heretek

heretek [--gdb path] [--nc host:port] [--32] [-x file] [options]

heretek is a GDB TUI dashboard inspired by GEF, designed to seamlessly connect to remote targets even without a functioning gdbserver. It ships as a single statically-linked musl binary with no Python dependencies, making it ideal for embedded and minimal environments where vendors may ship GDB without Python support.
heretek operates on systems with only gdb, nc (netcat), and mkfifo, bypassing common issues with broken gdbserver binaries. The dashboard displays registers, disassembly, stack, and memory in an organized TUI layout.

Requires at minimum gdb, nc, and mkfifo on the target system. Some advanced GDB features that rely on Python extensions are not available. The TUI layout may require a sufficiently wide terminal.

heretek was created by wcampbell0x2a and is written in Rust. It was built to address the pain points of debugging on embedded systems where traditional GDB frontends fail due to missing Python or broken gdbserver installations.

gdb(1), gef(1)