pm3py/CLAUDE.md

pm3py — Development Guide

What is this?

A pure-Python async library that speaks the Proxmark3 NG wire protocol directly over USB serial. Returns structured dicts, not text. No dependency on the C client binary.

Quick reference

# Run tests (no hardware needed, all mocked)
cd /home/work/pm3py
python -m pytest tests/ -v

# Install for development
pip install -e .

Package structure

pm3py/
  __init__.py              # re-exports Proxmark3, PM3Error, PM3Response, Cmd, PM3Status
  core/                    # wire protocol and device commands
    protocol.py            # wire constants, CRC-16/A, Cmd enum, PM3Status
    transport.py           # frame encode/decode, PM3Transport async serial
    client.py              # Proxmark3 class, _SyncProxy, FirmwareInfo
    hw.py                  # hardware commands, LED API (platform-aware)
    hf.py                  # HF core — tune, search, sniff, dropfield
    hf_iso14a.py           # ISO 14443-A — scan, raw. Uses MIX frames
    hf_iso15.py            # ISO 15693 — scan, rdbl, wrbl, thin sniff cmd
    hf_mfc.py              # MIFARE Classic — rdbl, wrbl, rdsc, chk, nested, cident
    lf.py                  # LF commands + T55xxCommands + LFSearchResult
  trace/                   # firmware trace infrastructure (shared by sniff, sim, reader)
    trace.py               # parse_tracelog, TRACELOG_HDR_SIZE
    decode_iso15.py        # ISO 15693 command/response decoders
    ndef.py                # NDEF TLV/record decode for trace annotation
    format.py              # ANSI color formatting, format_sniff_line
  sniff/                   # sniff orchestration — protocol detection, session lifecycle
    session.py             # SniffSession — start/download/decode per protocol
  sim/                     # card simulation framework (~7.8k LOC, 686 tests)
    transponder.py         # Transponder ABC, MemoryRegion
    medium.py              # Medium, SoftwareMedium (RF simulation)
    reader.py              # Reader ABC, ScriptedReader, InteractiveReader
    frame.py               # RFFrame (bit/byte level)
    iso14443a.py           # Tag14443A, Tag14443A_3/4, Reader14443A
    iso15693.py            # Tag15693, Reader15693
    mifare.py              # MifareClassicTag + Crypto1
    desfire.py             # DesfireTag, DesfireReader
    type5.py               # NfcType5Tag (NDEF on 15693)
    nxp_icode.py           # NxpIcodeTag base
    icode_slix.py          # → icode_slix2 → icode3, icode_dna
    ntag5_platform.py      # → ntag5_switch, ntag5_link → ntag5_boost
    sim_session.py         # SimSession (table compile + WTX relay)
    table_compiler.py      # ResponseTable, TableCompiler
    trace_fmt.py           # TraceFormatter (14443-A + 15693 decoders)
    # + lf_base, em4100, hid, t5577, ndef, implants, fuzzer, relay, etc.
  reader/                  # higher-level reader modes by protocol/vendor (scaffold)
  transponders/            # tag/transponder models independent of hardware (scaffold)

Client API

pm3.hw.ping()              # hardware
pm3.hf.iso14a.scan()       # ISO 14443-A
pm3.hf.iso15.rdbl(4)       # ISO 15693
pm3.hf.mfc.rdbl(0)         # MIFARE Classic
pm3.lf.t55.readbl(0)       # T55xx
pm3.hf.tune()              # HF antenna tune
pm3.hf.dropfield()         # drop field

Wire protocol essentials

• NG frame (client→device): magic 0x61334d50 + length|0x8000 + cmd + payload + crc/nocrc
• MIX frame: Same but ng bit unset, payload starts with 3x uint64 args (24 bytes)
• Response frame: magic 0x62334d50 + length|ng + status + reason + cmd + payload + crc/nocrc
• USB: no CRC (postamble = 0x3361 cmd / 0x3362 resp). C client sets send_with_crc_on_usb = false.
• FPC UART: CRC-16/A with byte-swapped wire encoding

Key patterns

• All command methods are async. The sync wrapper in _SyncProxy (in core/client.py) intercepts via __getattr__ and calls loop.run_until_complete().
• Command classes hold a self._t reference to PM3Transport (or mock in tests).
• Tests use AsyncMock for transport. Set hw._is_rdv4 = False to skip capabilities fetch in LED tests.
• capabilities() response parsed at known byte/bit offsets from the C struct (version=7 format).

Platform differences (PM3 Easy vs RDV4)

Color	Easy	RDV4
green	A (0x01)	B (0x02)
red	B (0x02)	C (0x04)
orange	C (0x04)	A (0x01)
blue	D (0x08)	(none)
red2	(none)	D (0x08)

PWM-capable: Easy = A,B. RDV4 = A,D.

Sim framework (worktree feature/sim-framework)

Software-defined transponder/reader simulation framework — 750+ tests. Pure-Python models for ISO 14443-A, 15693, MIFARE Classic, DESFire, JCOP, LF (EM4100, HID, T5577), NDEF, NXP ICODE/SLIX2/DNA/NTAG5, access control (Wiegand, OSDP), implant profiles. See .worktrees/sim-framework/docs/SIM_FRAMEWORK_STATUS.md for full status.

Table compiler: proprietary command match patterns

Critical: For NXP custom commands (0xA0+), table entry match patterns must NOT include the manufacturer code byte (0x04). The firmware's UID addressing logic consumes the mfg byte as part of UID parsing, so after normalization the mfg byte is absent from the command passed to table lookup.

Addressing flow for 22 AB 04 <uid_8_bytes>:

1. Firmware sees cmd[0] & ADDRESS → addressed mode
2. cmd[2] (mfg code 0x04) doesn't match UID → tries cmd[3:11] → UID matches
3. cmdCpt advances past mfg + UID → cmdCpt = 11
4. Normalization: norm = [flags & ~ADDRESS, cmd] + cmd[cmdCpt:] → 02 AB (no mfg code!)
5. Table lookup on 02 AB → match pattern must be [0x02, 0xAB] (PREFIX), NOT [0x02, 0xAB, 0x04]

For unaddressed commands (02 AB 04), mfg code stays → 02 AB 04. PREFIX match on [0x02, 0xAB] matches both forms.

Rule: All NXP custom command table entries use match=bytes([flags, cmd_byte]) with MATCH_PREFIX. Never include 0x04 in the match.

Python-driven card simulation (in progress)

Design doc: docs/PYTHON_SIM_DESIGN.md. Firmware patch (~320 lines of C) + Python extensions to enable Python-controlled card simulation on unmodified PM3 Easy/RDV4 hardware. Two mechanisms:

• Response table in BigBuf — pre-compiled by Python, served by firmware at wire speed (86µs FDT for 14443-A Layer 3)
• WTX relay — firmware sends S(WTX) on Layer 4 table miss, relays APDU to Python over USB for real-time crypto (DESFire, JCOP, EMV)
• 15693 retry relay — reader retry-based relay for unknown commands

Firmware maintenance: atomic single-file commits for easy rebase against upstream PM3. See design doc for CI workflow.

Adding new commands

1. Find the CMD_* constant in include/pm3_cmd.h and add to Cmd enum in core/protocol.py
2. Check if the C client uses SendCommandNG (→ send_ng) or SendCommandMIX (→ send_mix)
3. Check the payload struct in pm3_cmd.h and use struct.pack to build it
4. Parse the response using struct.unpack_from on resp.data
5. Return a dict with human-readable keys
6. Write test with AsyncMock transport — no hardware needed