`openremap identify`

Read an ECU binary and print everything that can be extracted from it: manufacturer, ECU family, software version, hardware number, calibration ID, match key, file size, SHA-256 hash, and a confidence assessment of how reliably the system identified the binary.

Use this to confirm what a binary is before doing anything else with it.

Usage

openremap identify <FILE> [OPTIONS]

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
`FILE`	Yes	ECU binary to read. Must end in `.bin` or `.ori`.

Options

Option	Short	Description
`--json`		Output as JSON instead of a human-readable table.
`--output PATH`	`-o`	Save the result to a file instead of printing to the screen.
`--help`		Show help and exit.

Examples

# Print a human-readable table
openremap identify ecu.bin

# Print JSON to the screen
openremap identify ecu.bin --json

# Save the result as a JSON file
openremap identify ecu.bin --json --output result.json

# Save the table output to a text file
openremap identify ecu.bin --output result.txt

Example output

Table (default)

  ecu.bin
  Bosch · EDC17

  Manufacturer      Bosch
  ECU Family        EDC17
  ECU Variant       EDC17C66
  Software Version  1037541778
  Hardware Number   0261209352
  Calibration ID    unknown
  Match Key         EDC17C66::1037541778
  File Size         2,097,152 bytes
  SHA-256           3dc19aa03f3293bac4d27f28a22a073c...

  ── Confidence ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Tier   HIGH
  Signal  +  canonical SW version (1037-prefixed)
  Signal  +  hardware number present (0261209352)
  Signal  +  ECU variant identified (EDC17C66)

With warnings (wiped ident block)

  1.bin
  Bosch · EDC17

  Manufacturer      Bosch
  ECU Family        EDC17
  ECU Variant       EDC17C60
  Software Version  unknown
  Hardware Number   unknown
  Calibration ID    08001508446612B
  Match Key         EDC17C60::08001508446612B
  File Size         4,194,304 bytes
  SHA-256           ...

  ── Confidence ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Tier   SUSPICIOUS
  Signal  -  SW ident absent — no match key produced
  Signal  +  ECU variant identified (EDC17C60)
  Signal  +  calibration ID present (080015084466)
  Signal  -  generic numbered filename
  ⚠  IDENT BLOCK MISSING
  ⚠  GENERIC FILENAME

JSON (`--json`)

{
  "manufacturer": "Bosch",
  "ecu_family": "EDC17",
  "ecu_variant": "EDC17C66",
  "software_version": "1037541778",
  "hardware_number": "0261209352",
  "calibration_id": null,
  "match_key": "EDC17C66::1037541778",
  "file_size": 2097152,
  "sha256": "3dc19aa03f3293bac4d27f28a22a073c...",
  "confidence": {
    "score": 75,
    "tier": "High",
    "signals": [
      { "delta": 40, "label": "canonical SW version (1037-prefixed)" },
      { "delta": 25, "label": "hardware number present (0261209352)" },
      { "delta": 10, "label": "ECU variant identified (EDC17C66)" }
    ],
    "warnings": []
  },
  "vin": {
    "candidate": "WVWZZZ1KZ7W059972",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "manufacturer": "Volkswagen",
    "region": "Europe",
    "country": "Germany",
    "years": [2007],
    "checksum_valid": false,
    "decoded": true
  }
}

VIN candidate (`vin`)

When the binary contains a VIN candidate scoring ≥ 0.6 (measured on the real corpus: 2 of 1,871 files — real dealer-flashed VINs; the 0.2–0.45 lookalike noise stays below the floor), identify reports it as a separate, clearly-labelled section and a vin JSON field. Vehicle identity is orthogonal to ECU identity and never part of the match key. The manufacturer comes from vininfo's public database — shown as decoded, unverified. vin is null when no candidate reaches the floor. The ISO 3779 check digit is the scanner's own computation.

Unrecognised ECU

If no extractor matches the binary, every field other than file_size and sha256 will show as unknown. This means the ECU family is not yet supported — see CONTRIBUTING.md for how to add one.

  mystery.bin
  Unknown ECU — no extractor matched this binary

  Manufacturer      unknown
  ECU Family        unknown
  ECU Variant       unknown
  Software Version  unknown
  Hardware Number   unknown
  Calibration ID    unknown
  Match Key         unknown
  File Size         524,288 bytes
  SHA-256           3f9a21c7d84b...

  ── Confidence ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Tier   UNKNOWN

What to look for

Identity fields

Field	What it tells you
Manufacturer	Who made the ECU hardware (Bosch, Siemens, Delphi, …)
ECU Family	The ECU line (EDC17, ME7, SID206, …)
ECU Variant	The specific hardware variant within the family (EDC17C66, …)
Software Version	The calibration version string — the primary part of the match key
Hardware Number	The physical hardware part number, if readable from the binary
Calibration ID	A secondary calibration identifier, present on some families
Match Key	The compound identifier used to match recipes to ECUs — must match between the binary and any recipe you intend to apply
File Size	Total size in bytes — a quick sanity check
SHA-256	Cryptographic hash of the file — use this to confirm a file has not changed

Confidence section

Tier	Meaning
HIGH	All key identifiers present and consistent — strong identification
MEDIUM	Most identifiers present, minor gaps
LOW	Some identifiers missing or a mild filename signal — usable, but inspect manually
SUSPICIOUS	Significant identification gaps or filename red flags — treat with caution
UNKNOWN	No extractor matched the binary — family not supported

Each Signal line shows what contributed to the tier. A + prefix means the signal increased confidence; a - prefix means it reduced it.

Warnings (prefixed with ⚠) are raised when specific red flags are detected — for example, when a software version is absent for a family that normally stores one.

Good result

All of the following should be filled in for a fully supported, original binary:

Manufacturer is a known name
ECU Family is populated
Match Key is populated
Confidence tier is HIGH or MEDIUM

Needs attention

Software Version is unknown but Match Key is populated — the ECU architecture uses a different field (e.g. calibration ID) as the version component. This is by design for some families (e.g. LH-Jetronic). The binary is still usable.
Match Key is unknown — the extractor matched the file but could not build a version identifier. You can still cook a recipe from this binary, but applying it to other ECUs will not be possible without a match key.
Confidence is SUSPICIOUS with ⚠ IDENT BLOCK MISSING — the software version field is absent for a family that normally stores it. This is a strong signal of a wiped or tampered ident block.
Confidence is SUSPICIOUS with ⚠ TUNING KEYWORDS IN FILENAME — the filename suggests this is a modified file. Inspect the binary before using it as a base for a recipe.
Everything is unknown — the ECU family is not yet supported. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Notes

openremap identify is completely read-only. It never modifies the file.
.bin, .ori, and .hex files are accepted (.hex because Subaru dumps are raw binaries named .hex). Passing any other extension prints a warning and proceeds anyway — it does not exit with an error.
The --output flag strips terminal colour codes automatically when writing to a file, so the saved text is clean and readable in any editor.
The confidence score in the JSON output is a raw numeric value for programmatic use. The tier field is the human-readable label.

openremap identify