Zero

🔧 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.

✨ Features

🧩 Supported Hardware

Probe Hosts (runs Swindle)

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

Debug Targets

🚀 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.

🔨 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.

📘 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

🏗️ 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

🖼️ Gallery

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

🤝 Contributing

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

📄 License

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