CANboat is not turnkey: it is meant for engineers and hobbyists who want to see what is on their NMEA 2000 network, for reverse engineering, analysis, replay, testing and debugging other devices. If you just want to use your instruments, a project built on CANboat is friendlier: Signal K, or OpenPlotter.

This page works up from the simplest case, with the canboat binary (programs.md). The same with the C programs is in c/using.md.

canboat convert --to text capture.log    # for you to read
canboat convert capture.log              # JSON, for another program

The format is detected from the first line; file-formats.md lists what canboat reads.

canboat interface reads a gateway and writes its frames to stdout; pipe them into canboat convert. For an Actisense NGT-1 on /dev/ttyUSB0:

canboat interface --kind actisense -r /dev/ttyUSB0 | canboat convert --to text

gateways.md has the other gateways and how to name them.

This is what you want when reverse engineering. Only what source address 35 sends:

canboat interface --kind actisense -r /dev/ttyUSB0 | canboat convert --to text --src 35

Once you know which PGN interests you, add --pgn, and --debug to see each field's bytes and bits next to its value, which is what you need when a field looks wrong:

canboat interface --kind actisense -r /dev/ttyUSB0 | canboat convert --to text --pgn 130311 --debug

canboat server --kind actisense --device /dev/ttyUSB0 &
canboat tui --host localhost

canboat tui shows the PGNs on the bus, the devices sending them, and the decoded fields of the one you select. It also opens a capture: canboat tui --log capture.log.

canboat server reads the gateway, decodes, and serves JSON, NMEA 0183 and the raw frames on TCP ports, all in one process:

canboat server --kind actisense --device /dev/ttyUSB0

It keeps running; in another terminal:

nc localhost 2598                       # every decoded message, as JSON
nc localhost 2599                       # NMEA 0183, for a chart plotter program

server.md has the ports, and how to run it as a service.

If the decoding happens elsewhere, canboat n2kd serves a JSON stream it reads on stdin on the same ports:

canboat interface --kind actisense -r /dev/ttyUSB0 | canboat convert | canboat n2kd

At the pace it was recorded:

canboat replay < capture.log | canboat convert --to text

Or as a live bus, ports and all, to test a consumer without a boat:

canboat server --replay capture.log

canboat interface sends what it reads on stdin, as PLAIN or FAST lines, to the bus. canboat format-message builds the line, so you need not write the hex yourself. An ISO Request to every device for its Product Information:

canboat format-message isoRequest --dst 255 PGN=126996 | canboat interface --kind actisense -w /dev/ttyUSB0

While canboat server has the gateway, write to its input port instead:

canboat format-message isoRequest --dst 255 PGN=126996 | nc localhost 2600

Whether a gateway passes a message on is up to the gateway: an NGT-1 or an iKonvert sends only the PGNs on its transmit list. See gateways.md.

Signal K uses CANboat's sibling, canboatjs, which is built for it.