Why We Open-Sourced our Instro Python Library

Why the Instrumentation Library exists

Hardware engineers should be able to quickly and reliably talk to their instrumentation. Somewhere along the way it got complicated: five instruments from different vendors, multiple SCPI dialects, and a stack of driver code standing between an engineer and the test they're actually trying to run.

That's the tax of testing nobody tells you. A new power supply shows up on the bench, and before any real test logic gets written, someone has to relearn that instruments' quirks from scratch. Do it once, you can muscle through. Do it for every new device, and you’re no longer focused on driving progress.

We built Instro to close that gap. It's an open source Hardware Abstraction Layer written in Python that distills instrument control into what actually matters. You get to focus on the work that moves the needle while Instro handles the low-level driver calls. Write your test logic once using one of several generic device categories, swap the actual hardware driver under the hood with a one-line code change. Simple. Fast. Reliable. Repeatable.

Why Python, specifically?

It is widely considered to be the most accessible programming language around, and provides hardware engineers a well trodden path into the world of software engineering without sacrificing capability. Leverage modern tools with a giant community of engineers and developers solving the same problems.

It's not a replacement for LabVIEW, but the days of LLMs are pushing engineers to use tools that help them move faster. Python provides a vast set of functionality with an even bigger community well positioned to handle the workloads that LabVIEW has traditionally owned.

What this actually enables

What this looks like in practice: two setups, different PSU and DMM vendors on each, sharing a single DAQ. Move the cables, change one line of code, rerun the test, get the same result. That’s the power of an instrument library + abstraction layer.

Instro is open source. Anyone with hardware to test, from avionics teams to academic labs, can contribute a hardware driver. And If we don’t support a specific device, we're backing that up by adding real hardware.

The best part? You don't need any of that hardware to find out if this is useful to you. Instro ships with a built-in SCPI simulator: install it, drive a simulated power supply end to end, and see the abstraction for yourself. No bench required.

pip install instro It takes about five minutes. Try the Quickstart →