides of the design ..
officialchicken
Due to this obviously AI-generated response (thus codebase) - I'll pass.
geotp
I’m French and my English isn’t very good, so please excuse me for using a translator. Feel free to take a look at the codebase
officialchicken
Ok! Sorry, the translation is kinda rough and seems rigid and robotic.
throawayonthe
would that not imply the opposite conclusion?
cibomahto
The BP V5 is only $42.50 and is still the most popular model, and is actively developed and supported. The BP6 has some fancier features that make it more expensive, but the Bus Pirate folks are very price sensitive and want to keep the tool as accessible as possible. (source: I'm a distributor for them).
jwr
This looks great! The Bus Pirate was quite a good tool. For hardware hacking there is also Glasgow Interface Explorer, which I've been using recently with AI with much success.
The main difference is that Glasgow has an FPGA on-board, and you (or AI) can create applets for custom protocols and serious high-speed hacking.
rkachowski
This is super cool, I love the idea of just having a $5 wifi UART
farfatched
Great!
I'd like to use as a serial-over-wifi adapter, for remote management of my SBCs.
Can anyone suggest a decent device for this, that relies on no soldering or 3d printing?
Ideally the device would expose a serial-over-USB port, so I can just plug in a USB-UART adapter.
geotp
The firmware can already be used as a serial over WiFi adapter through the Web CLI.
You do not need to connect a separate USB-UART adapter to it: simply connect the ESP32S3 UART pins directly to the board’s TX, RX, and GND pins.
Any ESP32S3 board could do it, see README for different types of supported devices
farfatched
Ah, I see the M5 AtomS3 Lite has a grove, which is probably robust enough for me.
Great!
devmor
This is actually really cool - I could have used something like this that supports looking for RTMP as well a couple months ago.
tamimio
It looks interesting, was it tested on T7 S3 ESP32-S3 Development Board?
geotp
It works on all ESP32S3 boards with at least 8 MB of flash. Check the README for more details
kps
Which supported boards will do 5V I/O?
geotp
https://github.com/AndreiVladescu/ESP32-Bit-Pirate-Dock
It supports voltages from 1.8 V to 5 V when used with the dock
extraduder_ire
I don't think there's any common 5V esp32 boards. You should be able to wire up some level shifters to connect it to 5V (or a range of other voltages). Sparkfun sells boards with a TXS0108E on it as well as simpler transistor based ones.
throwa356262
@geotp
Any reason why C1 is not supported?
geotp
What do you mean by C1? Do you mean the ESP32-C3 or C5? If so, they are not supported mainly for performance and hardware capability reasons
throwa356262
Sorry, I meant C3
ktzar
compatible with Cardputer?
geotp
Yes, it is compatible with both Cardputer models and many other devices, including the $5 ESP32S3 clone
voidUpdate
[flagged]
geotp
Yes, it includes scripting and raw GPIO/bit-banging features, so you can read essentially any custom protocol yourself, including one you invented five minutes ago
voidUpdate
[flagged]
poppadom1982
[flagged]
picofarad
So the title would be better as saying potentially every protocol, then?
When it said every protocol, I read it as potentially every protocol, myself. I have an O-scope that can read every wire protocol too.
a96
No, every means every. You have a tiny tiny fragment of every protocol that could ever exist or even of the ones that do. And you can't even potentially do many real protocols on an ESP. It's a tiny tiny subset. I'd suggest being honest.
voidUpdate
I mean, anything other than "speaks every protocol", which is incorrect unless someone goes ahead and writes a parser for every single protocol. "Many protocols"? "A wide variety of protocols"? "More protocols out of the box that any other product ever"?
marcosscriven
I’m curious about how you used LLMs here?
Also, to what extent you designed this vs the LLM copying it?
My concern is all these vibe coded projects with huge readmes and fake GitHub stars are essentially just copying the work of others, and don’t really do anything new.
throwa356262
You can see in the git commit log how it has progressed slowly over a period of one year to get here.
So at least it is not a weekend vibe coded AI slop.
marcosscriven
Not sure 600,000 commits by one person in a year, most concentrated in a few months over the year, counts as “slowly”.
geotp
Where do you see 600k commits? Are you talking about 600k lines of code? If so, the project includes libraries in the `lib` folder, notably a large screen library called `tft_espi` which must be 500k lines on its own (which has since been removed, that's why you see -500k lines)
I know the codebase inside and out, feel free to ask
coldcity_again
There are 1300 commits. What is everyone smoking today?
geotp
I’m not sure I fully understand the question.
The implementation is entirely new and was built specifically for this project, it is not copied from another project. LLMs were used as development tools, but the architecture, feature selection, integration, testing, and overall direction were designed and validated by contributors and me.
ESP32 Bit Pirate is an open-source firmware that transforms compatible devices into versatile multi-protocol hacking tools, inspired by the original Bus Pirate.
It can sniff, send, script, and interact with digital protocols such as I2C, UART, SPI, and 1-Wire through either a Serial CLI or a Web CLI. It also supports wireless technologies including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Sub-GHz, and RFID.
Install the firmware in one click with the ESP32 Bit Pirate Web Flasher. The Wiki provides detailed guides for every mode and command, while ESP32 Bit Pirate Scripts offers a collection of ready-to-use examples and utilities.
For additional hardware capabilities, the ESP32 Bus Expander adds extra radio interfaces, while the ESP32 Bit Pirate Dock provides compatibility with original Bus Pirate adapters and accessories.