# Serial Consoles in [yoe]

> Source: <https://yoebuild.org/blog/serial-consoles/>
> Published: 2026-10-14 00:00:00+00:00

Embedded work usually means a serial terminal open in another window, and a
search for whichever `ttyUSB` the board landed on today. The [latest video](https://youtu.be/Go0gEvf4JxI) shows `[yoe]` taking
over that job: it attaches to each machine’s serial console, logs everything,
and gives agents like Claude Code a simple way to work with the device at the
console level. That opens the door to more hardware-in-the-loop work, where an
agent tests on the real board instead of only in QEMU.

Configure a serial port for a machine and the `[yoe]` TUI gains a **Serial**
tab. From the moment `yoe` starts, the tab streams console output from the
device. It is output only, so you can scroll, jump to the top, or clear it
without typing into the target by accident.

Press `enter` to drop into an interactive terminal, much like `tio`. Run
commands, then press `ctrl-t q` to return to the TUI. To skip the TUI entirely,
`yoe serial` opens the same interactive console on its own. Only one can hold
the port at a time; two clients on one port compete for the output, just as two
`tio` sessions would.

Two commands give an agent what it needs to drive the device:

`yoe serial send ls` sends a command over the serial port.`yoe serial log` shows the most recent console output.
Send a command, read what comes back, and decide what to do next. `[yoe]` also
writes all serial output to a log file while it runs, so the agent can review
the full boot history, not just the last few lines.

Serial ports live in `local.star`, alongside your other local settings, with
one entry per machine. `[yoe]` identifies each port by the USB adapter’s device
ID instead of `ttyUSB0` or `ttyUSB1`. As long as a machine keeps the same
adapter, `[yoe]` finds it after every reboot and replug, with no hunting
required.

`[yoe]` aims to remove friction from embedded work for both people and agents.
The [diagnose skill](https://yoebuild.org/blog/ai-integration/) gave agents the
build log; serial console support gives them the device itself. Together they
move toward an agent that builds an image, boots it on real hardware, and checks the result.

The full set of walkthroughs is on the
[Videos page](https://yoebuild.org/videos/). A few ways to go further:

`/new-machine` and `/new-module` AI skills