Web Serial tools for ESP32, STM32, AVR, flashing and hardware testing

ESP32 Bit Pirate

4 min read Original article ↗

Free browser-based Web Serial tools for ESP32 flashing, serial terminals, SPI flash programming, logic analysis, STM32 and AVR programming, and GPIO/I2C/SPI testing. Connect compatible hardware directly from your browser to inspect, program and test embedded devices without installing a desktop toolchain.

Web Serial

Web Serial Terminal for USB UART Devices

Connect to ESP32, Arduino, ARM boards, Bus Pirate firmware, USB-UART adapters and CDC-ACM serial devices directly from Chrome, Firefox or Edge. Read logs, send commands, paste scripts, save serial sessions locally.

Open Web Serial Terminal

SPI Flash

Web SPI Flash Programmer for Firmware Dumps

Browser-based flashrom workflow for probing, reading, writing, and saving SPI NOR flash chips through serprog-compatible hardware, enabling firmware extraction directly from a web browser.

Open SPI Flash Programmer

SUMP Logic

Web Logic Analyzer with VCD Waveform Viewer

Capture digital signals from SUMP-compatible hardware, inspect GPIO waveforms in the browser and export VCD, CSV, raw binary or session JSON data for protocol debugging and reproducible analysis.

Open Web Logic Analyzer

ESP Tool

Flash ESP firmware parts, read backups, merge binaries offline and erase chips from a desktop-style browser tool. Supports common ESP32 layouts, custom offsets, validation, all in your web browser.

Open Web ESP Tool

STM32 ST-LINK

Identify STM32 targets, flash BIN or Intel HEX firmware, back up memory, erase pages or sectors and switch to a serial console through the built-in ROM UART bootloader or ST-Link adapter.

Open STM32 Web Tool

AVR ISP

Web AVR Programmer with AVRDUDE WebAssembly

Prototype AVR ISP workflows in the browser with the ESP32 Bit Pirate AVRDUDE adapter. Detect ATmega and ATtiny targets, read memory, write HEX files with the Bus Pirate driver.

Open Web AVR Programmer

Bit Bang · BPIO2

Web GPIO, I2C and SPI Controller

Use compatible BPIO2 hardware to control GPIOs, scan and transact with I2C devices, exchange SPI data and build simple visual hardware sequences directly in the browser.

Open Bit Bang Controller

Python · Pyodide

Python Lab for Bit Pirate Automation

Run Python in the browser with Pyodide, load ESP32-Bit-Pirate-Scripts from GitHub and control ESP32 Bit Pirate over Web Serial for CLI and BPIO2 workflows.

Open Python Scripting Lab

Hardware data flowing into hex inspection and binary analysis panels.

Works with ESP32 Bit Pirate and compatible protocol devices

These browser tools are built for ESP32 Bit Pirate workflows, but they also work with other hardware that exposes the same open interfaces and protocol adapters.

Supported Browsers

Web Serial works in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera and compatible Chromium browsers on desktop. Safari does not currently support Web Serial hardware access.

Supported Hardware

The operating system must recognize your ESP32 board, USB UART adapter, CDC-ACM device or ESP32 Bit Pirate USB mode before the browser can request access.

Linux Serial Access

If serial access fails on Linux, grant your user access to the device with sudo setfacl -m u:$USER:rw /dev/ttyACM0, then reconnect the board.

Local Privacy

Serial logs, flash data and logic analyzer captures are processed locally by these static pages. The application does not upload captures to a server.

Open-source hardware debugging in the browser

ESP32 Bit Pirate is an open-source firmware that turns compatible ESP32-S3 devices into a multi-protocol hardware hacking and debugging tool inspired by the Bus Pirate.

It supports serial and web command-line workflows for UART, I2C, SPI, 1-Wire, 2-Wire, 3-Wire, CAN, JTAG/SWD, infrared, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Sub-GHz, RFID, RF24, FM and USB adapter modes.

These web tools strengthen the ESP32 Bit Pirate ecosystem by making common embedded workflows discoverable from a secure browser page: serial console access, firmware memory work, digital logic capture and protocol investigation.

The same hardware can switch between protocol mode and adapter-style workflows, so you can move from probing a bus to capturing waveforms, reading memory or programming without changing tools.

ESP32 Bit Pirate logo.

Serial and Web CLI

Use the same command structure over USB serial, Wi-Fi web interface or browser-based Web Serial workflows.

Protocol Workbench

Scan, sniff, send, script, dump, explore wired and wireless protocols.

Firmware and Memory

Work with EEPROM, flash, smartcard, SIM, iButton, RFID tag, firmware dumps.