Jumpstarter

Jumpstarter is a free and open source test automation framework. It bridges the gap between embedded development workflows and deployment environments, enabling consistent automated testing across real hardware and virtual environments with CI/CD integration. Every interface is programmatic, so human developers, test scripts, CI pipelines, and AI agents interact with devices through the same APIs.

Highlights

• 🧪 Unified Testing - One tool for physical and virtual devices under test
• 🔌 Hardware Abstraction - Control UART, CAN, SPI, GPIO, power, and USB through drivers
• 🐍 Python-Powered - Integrate with PyTest and Python's testing ecosystem
• 🌐 Collaborative - Share and securely lease test hardware across teams
• ⚙️ Automation Ready - Same APIs for humans, test scripts, CI pipelines, and AI agents
• 💻 Cross-Platform - Supports Linux and macOS

Repository Structure

This monorepo contains all Jumpstarter components:

Directory	Description
python/	Python client, CLI, drivers, and testing framework
controller/	Kubernetes controller and operator (Jumpstarter Service)
protocol/	gRPC protocol definitions (protobuf)
e2e/	End-to-end testing infrastructure

Quick Start

Install the CLI

pip install --extra-index-url https://pkg.jumpstarter.dev/ jumpstarter-cli

Or install all Python components:

pip install --extra-index-url https://pkg.jumpstarter.dev/ jumpstarter-all

Deploy the Service

To install the Jumpstarter Service in your Kubernetes cluster, see the Service Installation documentation.

Components

Python Client & Drivers (python/)

The Python implementation provides:

• jmp CLI tool for interacting with hardware
• Client libraries for test automation
• Hardware drivers for various devices
• Testing framework integration

See python/README.md for details.

Jumpstarter Service (controller/)

The Kubernetes-native service that provides:

• Centralized hardware management
• Client and exporter routing
• Authentication and authorization
• Multi-tenant support

Prerequisites:

• Kubernetes (version must match the k8s.io dependencies in controller/go.mod)
• kubectl (version matching the k8s.io dependencies in controller/go.mod)

See controller/README.md for deployment instructions.

Protocol (protocol/)

The gRPC-based communication layer that enables:

• Unified interface for virtual and physical hardware
• Secure communication over HTTPS
• Tunneling support for Unix sockets, TCP, and UDP
• Flexible topology with direct or routed connections

See protocol/README.md for details.

End-to-End Tests (e2e/)

Comprehensive testing infrastructure for the entire Jumpstarter stack.

See the Makefile for available targets.

Development

Prerequisites

• Python (for Python components, see .py-version)
• Go (for controller, see .go-version)
• Docker/Podman (for container builds)
• kubectl (version matching the k8s.io dependencies in controller/go.mod)

Building

# Build all components
make build

# Build specific components
make build-python      # Python packages
make build-controller  # Controller binary
make build-protocol    # Generate protocol code

# Run tests
make test

# Run end-to-end tests
make e2e-setup  # First time only
make e2e        # Run tests
make e2e-clean  # Clean up

Documentation

Jumpstarter's documentation is available at jumpstarter.dev.

• Getting Started
• Introduction
• Reference
• Contributing

Contributing

Jumpstarter welcomes contributors of all levels of experience! See the contributing guide to get started.

Community

• Matrix Chat
• Weekly Meeting
• Meeting Notes

License

Jumpstarter is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License (LICENSE or https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0).