Baud

Use baud as the serial execution layer. Preserve evidence, minimize transmission, and gate physical actions behind verified device state.

Prepare

1. Run baud --version before opening a port.
2. If the command is unavailable, report the missing prerequisite. When installation is authorized, use uv tool install baud-cli; use uv run --directory <baud-cli-repo> baud only when the source checkout is known. Do not silently replace it with an ad hoc pyserial script.
3. Read applicable AGENTS.md, firmware documentation, and existing serial workflows to learn the baud rate, line ending, safe query commands, reset behavior, and physical risks.
4. Resolve the port from evidence. Do not assume a previous COM or tty name still identifies the same adapter.

Choose The Least Invasive Command

Follow this escalation order:

1. Run baud list --json to enumerate ports and USB metadata.
2. Run baud monitor --port <port> --duration <seconds> --json to observe boot output without transmitting.
3. Run baud probe --port <port> --commands <safe queries> --endings crlf lf --json only after confirming the probe commands are harmless for the device.
4. Run baud send for one bounded query with explicit expectations.
5. Run baud run <workflow.yaml> --json for multi-step configuration, observation, or hardware action.

Use --json for a bounded command whose final result drives the next decision. Use --jsonl when event ordering or streamed evidence matters. Keep automatic log artifacts enabled for real hardware work.

Apply Safety Gates

• Start with read-only observation and status queries.
• Treat DTR and RTS as physical control signals that may reset or reconfigure a device. Keep both false unless device documentation requires otherwise.
• Confirm both communication directions before sending a state-changing command. A boot banner proves only device-to-host traffic.
• Read configuration back from the device; do not treat ACK, echoed input, or a successful write as proof that hardware accepted the state.
• Mark motion, heating, injection, erase, flash-save, power switching, and similar actions as dangerous: true in workflows. Require successful earlier verification steps with requires.
• Begin physical testing with one cycle, the lowest safe setpoint, unloaded mechanics, or another documented low-risk condition.
• Stop on a busy, disappearing, or unidentified port. Do not kill an unknown process or continue on a different port without evidence.

Read references/safety.md before transmitting to an unfamiliar device, controlling physical motion, changing DTR/RTS, or diagnosing resets and one-way communication.

Run Guarded Workflows

Prefer an existing repository workflow under locations such as debug/serial/ or examples/. Inspect it before execution and verify that its commands match the connected firmware.

When authoring a workflow:

• Give every meaningful step a stable id.
• Add positive read-back assertions and negative error assertions.
• Keep waits local to the operation that needs them.
• Make every dangerous step depend on all required verification steps.
• Query final device state after asynchronous activity.
• Preserve the generated .log and .jsonl paths in the result.

Read references/workflows.md when creating or modifying YAML, selecting assertions, or interpreting workflow results and exit codes.

Interpret Evidence

Use the structured result before reading the human log:

• Check ok, exit_code, reason, and failed_step.
• Inspect the failed step's text, bytes_received, and assertion details.
• Use JSONL timestamps and Base64 raw bytes when decoding, line endings, resets, or event order are disputed.
• Distinguish silent from device_tx_only_or_command_loop_not_running and responsive probe diagnoses.
• Treat a repeated startup banner after a command as evidence of a probable reset, not merely a missing response.

Summarize the exact command, port identity, observed evidence, safety decision, and next diagnostic step. Do not claim hardware success from process exit alone when the workflow lacks a device-state assertion.

Handle CLI Gaps

Inspect baud <command> --help before falling back. Use a temporary serial script only when baud cannot express a required diagnostic and the fallback is within the user's authorized hardware scope. Keep the fallback read-only first, preserve raw bytes, always close the port, and record the missing capability as a candidate baud-cli enhancement.