wezterm serial

Open and interact with a serial port in WezTerm

The serial command opens a serial port connection, allowing you to interact with serial devices directly from WezTerm.

Synopsis

wezterm serial [OPTIONS] <PORT>

Description

Opens a connection to a serial port device. This is useful for interacting with embedded systems, microcontrollers, network equipment, and other hardware that communicates via serial interfaces.

Arguments

PORT · string · required

Specifies the serial device name.

• Windows: Use names like COM0, COM1, COM2, etc.
• Linux/Unix: Use device paths like /dev/ttyUSB0, /dev/ttyACM0, /dev/ttyS0, etc.
• macOS: Use device paths like /dev/cu.usbserial-1234, /dev/tty.usbserial-1234, etc.

Examples:

# Windows
wezterm serial COM3

# Linux
wezterm serial /dev/ttyUSB0

# macOS
wezterm serial /dev/cu.usbserial-1234

Options

--baud · number

Set the baud rate. The default is 9600 baud.

Common baud rates: 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200

Example:

wezterm serial --baud 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0

--class · string

Override the default windowing system class. The default is org.wezfurlong.wezterm.

• Under X11 and Windows: changes the window class
• Under Wayland: changes the app_id

This changes the class for all windows spawned by this instance of wezterm, including error, update and ssh authentication dialogs.

--position · string

Override the position for the initial window launched by this process.

Format options:

• --position 10,20 - set x=10, y=20 in screen coordinates
• --position screen:10,20 - set x=10, y=20 in screen coordinates
• --position main:10,20 - set x=10, y=20 relative to the main monitor
• --position active:10,20 - set x=10, y=20 relative to the active monitor
• --position HDMI-1:10,20 - set x=10, y=20 relative to the monitor named HDMI-1

Examples

Connect with default baud rate (9600)

# Linux
wezterm serial /dev/ttyUSB0

# Windows
wezterm serial COM3

Connect with 115200 baud

wezterm serial --baud 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0

Arduino serial connection

# Linux
wezterm serial --baud 9600 /dev/ttyACM0

# macOS
wezterm serial --baud 9600 /dev/cu.usbmodem14101

Embedded development board

wezterm serial --baud 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0

Network equipment console

wezterm serial --baud 9600 /dev/ttyUSB0

Finding Serial Ports

Linux

List available serial ports:

ls /dev/tty*
# Look for ttyUSB*, ttyACM*, ttyS*

Or use:

dmesg | grep tty

macOS

List available serial ports:

ls /dev/cu.*
ls /dev/tty.*

Windows

Check Device Manager or use PowerShell:

[System.IO.Ports.SerialPort]::getportnames()

Common Use Cases

• Arduino/Microcontroller Development: Connect to Arduino boards or other microcontrollers for programming and debugging
• Embedded Systems: Interact with embedded Linux systems via serial console
• Network Equipment: Access console ports on routers, switches, and other network devices
• Debugging: Monitor serial output from hardware devices
• IoT Devices: Communicate with IoT hardware during development

Tips

• On Linux, you may need to add your user to the dialout group to access serial ports:

  sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
  

  (Log out and back in for changes to take effect)

• Some devices require specific baud rates. Check your device documentation.

• Use Ctrl+C to send interrupt signals to the connected device

Related

• wezterm ssh - Connect to remote systems via SSH
• wezterm start - Start a local terminal session