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canair documentation

CLI for reverse-engineering CAN/OBD diagnostics over-the-air with a WiCAN dongle.

canair works with a vehicle's data across two domains through a WiCAN WiFi dongle: request/response diagnostics (querying ECUs over UDS and KWP2000) and the raw broadcast CAN the car emits on its own (passively sniffed, or imported from external logs and DBCs). It then helps you capture, decode, statistically correlate, and document that data — turning it into a shareable vehicle profile.

canair analysis commands and the interactive decode --plot signal explorer in action

These docs are organized around what you're trying to do, not around the command list (that lives in the CLI reference).

Pick your path

  • New here? → Getting started — install, connect your dongle, and read live data from the bundled example car in a few minutes.
  • Own a car that isn't the bundled Ioniq? → Bring your own car — the headline journey: go from an empty profile to decoded, verified signals for your vehicle.
  • Contributing PID definitions? → Define & verify and Share your profile — how a reverse-engineered signal becomes a validated parameter others can use.
  • Want the details? → Concepts explain how it works; the Reference documents every flag, config key, and schema.
  • Learn from a real hunt? → Case studies narrate actual reverse-engineering investigations end-to-end — the wrong turns included — like finding the hidden AC input voltage.
  • Just want to use a bundled car? → Bundled profiles lists what ships (the mature Ioniq 2017 profile and more) — their ECUs, decoded signals, and IOControl actuators.

What you'll need

  • A WiCAN dongle — Pro or classic (non-Pro). Most features work on both; a few are Pro-only.
  • A vehicle with an OBD-II port.
  • uv to install and run canair.

A note on safety

Reading data is safe and free — canair only reads unless you explicitly ask it to actuate hardware, and every state-changing action confirms first. That said, interacting with a vehicle's CAN bus carries real risk. See Safety for what canair will and won't do, and why.

Contribute back 🎉

canair gets more useful with every car and signal people share. If you reverse-engineer your vehicle — a whole profile, a few decoded parameters, or a fix — please contribute it back via a pull request to philipkocanda/canair. It's the single best way to help others with the same car. See Contributing and Share your profile.