node-serial-terminal

This is a package to simplify interacting with a linux terminal over a serial connection programatically. An async function called exec() can be used to write the command to the terminal over the serial interface, and waits for the command to exit, then returns the commands output.

For example:

import { exec } from '@balena/node-serial-terminal'

async function main(){
    const timeout = 5*1000 // 5 second timeout
    let result = await exec('/dev/ttyUSB0', 115200, 'cat /etc/os-release', timeout)
    console.log(result)
}

will print something like:

NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="20.04.2 LTS (Focal Fossa)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS"
VERSION_ID="20.04"
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
VERSION_CODENAME=focal
UBUNTU_CODENAME=focal

Notes

A timeout can be set using the timeout arguement. It will reject if the timeout is exceeded.

Currently, only a serial terminal that has no authentication is supported, as the user root. A future improvement is to allow users to specify a user and password.