Documentation

Start with the quickstart, then the tutorial that matches what you want to do. The specification defines the protocol itself.

Get started

Quickstart: Run the print babysitter demo, then a hub you control.
Install: Install from a clone or as a tool, run the hub as a service, or set up a Raspberry Pi.
Concepts: The hub, device files, the safety kernel, drivers, grants and errors, in one page.
FAQ: Short answers on safety, agents, limits, firmware and privacy.

Connect Claude: Give Claude an agent token, and Claude reaches the hub through openhal mcp.
Add a device: Create a device file, validate the file, confirm the limits and share the file.
Build a driver: Build a driver for a simulated bench lamp and pass the conformance suite.
Create a routine: Automate a device with triggers and steps that the kernel checks.

Device library: How the hub matches a device to a library file and how a person confirms the file.
Conformance suite: The checks every driver passes before the driver ships.
Safety model: What the hub guarantees, how the kernel enforces each guarantee, and what OpenHAL does not cover.
Architecture: One hub process, one deterministic kernel, and the thin clients around the hub.
Command line: Every openhal command, its options and its exit codes.
MCP server: The tools and prompts the MCP server gives an agent.
Driver contract: The package, class, tests and catalog entry a new driver needs.
MHS mapping: How each OpenHAL concept maps to what is public about MHS.

SDKs: The Python SDK for the hub protocol, with its API reference.
Inspector: The hub's dashboard, with every device and every message, and STOP.

Firmware protocol: The wire protocol a board running the OpenHAL Arduino library speaks.
OpenHAL for Arduino: Make a sketch describe itself so the hub builds its device file.