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Getting started

This guide takes you from zero to a connected bench: sign in to MIMICK, install the CLI, adopt the bench sitting next to your hardware, and open your first session. It should take about fifteen minutes.

If you're new to how the pieces fit together, read the Overview first.

Before you begin​

You'll need:

  • A MIMICK Cloud account in an organization. Adopting a bench requires the org admin role (ask your organization's administrator if you're not sure).
  • A MIMICK bench (a hardware unit or a VM).
  • The hardware you want to access (your DUT) and the cables to wire it to the bench.
  • A workstation running macOS, Linux, or Windows.
  • The bench and your workstation on the same local network, since adoption happens over the LAN.

Step 1 · Sign in to MIMICK Cloud​

Open the MIMICK Cloud web app in your browser and sign in. Authentication runs through your identity provider, so you'll be redirected to sign in and then returned to the dashboard.

Signing in on the web confirms your account works and lets you watch benches come online later. The rest of this guide happens from the command line.

Step 2 · Install the CLI​

The CLI is a single binary named mimick. Download the archive for your platform from your MIMICK Cloud, then put mimick somewhere on your PATH:

https://api.<your-cloud-domain>/api/v1/downloads/mimick

That page lists every platform and links the archive matching your Cloud's version. A bench serves the same archives on your own network at http://<bench-address>/downloads/mimick, which works with no internet access at all.

tar -xzf mimick-<version>-darwin-<arch>.tar.gz
sudo mv mimick /usr/local/bin/
mimick --version

mimick --version should print a version string. If your shell can't find the command, make sure the directory you moved mimick into is on your PATH.

Step 3 · Sign in from the CLI​

Authenticate the CLI against the Cloud:

mimick auth login

This opens a browser window for you to sign in. Once you approve, the CLI stores your credentials locally and refreshes them automatically, so you won't need to log in again for everyday use.

Confirm you're signed in:

mimick auth status

Step 4 · Connect your bench​

Set up the bench next to your hardware:

  1. Power it on and connect it to your local network (the same network as your workstation).
  2. Connect your DUT to the bench using the interfaces your device exposes (a serial console, USB, SPI, GPIO, and so on).

On first boot, an un-adopted bench comes up in adoption mode and advertises itself on the local network, waiting to be claimed. It won't be reachable from the Cloud until you adopt it in the next step.

Step 5 · Adopt the bench into the Cloud​

Adoption ties the bench to your organization. Run:

mimick bench adopt --name "lab-bench-01"

The CLI discovers the un-adopted bench on your network automatically, asks the Cloud for an enrollment payload bound to your organization, and delivers it to the bench. The payload is end-to-end encrypted between the Cloud and the bench, and the CLI only passes it along.

  • --name is required. It's the friendly name the bench will show up under, so pick something that identifies the bench or location.
  • If automatic discovery doesn't find the bench, point the CLI straight at it: mimick bench adopt --name "lab-bench-01" --hostname <ip-or-host>.

Adoption needs the org admin role. When it finishes, the bench dials out to the Cloud and shows up as connected, both in the web dashboard and from the CLI:

mimick bench list

Select it as your active bench so later commands know which one to use:

mimick bench use lab-bench-01

Step 6 · Interact with your DUT​

See what's wired to the bench:

mimick peripheral list

Then open an interactive console to one of its interfaces, for example a serial TTY:

mimick connect console.tty0

You're now driving hardware in your lab from your own machine. Press the key combination shown on screen to exit the session. Open a serial console from the CLI walks through this step in detail.

What's next​

  • Guides: step-by-step instructions for everyday tasks, such as opening a serial console from the CLI or the web app.
  • Overview: the concepts behind the CLI, Cloud, bench, and DUT.
  • Explore the rest of the mimick commands with mimick --help, or --help on any subcommand.