can-viewer

⚠️ Work in Progress: This project is under active development and not yet ready for production use.

A desktop application for viewing and analyzing CAN bus data from MDF4 files and live SocketCAN interfaces.

Features

• MDF4 File Support - Load and view CAN data from MDF4 files
• DBC Decoding - Decode CAN signals using DBC database files
• Live Capture - Capture CAN frames from SocketCAN interfaces (Linux)
• Cross-platform UI - Built with Tauri for native performance

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/reneherrero/can-viewer.git
cd can-viewer

# Install frontend dependencies
npm install

# Development mode (with devtools)
npm run tauri:dev

# Production build (creates .deb/.dmg/.msi)
npm run tauri:build

Command Line Options

can-viewer [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -d, --dbc <PATH>    DBC file to load on startup
  -m, --mdf4 <PATH>   MDF4 file to load on startup
  -h, --help          Print help

Environment Setup

All Platforms

# Node.js 20+ (via nvm recommended)
nvm install 20
nvm use 20

# Rust 1.85+ (via rustup)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
rustup update

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

# Tauri dependencies
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
    libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
    build-essential \
    curl \
    wget \
    file \
    libxdo-dev \
    libssl-dev \
    libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
    librsvg2-dev

# SocketCAN tools (for live capture)
sudo apt install -y can-utils

# Virtual CAN for testing (optional)
sudo modprobe vcan
sudo ip link add dev vcan0 type vcan
sudo ip link set up vcan0

macOS

# Xcode Command Line Tools
xcode-select --install

Windows

• Install Visual Studio Build Tools
• Select "Desktop development with C++" workload

Note: SocketCAN live capture is Linux-only. MDF4 viewing and DBC editing work on all platforms.

Dependencies

• mdf4-rs - MDF4 file parsing
• dbc-rs - DBC file parsing
• Tauri - Desktop application framework

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0. See LICENSING.md.