darrylmorley/whatcable
Whatcable
WhatCable is a macOS system utility for hardware monitoring and USB-C cable diagnostics. It functions as a marker chip reader, data link inspector, and power delivery analyzer to identify the technical specifications and hardware capabilities of connected cables.
The tool extracts vendor IDs and specification flags from internal e-marker chips to verify cable authenticity and identify data transfer speeds and current ratings. It distinguishes itself by providing Thunderbolt topology inspection to visualize high-speed links and comparing active display modes against link capacity to diagnose resolution or refresh rate limitations.
The project covers broader diagnostic areas including real-time power telemetry to identify charging bottlenecks, port health monitoring for detecting overcurrent events, and the maintenance of a persistent local registry to track cable performance history.
Users can monitor hardware status through a native menu-bar interface and desktop widgets, or export port status and power telemetry as text or JSON via a command-line interface.
Features
- Marker Chip Analysis - Reads internal e-marker chips to extract vendor IDs and technical specifications from USB-C cables.
- macOS System Monitors - Provides live port health tracking and hardware fault monitoring via a native macOS menu bar interface.
- Link Speed Diagnostics - Determines negotiated data speeds and identifies whether the port, cable, or device is the limiting factor.
- Power Delivery Analyzers - Monitors real-time power telemetry and voltage profiles to identify bottlenecks between power sources, cables, and devices.
- USB Cable Verifiers - Analyzes the electrical and technical specifications of USB-C cables to ensure they support required speeds and power.
- Capability Detectors - Detects technical specifications and hardware capabilities of connected cables, including marker data and high-speed signaling.
- USB Data Link Inspectors - Detects active link speeds and identifies hardware components causing data throughput degradation in USB connections.
- Telemetry Inspection - Displays live power telemetry, including real-time input graphs and power delivery contract inspection.
- Kernel Framework Integrations - Interfaces with the macOS I/O Kit framework to retrieve real-time hardware link-state and power telemetry.
- Power Negotiation Auditing - Analyzes negotiated voltage and current profiles to diagnose charging bottlenecks in the power delivery chain.
- Charging Bottleneck Diagnostics - Analyzes the power delivery chain to determine if the cable, charger, or device limits charging speed.
- Hardware Health Monitors - Tracks real-time hardware faults, such as power overcurrent or connection drops, using internal fault counters.
- Fault Detection - Monitors port fault counters to identify power overcurrent or intermittent connection drops occurring under load.
- Hardware Auditing Tools - Verifies vendor authenticity via marker chips and maintains a historical record of cable performance.
- Topology Visualizations - Visualizes high-speed Thunderbolt links, including per-lane speed, generation, and switch topology.
- Authenticity Verifiers - Flags cables with unusual marker values or vendor IDs that deviate from established power specifications.
- Performance Registries - Maintains a persistent local database of named cables to track reliability and performance over time.
- Link Capacity Analysis - Evaluates physical link bandwidth to determine if cable capacity limits display resolution or refresh rates.
- Hardware Topology Mapping - Visualizes the physical hardware chain from host port to device to identify throughput bottlenecks.
- Menu Bar Utilities - Displays real-time hardware status through a native macOS menu-bar interface.
- General Productivity Tools - Menu bar tool for identifying USB-C cable capabilities.
Star history
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