Packet Structure

Every CONDUYT packet follows a fixed 8-byte header plus variable-length payload.

Frame Layout

[0-1]   MAGIC   0x43 0x44
[2]     VER     0x01
[3]     TYPE    command or event byte
[4]     SEQ     0-255 rolling
[5-6]   LEN     payload length, little-endian uint16
[7..N]  PAYLOAD variable length
[7+N]   CRC8    over bytes [2..6+N]

Total overhead: 8 bytes (MAGIC(2) + VER(1) + TYPE(1) + SEQ(1) + LEN(2) + CRC8(1)).

Notation

The following type notation is used throughout the reference docs:

Symbol	Meaning
`u8`	Unsigned 8-bit integer (1 byte)
`u16`	Unsigned 16-bit integer (2 bytes, little-endian)
`i32`	Signed 32-bit integer (4 bytes, little-endian)
`f32`	32-bit IEEE 754 float (4 bytes, little-endian)
`N`	Variable length (remaining bytes in payload)
`LE`	Little-endian byte order

All multi-byte integers are transmitted least-significant byte first (little-endian).

Field Definitions

Field	Size	Description
MAGIC	2 bytes	`0x43 0x44` ("CD"). Catches misaligned reads on serial streams.
VER	1 byte	Protocol version. Currently `0x01`.
TYPE	1 byte	Command (host to device) or event (device to host) type. See Packet Types.
SEQ	1 byte	Rolling sequence 0 to 255. Host increments per command. Device echoes in response.
LEN	2 bytes	Payload length, little-endian uint16. Max capped at device's `max_payload`.
PAYLOAD	N bytes	Type-specific data. Zero-length for PING, RESET, etc.
CRC8	1 byte	CRC8 over bytes from VER through end of PAYLOAD: `crc8(buf[2..7+payloadLen])`.

Worked Example

A PIN_WRITE packet (type 0x11) that sets pin 13 to HIGH:

43 44 01 11 01 02 00 0D 01 XX

Byte-by-byte breakdown:

Offset	Bytes	Field	Value
0-1	`43 44`	MAGIC	"CD"
2	`01`	VER	Protocol version 1
3	`11`	TYPE	PIN_WRITE (0x11)
4	`01`	SEQ	Sequence number 1
5-6	`02 00`	LEN	2 bytes payload (little-endian)
7	`0D`	PAYLOAD0	Pin 13
8	`01`	PAYLOAD1	Value 1 (HIGH)
9	`XX`	CRC8	CRC8 over bytes 2-8: `[01 11 01 02 00 0D 01]`

The CRC8 is computed using Dallas/Maxim polynomial 0x31 over VER through end of PAYLOAD (7 bytes in this case). XX represents the computed checksum.

Total: 10 bytes on the wire (8 header + 2 payload). On serial transports, COBS framing adds 1-2 bytes of overhead plus a 0x00 delimiter byte.

CRC8

The checksum covers VER(1) + TYPE(1) + SEQ(1) + LEN(2) + PAYLOAD(N). That is, bytes [2..6+N] in the packet buffer.

Polynomial: Dallas/Maxim 0x31
Init value: 0x00
Input/output reflection: none

uint8_t crc8(const uint8_t *data, size_t len) {
    uint8_t crc = 0x00;
    for (size_t i = 0; i < len; i++) {
        crc ^= data[i];
        for (uint8_t bit = 0; bit < 8; bit++) {
            crc = (crc & 0x80) ? (crc << 1) ^ 0x31 : (crc << 1);
        }
    }
    return crc;
}

Serial and BLE transports wrap each packet in COBS (Consistent Overhead Byte Stuffing) encoding before transmission. COBS eliminates 0x00 from the encoded data, so 0x00 serves as a reliable packet delimiter.

Overhead: 1 byte per 254 bytes of data
Delimiter: 0x00 after each COBS-encoded packet

TCP, WebSocket, and MQTT transports skip COBS. TCP uses length-prefixed reads, and MQTT delivers discrete messages with built-in framing.