🔌 Sermonizer

A simple, clean serial monitor with a clean terminal UI for embedded development.

Most terminal-based serial monitors are annoying to use - they have clunky interfaces and no sane defaults. We wanted something that could be quickly spun up to interact with embedded devices during firmware development without any hassle.

Features

• Smart auto-scroll: Follows new data, easy to switch to manual scrolling
• Auto-reconnect: Keeps watching the port and resumes when the device comes back
• Clean TUI: Split view with input at bottom, output on top, status bar with connection state
• Auto-detect ports: Just run sermonizer and it finds your device
• Sane defaults: 115200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit
• Hex mode: View binary data as hex bytes
• Logging: Save RX/TX data with timestamps
• Fast: Built in Rust, handles high baud rates smoothly

Quick Start

# Install from crates.io
cargo install sermonizer
# Install from source
git clone https://github.com/systemscape/sermonizer.git
cd sermonizer
cargo install --path .# Or run locally
cargo run --release
# Connect to first available port
sermonizer
# Or specify port and baud
sermonizer --port /dev/ttyUSB0 --baud 115200
# Or with cargo run
cargo run --release -- --port /dev/ttyUSB0 --baud 115200
# List available ports
sermonizer --list
# Or with cargo run
cargo run --release -- --list

Usage

sermonizer [OPTIONS]
Options:
-p, --port <PORT> Serial port path
-b, --baud <BAUD> Baud rate (default: 115200)
--line-ending <E> Line ending: none|nl|cr|crlf (default: nl)
--data-bits <N> Data bits: 5|6|7|8 (default: 8)
--parity <P> Parity: none|odd|even (default: none)
--stop-bits <N> Stop bits: 1|2 (default: 1)
--flow-control <F> Flow control: none|software|hardware (default: none)
--dtr <on|off> Set the DTR line after opening
--rts <on|off> Set the RTS line after opening
--hex Display data as hex
--log <FILE> Log received data
--tx-log <FILE> Log transmitted data
--log-ts Add timestamps to logs and display
--list List available ports

Controls

• Type and press Enter: Send data to device
• ↑↓: Browse send history
• Shift+↑↓ / Page Up/Down: Scroll through output
• Home / End: Jump to top / bottom (End resumes auto-scroll)
• Ctrl+L: Clear output
• Ctrl+V, then a key: Send that key as a raw control byte (e.g. Ctrl+V Ctrl+C sends 0x03)
• Esc: Clear input line
• Ctrl+C / Ctrl+D: Exit

Why?

Perfect for:

• Arduino/ESP32 debugging
• Firmware development workflows
• Quick embedded device interaction
• Protocol testing and development

License

MIT - see LICENSE file.