Serial Protocol

Use this page when building an application that controls C5TAKO™ over USB Serial or BLE Serial.

Quick start

Connect with USB Serial or BLE Serial.
Enable TX notifications when using BLE.
Send /HELP to read commands supported by the installed firmware.
Send /PING to check connectivity.
Send /STATUS to read device state.

The protocol can change between firmware versions. Treat /HELP from the physical device as the source of truth before wiring commands into an app.

Connection

USB Serial

Item	Value
Baud rate	`115200`
Data format	Line-oriented text
Line ending	`\n` or CRLF
Command prefix	`/`

Configure Serial Monitor to send Newline or Both NL & CR. If the device does not respond, check the line-ending setting first.

BLE Serial

BLE uses the same command and response set as USB Serial.

Item	Value
Device name	`C5TAKO Serial`
Service UUID	`6E400001-B5A3-F393-E0A9-E50E24DCCA9E`
RX — write commands	`6E400002-B5A3-F393-E0A9-E50E24DCCA9E`
TX — read and receive notifications	`6E400003-B5A3-F393-E0A9-E50E24DCCA9E`

Workflow:

Find C5TAKO Serial.
Connect to the Service UUID.
Enable notifications on TX.
Write commands to RX.
Handle responses that may span multiple BLE packets.

Response format

[LEVEL] [MODULE] fields...

Level	Meaning
`OK`	Command succeeded.
`ERR`	Command failed; usually includes `CODE=` and `MSG=`.
`INFO`	Status message.
`DATA`	JSON data.
`STREAM`	Continuous status data.

Example:

[OK] [SERIAL] MSG="pong" uptime=123456
[ERR] [DEAUTH] CODE=NO_AP_SCAN MSG="scan ap first"
[DATA] [STATUS] {"wifi":"AP+STA","scan":{"aps":4,"stas":0}}

Read data as a stream: do not assume one read equals one response. Separate response-message parsing from JSON payload parsing, and handle BUSY, timeouts, and disconnections.

Basic commands

Command	Purpose
`/HELP`	List commands supported by this firmware.
`/PING`	Check that Serial Command is running.
`/STATUS`	Read overall device status.
`/STATUS <module>`	Read a named module’s status if firmware supports it.
`/STOP`	Stop every runtime.
`/STOP <module>`	Stop a named runtime.
`/REBOOT [DELAY=ms]`	Restart immediately or after the specified delay.

Scan and select a target

Scan APs and STAs

/SCAN AP [CHANNEL=n]
/SCAN STA

/SCAN AP scans for access points. Without a channel it scans multiple channels. /SCAN STA scans clients related to prior AP scan data.

Read scan results

/RESULT AP
/RESULT STA

These commands return the most recent results without starting another scan. Entry indexes start at 0.

Select entries

/SELECT AP <ids|ALL|CLEAR>
/SELECT STA <ids|ALL|CLEAR>

Example:

/SELECT AP 0,1
/SELECT STA 0
/SELECT AP ALL
/SELECT STA CLEAR

Start and stop a runtime

Commands that start work use this form:

/START <MODULE> [MODE] [ARGS...]

Wi-Fi Monitor and PCAP

/START MONITOR NORMAL [HOP=ON] [INTERVAL=500]
/START MONITOR SAVE [HOP=ON] [INTERVAL=500]
/START PCAP ACTIVE
/START PCAP TARGET

SAVE writes Monitor data to PCAP when storage is available. TARGET requires scanned and selected AP data.

Other Wi-Fi tools

/START DEAUTH ALL|MASS|AP|STA
/START BEACON RANDOM|ALL|AP|PREFIX <name>|LIST <ssid1,ssid2>
/START AUTH ALL|AP
/START ASSOC ALL|AP
/START CSA ALL|AP|STA
/START FINDHIDDEN
/START WHITELIST AP|ALL

Portal

/START PORTAL NORMAL SSID="Free WiFi" [TEMPLATE=basic|HTML=/path.html|INLINE="<html>..."]
/START PORTAL VERIFY SSID="Target" [BSSID=xx] [CHANNEL=n] [TEMPLATE=password_only|HTML=/path.html|INLINE="<html>..."]
/PORTAL STATUS
/PORTAL DEAUTH TOGGLE|ON|OFF

Use Portal commands only in a lab and only with test data that is not another person’s personal information.

Bluetooth and other detectors

/START BLE_MONITOR [ACTIVE|PASSIVE]
/START BLE_SPAM IOS|SAMSUNG|ANDROID|MICROSOFT|RANDOM
/START BAD_BLE
/START MODEL_FIND
/START AIRTAG
/START CSI_MOTION [CHANNEL=n] [MIN_RSSI=-85]

Stop a runtime

/STOP
/STOP MONITOR
/STOP BLE_SPAM

For an app emergency-stop control, send /STOP and /BTN RELEASE ALL if the connection is lost while a button is held.

Control the display

/BTN <UP|DOWN|LEFT|RIGHT|OK|BACK> TAP|HOLD|RELEASE
/BTN RELEASE ALL

Example:

/BTN UP TAP
/BTN OK HOLD
/BTN RELEASE ALL

If the app loses connection during a HOLD command, send /BTN RELEASE ALL after reconnecting.

Request a screen image

/FRAME GET [FMT=GRAY2|MONO] [COMP=RLE|RAW] [CHUNK=512]

Assemble chunks in order and check data size before displaying the image.

Status stream

/STREAM ON [INTERVAL=ms] [EVENTS=ON] [STATS=ON]
/STREAM OFF

INTERVAL accepts 100–60000 milliseconds. Send /STREAM OFF before disconnecting when continuous data is no longer needed.

File commands

/FILE LIST [PATH=/]
/FILE INFO <path>
/FILE STORAGE
/FILE DELETE <path>
/FILE RENAME <old> <new>
/FILE GET <path> [CHUNK=512] [LOOPS=1]
/FILE RECV <path> LEN=<bytes> [CHUNK=512] [OVERWRITE=ON] [TIMEOUT=30000]

Frequently used commands:

Command	Purpose
`/FILE LIST`	List files.
`/FILE INFO`	Read file information.
`/FILE STORAGE`	Read total, used, and free storage.
`/FILE DELETE`	Delete a file.
`/FILE RENAME`	Rename a file.
`/FILE GET`	Send a file from the device to the app.
`/FILE RECV`	Receive a file from the app according to the firmware-supported protocol.

The /FILE RECV stream format is:

[BEGIN] [FILE] name="/x" len=n chunk=n
DATA chunks
[END] [FILE]

Before using file commands, check /HELP and /FILE STORAGE on the physical device because capabilities and storage names can change by firmware version.

Recommended connection sequence

/HELP
/PING
/STATUS
/SCAN AP
/RESULT AP
/SELECT AP 0
/START MONITOR NORMAL
/STREAM ON INTERVAL=1000 EVENTS=ON STATS=ON
/STREAM OFF
/STOP

After every reconnection, check firmware version, /HELP output, and /STATUS before sending another command.

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Quick start

Connection

USB Serial

BLE Serial

Response format

Basic commands

Scan and select a target

Scan APs and STAs

Read scan results

Select entries

Start and stop a runtime

Wi-Fi Monitor and PCAP

Other Wi-Fi tools

Portal

Bluetooth and other detectors

Stop a runtime

Control the display

Request a screen image

Status stream

File commands

Recommended connection sequence

​Quick start

​Connection

​USB Serial

​BLE Serial

​Response format

​Basic commands

​Scan and select a target

​Scan APs and STAs

​Read scan results

​Select entries

​Start and stop a runtime

​Wi-Fi Monitor and PCAP

​Other Wi-Fi tools

​Portal

​Bluetooth and other detectors

​Stop a runtime

​Control the display

​Request a screen image

​Status stream

​File commands

​Recommended connection sequence

Quick start

Connection

USB Serial

BLE Serial

Response format

Basic commands

Scan and select a target

Scan APs and STAs

Read scan results

Select entries

Start and stop a runtime

Wi-Fi Monitor and PCAP

Other Wi-Fi tools

Portal

Bluetooth and other detectors

Stop a runtime

Control the display

Request a screen image

Status stream

File commands

Recommended connection sequence