#Decode a CAN bus with your DBC

Read a live CAN bus or a candump log, and turn each frame into named signals with units, using your .dbc file.

#Before you start

• Your .dbc file, on the machine running Phloem.
• For a live bus: a Linux machine on the bus, and its interface name, usually can0.
• For a recording: the candump log file.

#Steps

1. Open Connectors, search for can, and press Install.

2. Open Inputs, press Add input, and choose can.

3. Fill the fields:

   Field	Example
   Source	candump log, or Live bus (SocketCAN) (Linux only)
   Log	/data/candump-2026-09-10.log — for a log
   Interface	can0 — for a live bus
   DBC	/data/robot.dbc

   For a live CAN FD bus, tick CAN FD. For a log, Speed sets the replay pace (0 reads as fast as possible) and Loop replays it continuously.

4. The Signals table lists every signal in your DBC, with how often each appeared. All are ticked. Untick the ones you don't want.

5. To keep frames the DBC does not name, tick Keep raw frames.

6. Press Add & start.

#Check it worked

On Inputs, the row counts samples. On Live, each signal shows as /can/<message>/<signal>, named and scaled as your DBC says.

Updated November 6, 2026