🔧 SWINDLE — ARM / RISC-V Debug Probe

Turn any cheap dev board into a full-featured debug probe.

TL;DR — Got an RP2040 board lying around? You've got a debug probe.
Swindle is a multi-platform debug probe for embedded devices, supporting SWD (ARM Cortex-M) and RVSWD (RISC-V CH32V2xx/CH32V3xx). It's powered by the incredible Black Magic Probe engine with a custom Rust-based GDB interface.

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✨ Features

Category	Details
🧠 Engine	Built on top of the proven Black Magic Probe firmware engine
🦀 GDB Interface	Written in Rust — modern, safe, and maintainable
🔌 Protocols	SWD (ARM) + RVSWD (RISC-V) — no JTAG
🎯 Breakpoints	Infinite breakpoints in RAM (ARM/RV32) + soft flash breakpoints for targets without HW breakpoints (some WCH chips)
📡 RTOS Support	FreeRTOS awareness and SEGGER RTT out of the box — no configuration needed
💾 DFU Update	Firmware updates over USB DFU — no programmer required
📺 RTT Channel	Dedicated USB Tx only RTT channel (RP2xxx & CH32V3xx)
🌐 Networking	Experimental networked version based on CH32V307 or RP2040+W5500 (DHCP + port 2000/20001)
🔋 Low Cost	RP2040-Zero boards are dirt cheap!
🔧 Voltage Translation	Optional custom PCB with voltage level translators

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🧩 Supported Hardware

Probe Hosts (runs Swindle)

You need ≥256 KB flash and ≥48 KB RAM.

Platform	Status	Notes
RP2040 (e.g. RP2040-Zero)	✅ Stable	The most affordable option
RP2350 (e.g. RP2350-Zero)	🧪 Experimental
GD32F303CCT6 (48/64-pin)	✅ Stable
CH32V30xxx	✅ Stable	RISC-V based host
Custom PCB	🧩 Optional	With voltage translators, mosfet on reset, ws2812

Debug Targets

Architecture	Protocol	Device Families
ARM Cortex-M	SWD	RP2040, RP2350, STM32, GD32, and many ARM Cortex-M with SWD
RISC-V	RVSWD	WCH CH32V2xx, CH32V3xx

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🚀 Getting Started

1. Flash the firmware

Pick the pre-built firmware for your board or build from source.

Flashing via DFU (RP2040): Hold BOOTSEL, plug in USB, then copy the .uf2 file.

2. Connect to your target

Probe SWDIO  →  Target SWDIO
Probe SWCLK  →  Target SWCLK
Probe GND    →  Target GND
Probe NRST   →  Target NRST   (optional, recommended)
Probe TX     →  Target Uart TX    (optional)

'see wiki for exact pinout'

3. Start debugging

# Connect with GDB
gdb-multiarch -ex "target extended-remote /dev/ttyACM0" -ex "mon swdp_scan" -ex "attach 1" your_firmware.elf

Or use any GDB frontend (VS Code, CLion, etc.) — just point it to the serial port.

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🔨 Building

This project uses CMake with presets for each target platform.

There is a devpod/docker build environment included.

Prerequisites

• CMake ≥ 3.21
• ARM GCC toolchain (arm-none-eabi-gcc) or LLVM/Clang
• RISC-V toolchain (for CH32V targets)
• Rust toolchain (for the GDB interface)

Configure & Build

# Configure for your target
cmake --preset rp2040          # RP2040-Zero
cmake --preset rp2350          # RP2350-Zero
cmake --preset gd32f303_48     # GD32F303 48-pin
cmake --preset gd32f303_64     # GD32F303 64-pin
cmake --preset ch32v307        # CH32V307 (networked)

# Build
cmake --build --preset rp2040

Note: Some presets have variants with inverted NRST (*_inv), with WS2812 RGB led. See CMakePresets.json for the full list.

Preset	Description
rp2040	RP2040-Zero (USB)
rp2040_inv	RP2040-Zero with inverted NRST
rp2350	RP2350-Zero (USB, experimental)
gd32f303_48	GD32F303 48-pin (USB)
gd32f303_64	GD32F303 64-pin (USB)
gd32f303_48_inv_ws2812	GD32F303 48-pin (USB) +WS2812 +inv RST
gd32f303_64_inv_ws2812	GD32F303 64-pin (USB) +WS2812 +inv RST
ch32v307	CH32V30x (USB)
ch32v307_inv_ws2812	CH32V30x (USB) +ws2812 + inv RST
ch32v307_net	CH32V307 (Ethernet, experimental)
rp2040_zero_w5500	rp2040+w5500 (Ethernet, experimental)

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📘 Documentation

Full documentation is available on the Swindle Wiki — covering:

• 🔧 Hardware setup and wiring guides
• 🖥️ GDB integration and troubleshooting
• ⚙️ Advanced configuration
• 🧪 RTOS-aware debugging
• 🌐 Networked probe setup

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🏗️ Project Architecture

swindle/                    # Debug probe wrapper
├── rs/                     # Rust GDB interface (rs_swindle / rsbmp)
│   ├── rs_swindle/         # Core GDB logic
│   └── rs_swindle_wrapper/ # C → Rust bridge
└── swindle/                # C++ Black Magic Probe engine + wrapper

esprit/                     # C++ / Rust SDK framework (HAL + RTOS + MCU drivers)

assets/                     # Images and media
cmake/                      # Project-level CMake utilities

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🖼️ Gallery

Small probe, big target	RP2040 + CH32V
:------------------------:	:--------------:

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome! Feel free to check the issues page.

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📄 License

This project is built on the Black Magic Probe engine, licensed under GPL-3.0.