DolphinLink.Bootstrapper 0.1.0

DolphinLink

Control your Flipper Zero from C# — over USB, via a simple NDJSON RPC.

[ Flipper Zero ]                    [ Your App ]
   C FAP daemon   ←— USB CDC 1 —→   .NET client
   (on-device)                       Bootstrapper auto-installs & launches the FAP
                                      Blazor WASM variant works straight from the browser

Why?

The Flipper Zero is an incredibly capable piece of hardware — IR blaster, Sub-GHz radio, NFC reader, RFID reader, GPIO pins, iButton, a display, and more, all in one pocket device. But to make it do something custom, you need to write C. And C is unforgiving: manual memory management, no standard library to speak of, a steep learning curve, and a slow edit-flash-test loop that can turn a simple idea into a multi-day exercise.

DolphinLink removes that barrier. Instead of writing C firmware, you keep the Flipper running its stock firmware and talk to it from a host application using modern C# over USB. The daemon is already written — you just call methods.

This matters because:

• C# developers can finally build real hardware projects without touching embedded C. You get async/await, strong types, NuGet packages, full IDE support, and a debugger — with actual Flipper hardware responding on the other end.
• The barrier to entry drops dramatically. An idea that would take days to implement as a FAP can become an afternoon's work in C#.
• It spreads what Flipper can do. The more people can build with it, the more creative and unexpected the use cases become. DolphinLink is a bet that opening the hardware to a wider audience leads to things nobody has thought of yet.

Real-world use cases

What it is

A Blazor WASM app (src/DolphinLink.Web) talks to the Flipper directly from a Chromium browser over the Web Serial API — no drivers, no install.

What it is NOT

• Not affiliated with Flipper Devices Inc. This is an independent hobbyist project.
• Not a replacement for qFlipper. It runs alongside it (on CDC interface 1); qFlipper keeps working normally.
• Not a full Flipper API. BLE, BadUSB, U2F, UART emulation, and app-protocol features are out of scope.
• Not production-hardened. Treat it as a solid foundation, not a battle-tested SDK.

How it works

• A small C daemon (FAP) runs on the Flipper under stock firmware and exposes an NDJSON RPC over USB CDC interface 1.
• CDC interface 0 stays free for qFlipper — you can use both at the same time.
• The Bootstrapper uses the Flipper's native protobuf RPC to upload the daemon FAP to the SD card and launch it automatically — no manual steps.
• The Blazor WASM variant uses the browser's Web Serial API to connect directly from Chrome or Edge — nothing to install.
• The wire protocol is plain newline-delimited JSON, documented in full in PROTOCOL.md — easy to implement in any language.

Supported subsystems

Interactive docs & playground

Try it live → Requires Chrome or Edge (Web Serial API). Connect your Flipper and everything runs in the browser — no install.

Reading this inside the web app? Use the sidebar to jump directly to the Playground, Docs, and Demos pages.

The web app is both a demo and an interactive API reference:

• Playground — schema-driven browser of every command and stream. Fields are auto-generated with the right input types (enum dropdowns, hex inputs, file pickers). Fill in the fields, hit Send, and see the typed response — or start a stream and watch live events scroll in. The RPC console at the bottom of every page shows the raw NDJSON traffic with timestamps, round-trip times, and optional pretty-print.
• Docs — the full documentation rendered in-app: Architecture, Wire Protocol, Schema Reference, and Diagnostics.
• Demos
  • LED color picker — full HSV picker and RGB sliders; every change is sent to the Flipper's RGB LED in real time.
  • Screen canvas — draw lines, rectangles, and text on a 128×64 preview, then push it to the Flipper display.
  • Flipper Gamepad — play Snake using the Flipper's physical D-pad buttons, streamed live over USB.

Programmatic Access — Quick Start

No code needed to explore the API — the Playground covers that. When you're ready to integrate the Flipper into your own C# application:

1. Install

dotnet add package DolphinLink.Bootstrapper

Or, if you only need the client without the auto-install flow:

dotnet add package DolphinLink.Client

2. Connect with the Bootstrapper (recommended)

The Bootstrapper uploads the daemon FAP if it isn't already on the SD card, launches it, and returns a connected client — all in one call. COM3 is the system port (native RPC / qFlipper), COM4 is the daemon port (opens after the FAP starts).

using DolphinLink.Bootstrapper;

var result = await Bootstrapper.BootstrapAsync("COM3", "COM4");
await using var flipper = result.Client;

3. Call commands

// Read a GPIO pin
bool level = await flipper.GpioReadAsync(GpioPin.Pin1);
Console.WriteLine($"Pin 1: {level}");

// Flash the RGB LED green
await flipper.LedSetRgbAsync(0, 255, 0);
await Task.Delay(400);
await flipper.LedSetRgbAsync(0, 0, 0);

// Stream IR receive events
await foreach (var e in flipper.IrReceiveStartAsync())
{
    Console.WriteLine($"IR: {e.Protocol} addr={e.Address} cmd={e.Command}");
}

Bring your own language

The wire protocol is plain NDJSON over USB CDC — one JSON object per line. If you want a client in Python, Java, Go, Rust, or anything else:

1. Read PROTOCOL.md — the full wire format fits on one page.
2. Browse schema/ — every command, field type, and enum is machine-readable JSON.
3. Use the C# client in src/DolphinLink.Client/ as a reference implementation.
4. Ask an LLM to generate the host library. Point it at PROTOCOL.md, the schema files, and the C# source — it has everything it needs.

Testing caveat

Not every command has been tested end-to-end on real hardware. If you run into a bug or unexpected behavior, please open an issue — reports are very welcome.

Reference

License

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.