# pothosware/SoapySDR

Vendor and platform neutral SDR support library.

Repository: https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/soapysdr
Homepage: https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR/wiki
Language: C++
License: BSL-1.0
License Family: other
Topics: sdr, rtlsdr, gnuradio, hal, python, pothos, soapysdr
Last push: 2026-01-02T21:28:01+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 59/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 60, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4351, "days_push": 243, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1495, forks 226 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:53.136754+00:00)

## What it is
SoapySDR is a vendor and platform neutral C++ support library providing a generalized API and runtime for interfacing with software-defined radio (SDR) devices. It uses a plugin architecture so drivers for most off-the-shelf SDR hardware can be loaded by applications like GNU Radio, Pothos, and command-line tools.

## Use cases
- stream IQ samples from an RTL-SDR or HackRF in my own C++ or Python program
- use my SDR hardware with GNU Radio through a common API
- list and configure SDR devices attached to the system from the command line
- write a driver plugin for a custom SDR device
- access an SDR device remotely over the network
- replace vendor-specific SDKs with one unified SDR interface

## When to choose
- you need a single vendor-neutral API to work with many SDR hardware types
- you are building an SDR application and want hardware integration without per-vendor SDKs
- you use GNU Radio, Pothos, or Python and need SDR device bindings

## When to avoid
- you need a general-purpose hardware abstraction layer beyond SDR devices
- your hardware has a dedicated SDK you prefer to use directly
- you need a GUI application rather than a library/runtime

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: sdk, plugin-system, developer-tools
- domain: hardware, embedded-systems, developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cross-platform, python, cpp
- tags: sdr, software-defined-radio, hardware-abstraction, rtlsdr, gnuradio, pothos, radio, dsp, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- pothosware/SoapySDR (main) score 59

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:53.136754+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:33:18.350406+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:53.136754+00:00, sha f81c5c8c0002)
  - homepage: https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR/wiki (fetched 2026-08-29T11:38:38.756256+00:00, sha 5f94b8e23286)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.