macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install orbuculumlocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew / rank 9437
Install orbuculum with Homebrew, Nix
Arm Cortex-M SWO/SWV Demux and Postprocess. Version 2.2.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-18. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#orbuculum.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#orbuculumnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/or/orbuculum/package.nix · source: api.github.com
overview
Package summary
Arm Cortex-M SWO/SWV Demux and Postprocess
Project links
Commands and aliases
- orbcat
- orbdump
- orbfifo
- orblcd
- orbmortem
- orbprofile
- orbstat
- orbtop
- orbtrace
- orbuculum
- orbzmq
history
Project history and usage
Orbuculum is a suite of host-side tools for decoding and presenting trace output from Arm Cortex-M CPUs. The Orbcode project describes it as software for making otherwise invisible trace flows visible, starting with SWO and expanding to 1-, 2-, and 4-bit parallel trace when paired with ORBTrace mini or other trace capture hardware.
Project history
Orbuculum began around Single Wire Output and Serial Wire Viewer workflows for Cortex-M debugging. The upstream documentation says it originally supported only the SWO pin, then added support for parallel trace through ORBTrace mini and other interfaces such as JTrace.
The 2.2.0 README describes a larger internal shift from a legacy chip-like stream protocol to `orbflow`, an extensible packet-oriented protocol that represents probe data more compactly. It also notes added CPU families, improved client application handling, improved stats and timing, a simplified communications subsystem, and early ETM4 support.
Adoption history
Orbuculum is niche but meaningful in embedded debugging. The upstream page lists support for Black Magic Debug Probe, SEGGER J-Link, generic USB TTL serial interfaces, FTDI high-speed serial interfaces, OpenOCD, PyOCD, ice40-HX8K and ECP5 parallel-trace boards, raw SWO files, and TCP sources that expose SWO.
The ORBTrace mini page links the hardware and software sides of the ecosystem: ORBTrace mini is an open-source debug and parallel trace interface for Cortex-M microcontrollers, and Orbuculum is the host suite used to exploit the captured trace stream.
How it is used
Embedded developers run `orbuculum` as the mux that connects to a trace probe and exposes a network interface, then attach tools such as `orbcat` for ITM channel text, `orbdump` for raw SWO capture, `orbtop` for live activity views, `orbstat` for analysis and KCacheGrind output, `orbmortem` for post-mortem analysis, and `orbtrace` for ORBTrace FPGA configuration.
The practical use case is low-intrusion insight into firmware execution: text channels, program-counter samples, performance analysis, and crash reconstruction without relying only on breakpoints or serial logging.
Why package nerds care
Orbuculum matters to package nerds because it packages a specialized embedded trace workflow as Unix-style command-line tools. The formula exposes many executables, each handling one part of trace capture, demultiplexing, viewing, statistics, or post-processing.
Timeline
- 2023-06-30: The changelog records Orbuculum 2.1.0 with timestamping work, a move to Meson/Ninja, stream abstraction cleanup, option renames, ORBTrace SWO support, and reliability fixes.
- 2024-10-23: The release page for 2.2.0 describes orbflow protocol, ORBTrace Mini gateware 1.4.0 compatibility, FreeBSD support, and experimental ETM4 work.
Related projects
- Orbuculum is part of the Orbcode ecosystem alongside ORBTrace mini hardware. It also interoperates with common embedded debug tools such as Black Magic Probe, OpenOCD, PyOCD, and SEGGER J-Link.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: green
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:no-higher-risk-signals
Install behavior
- No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
orbcat | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
orbdump | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
orbfifo | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
orblcd | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
orbmortem | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
orbprofile | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
orbstat | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
orbtop | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
orbtrace | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
orbuculum | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
orbzmq | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-08-03
manager version2.2.0
manager updated2026-06-18
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:orbuculum |
|---|---|
| Version | 2.2.0 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://github.com/orbcode/orbuculum |
| Repository | https://github.com/orbcode/orbuculum |
| Last updated | 2026-06-18T02:29:00-04:00 |
| Pulse | updated |
| Bottle | not recorded |
| Service | none declared |
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
Nix95%
orbuculum
nix profile install nixpkgs#orbuculum- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Orbuculum
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- pkg.so package database
- pkgdb category and tag curation