NovyWave is an open-source waveform viewer designed as a modern alternative to GTKWave.
This cross-platform desktop application is suitable for both professionals and beginners, offering simple installation and a strong focus on user experience. Its goal is to boost productivity and satisfaction among current hardware developers while also attracting new developers and students to the hardware design ecosystem. NovyWave is built on fast and reliable Rust libraries and leverages well-proven web technologies to ensure a consistent look, accessibility, design flexibility, and safe user extensibility via WebAssembly plugins.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c5f20ccb-6c49-4e80-943a-3f3ba10dc2af
- Multiple Waveform Formats: VCD, FST, and GHW file support
- Cross-Platform: Linux, macOS, and Windows desktop applications
- Dark & Light Themes: Optimized color palettes for waveform visualization
- Flexible Layouts: Dock panels to bottom or right, resize with drag dividers
- Keyboard Navigation: Comprehensive shortcuts for zooming, panning, and cursor control
- Variable Formatting: Binary, Hex, Octal, Signed/Unsigned decimal, ASCII display
- Signal Search: Filter variables by name with real-time results
- Multi-File Support: Load and compare signals from multiple waveform files
- Scope Browser: Navigate hierarchical module/scope structure
- Timeline Cursor: Click or keyboard-navigate to inspect signal values at any time
- Smart Labels: Automatic path disambiguation for files with duplicate names
- Overflow Detection: Track counter overflows and special signal states (X, Z, U)
- Persistent State: Automatically saves and restores workspace configuration
| Format | Extension | Description |
|---|---|---|
| VCD | .vcd |
Value Change Dump - IEEE standard format |
| FST | .fst |
Fast Signal Trace - GTKWave's compressed format |
| GHW | .ghw |
GHDL Waveform - GHDL native format |
Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases.
See INSTALLATION.md for detailed build instructions.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
W / S |
Zoom in / out |
Shift+W / Shift+S |
Fast zoom |
A / D |
Pan left / right |
Q / E |
Move cursor left / right |
Shift+Q / Shift+E |
Jump to previous / next transition |
Z |
Reset zoom center to 0 |
R |
Full reset (zoom, cursor, viewport) |
Ctrl+T |
Toggle theme |
Ctrl+D |
Toggle dock mode |
Escape |
Close dialogs |
NovyWave includes example projects for various hardware description languages:
- VHDL - GHDL simulation with GHW output
- Verilog - Icarus Verilog simulation with VCD output
- SpinalHDL - Scala-based HDL with Verilator simulation
- Amaranth - Python HDL with built-in simulation
- Spade - Rust-inspired HDL compiling to Verilog
See the examples/ directory for complete projects with Makefiles.
- Documentation Site — User guides, tutorials, and reference
- Installation Guide
- Contributing
- Security Policy
Questions → martin@kavik.cz
Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on:
- Setting up the development environment
- Code style and architecture patterns
- Submitting pull requests
MIT License - see LICENSE for details.
This project is funded through NGI Zero Core, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet program. Learn more at the NLnet project page.
