aoba 0.0.5

Multi-protocol debugging and simulation tool for Modbus RTU, suitable for both physical serial ports and network-forwarded ports. Provides both CLI and TUI interfaces.

Features

• Modbus RTU (master/slave) debugging and simulation; supports four register types: holding, input, coils, and discrete.
• Full-featured CLI: port discovery and checks (--list-ports / --check-port), master/slave operations (--master-provide / --slave-listen) and persistent modes (--*-persist). Outputs can be JSON/JSONL, which is script/CI-friendly.
• Interactive TUI: configure ports, stations, and registers via terminal UI; supports save/load (Ctrl+S saves and auto-enables ports) and IPC integration with CLI for testing and automation.
• Multiple data sources and protocols: physical/virtual serial ports (managed via socat), HTTP, MQTT, IPC (Unix domain sockets / named pipes), files, and FIFOs.
• Port Forwarding: configure source and target ports within the TUI for data replication, monitoring, or bridging.
• Daemon mode: run headless using a saved TUI configuration to start all configured ports/stations (suitable for embedded/CI deployments).
• Virtual port and test tooling: includes scripts/socat_init.sh for virtual serial ports and example tests in examples/cli_e2e and examples/tui_e2e for local/CI testing.
• Extensible integrations: forward or receive port data via HTTP/MQTT/IPC for (remote) integrations.

Note: use --no-config-cache to disable TUI save/load; --config-file <FILE> and --no-config-cache are mutually exclusive.

Quick start

1. Install the Rust toolchain

2. Clone the repo and enter the directory

3. Install:

   • Build from source: cargo install aoba

   • Or install a CI-built release (if available) with cargo-binstall:

     • Example: cargo binstall --manifest-path ./Cargo.toml --version <version>

     • Use --target <triple> to pick a platform-specific artifact (e.g. x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu).

4. Run aoba to start the TUI by default; use TUI to configure ports and save the configuration as needed.

Persistent configuration (config file)

--config-file <FILE> explicitly selects a TUI config file (daemon mode uses --daemon-config <FILE>). This conflicts with --no-config-cache, which disables loading/saving of TUI config.

Example:

# Start TUI with a specific config file; load/save enabled
aoba --tui --config-file /path/to/config.json

# Start TUI with no config caching (default) — no load/save
aoba --tui --no-config-cache

Run headless with a saved configuration:

aoba --daemon --config-file /path/to/config.json

Systemd example:

[Unit]
Description=Aoba Modbus RTU Daemon
Wants=network.target
After=network.target network-service
StartLimitIntervalSec=0

[Service]
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/home/youruser
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/aoba --daemon --config-file /home/youruser/config.json
Restart=always
RestartSec=1s

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Common use cases

• Automated testing: auto-start Modbus simulators in CI/CD
• Embedded systems: run Aoba as a daemon on embedded devices (e.g., Raspberry Pi) with USB-serial adapters