embeddedCI documentation

Get a BenchPod

Hardware-in-the-loop testing runs on real silicon, so the one thing you can't download is the hardware. To run the tests in these docs you need a physical BenchPod wired to your board — it's the device that powers the target, flashes it over SWD, captures UART, and emulates or measures signals.

What you get

One BenchPod covers the whole HIL loop for a board:

  • Programmable power control (protected eFuses, per-rail current monitoring).
  • Flashing and debug over SWD for any OpenOCD target (STM32, nRF, …).
  • UART capture and an interactive console.
  • A 12-channel logic analyzer with I2C sensor emulation and bus decode.
  • A 16-bit analog front-end (±30 V ADC, 16-bit DAC) for capture, replay, and fault injection.

Analog or digital-only?

Many targets only need the digital features — flashing, power, UART, logic analysis. The analog front-end matters when you want to record and replay real analog signals or inject analog faults (think a solar-array input or motor feedback). The request form has a checkbox for whether you need analog input/output, so we can match you to the right board.

Once it arrives

Wire it to your board and run your first test in about fifteen minutes:

  1. Install the SDK and write a test — see the pytest framework.
  2. Run it on real hardware from CI — see Run HIL in GitHub Actions.
  3. Prefer to explore by hand or with an agent? The CLI and MCP server drive the same bench.