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python-can

  • Software
  • Robot arms and industry
  • Library

A Python library giving developers common abstractions for Controller Area Network (CAN) buses, with utilities to send and receive messages across many hardware backends.

Source on GitHub: github.com/hardbyte/python-can (opens in a new tab). Facts read at commit b4f82ab (opens in a new tab).

Licenses

Code
LGPL-3.0-only (opens in a new tab)

Read by Robotheca from LICENSE.txt (opens in a new tab) (LGPL-3.0-only) at commit b4f82ab (opens in a new tab), on 16 Oct 2026.

Commercial use
Yes

Copyleft: Modified source must be published.

What it does

  • Provides common abstractions over many different CAN hardware devices and backends.
  • Supports sending, receiving, and periodically sending messages, with normal and extended arbitration IDs.
  • Supports CAN FD.
  • Includes many loggers and readers for recording and replaying bus traffic in several file formats.
  • Offers in-kernel or in-hardware message filtering on supported interfaces.
  • Includes command line tools for working with CAN buses.

Written by Robotheca from the project's README (opens in a new tab) at commit b4f82ab.

Getting started

Difficulty
Intermediate

Maintenance

Status
Maintained: a commit in the last 12 months
Newest commit
6 Jun 2026 on main
Latest release
4.6.1 (12 Aug 2025)

Checked on GitHub on 16 Oct 2026.

Links

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    Found by Robotheca in pyproject.toml (opens in a new tab)

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