Bridge Management Tools

These five tools manage the lifecycle of AR488 bridge connections. A bridge must be connected before any bus or instrument operations can be performed on it.

`list_bridges`

List all configured GPIB bridges and their connection status. Returns each bridge’s name, transport type, connection state, and firmware version (if connected).

Parameters

This tool takes no parameters.

Example

result = await client.call_tool("list_bridges", {})

Returns

Bridges:
  bench-a: serial (/dev/ttyUSB0) [connected] — AR488 GPIB controller 0.51.29
  bench-b: tcp (192.168.1.50:23) [disconnected]

`bridge_status`

Get detailed status of a specific bridge, including firmware version, current GPIB address, read timeout, and full transport details.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`bridge_name`	string	Yes	Name of the bridge to query

Example

result = await client.call_tool("bridge_status", {
    "bridge_name": "bench-a"
})

Returns

{
  "name": "bench-a",
  "transport_type": "serial",
  "connection_state": "connected",
  "firmware_version": "AR488 GPIB controller 0.51.29",
  "current_address": 22,
  "read_timeout_ms": 3000,
  "serial_port": "/dev/ttyUSB0",
  "baudrate": 115200
}

`connect_bridge`

Connect to a bridge and initialize it for GPIB controller operation. Establishes communication, runs the initialization sequence, and optionally scans the bus for instruments.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`bridge_name`	string	Yes	Name of the bridge to connect

Example

result = await client.call_tool("connect_bridge", {
    "bridge_name": "bench-a"
})

Returns

Connected to bench-a: AR488 GPIB controller 0.51.29
Discovered 2 instrument(s):
  Address 5: Agilent Technologies E3631A
  Address 22: KEITHLEY INSTRUMENTS INC. MODEL 2000

`disconnect_bridge`

Disconnect from a bridge. Closes the serial or TCP connection. Instruments on the bus return to local control.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`bridge_name`	string	Yes	Name of the bridge to disconnect

Example

result = await client.call_tool("disconnect_bridge", {
    "bridge_name": "bench-a"
})

Returns

Disconnected from bench-a

`configure_bridge`

Change bridge configuration at runtime. All parameters are optional; only the provided values are changed. Changes take effect immediately but are not persisted to NVS unless you send ++savecfg via raw_command.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`bridge_name`	string	Yes	Name of the bridge to configure
`read_timeout_ms`	integer	No	GPIB read timeout in milliseconds (1—32000)
`auto_mode`	integer	No	Auto-read mode: 0=off, 1=prologix, 2=on-query, 3=continuous
`eos`	integer	No	End-of-send character: 0=CRLF, 1=CR, 2=LF, 3=None
`eoi`	boolean	No	Whether to assert EOI on the last byte sent

Example

result = await client.call_tool("configure_bridge", {
    "bridge_name": "bench-a",
    "read_timeout_ms": 5000,
    "eoi": True
})

Returns

Configured bench-a: read_timeout_ms=5000, eoi=True