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Open a serial console from the CLI

Use mimick connect to open your DUT's serial (UART) console in your own terminal. Whatever the DUT prints shows up on your screen, and whatever you type goes to the DUT, as if the serial cable ran to your desk.

Prefer the browser? See Open a serial console in the web app.

What you need​

Anyone already on the console shares it with you.

Step 1 · Sign in and pick your bench​

  1. Sign in, if you haven't yet:

    mimick auth login

  2. List the benches you can reach:

    mimick bench list

  3. Make the bench wired to your DUT the active bench:

    mimick bench use <your-bench>

    Later commands target this bench until you pick another one. To target a different bench for a single command, pass --bench <your-bench> instead.

Step 2 · Find the console port​

List the peripherals on the bench:

mimick peripheral list

Each serial adapter shows up twice: once with a location ending in .uart0 (the raw byte stream) and once ending in .tty0 (the interactive console). You want the .tty location. Its NAME column tells you which adapter is which, using the names your org admin gave them.

A bench with many peripherals prints a long list. To show only the console ports, filter it:

mimick peripheral list | grep -E 'LOCATION|\.tty'

The mimick peripheral list output, filtered to the console ports on a bench

Select the recording to open it at full size. The names and the number of ports depend on how your bench is set up, so yours won't match this example.

Step 3 · Connect​

Pass the .tty location to mimick connect:

mimick connect <location>

For example, mimick connect console.tty0.

The CLI opens a full-screen console. The top bar shows the bench and port, with Connected once the link is up. The bottom bar shows the keys you need and the console size.

Press Enter to get a prompt from your DUT, then work as you would on a local serial console.

A mimick connect session: the console opens and shows Connected, then Ctrl+A X returns to the shell

When you join, MIMICK replays the console's most recent output, then streams live output. If the console stays blank after you press Enter, the DUT may be powered off, still booting, or not sending anything on this port.

The Cloud closes a console that carries no traffic in either direction for two minutes. Run mimick connect again to rejoin.

Step 4 · Disconnect​

Every key you press goes to the DUT, so the CLI uses Ctrl+A as a prefix for its own commands:

KeysAction
Ctrl+A, then XDisconnect and return to your shell
Ctrl+A, then ?Show the help screen
Ctrl+A, Ctrl+ASend a literal Ctrl+A to the DUT

Disconnecting closes only your view. Anyone else attached to the same console stays connected.

If you can't connect​

What you seeWhat to do
not signed inRun mimick auth login.
no active benchRun mimick bench use <your-bench>, or pass --bench.
the bench "<name>" is offlineCheck that the bench has power and a network connection. It shows as connected in mimick bench list once it's back.
A permission errorAsk your org admin for the Operator grant on the bench.
The port shows as missing in mimick peripheral listThe bench can't see the serial adapter. Check its USB cable, then run mimick peripheral refresh.
No .tty location for your adapterThe bench config doesn't give that adapter a console. Ask your org admin to add a TTY interface to it.
Garbled charactersThe serial settings don't match your DUT, most often the baud rate. Ask your org admin to fix them in the bench's peripheral config.
The session ends with run 'mimick connect' again to reconnectThe link to the bench dropped. Run the same mimick connect command again.
The session ends after two minutes of silence, with the call stopped making progressThe console carried no traffic in either direction for two minutes, so the Cloud closed it. Run the same mimick connect command again.