If you're just looking to hook your hardware up to something that says it "supports Buttplug/Intiface" (like one of the many apps/games in our awesome list), you're in the wrong place. For that you'll most likely want to go check out Intiface Central.
This is where we store all of the source code for the libraries that run your hardware. If you're a developer and interesting in that sort of thing, read on...
Buttplug is a framework for hooking up hardware to interfaces, where:
- hardware usually means sex toys, but could honestly be just about anything
- interfaces usually means media players or games, but could also be just about anything
It's basically a userland HID manager for things that may not specifically support formal HID.
In more concrete terms, think of Buttplug as something like osculator or VRPN, but for sex toys. Instead of wiimotes and control surfaces, we interface with vibrators, strokers, fucking machines, and other hardware that can communicate with computers (though we do actually support vibration in gamepads, joycons, and more).
This repo contains all of the core libraries for the framework, as well as Intiface Engine, the command line utility for setting up Buttplug Servers.
Intiface Central is recommended for end users. It is a Flutter based GUI on top of Buttplug and Intiface Engine that runs on all desktop and popular mobile platforms.
We also produce btleplug, the host-side Bluetooth LE library that Buttplug uses to communicate with BLE devices.
For a list of applications using Buttplug and Intiface, see the awesome-buttplug repo.
We've been working on the next version of our message spec for the better part of 3 years now, which has come with massive changes to the library. Rather than let this sit on our dev branch for another few months while we run through the beta process, we decided to promote beta to our main branch so it gets visibility. We'll still be marking beta versions in crates and releases, so package installs will still default to pre-beta version until we've released.
Also I hadn't updated the README on the project in several years and didn't want to have to rewrite for both the old and new libraries. So here we are.
Buttplug-rs is currently capable of controlling toys via:
- Bluetooth LE (Desktop and Android/iOS)
- Serial Ports (Desktop)
- USB HID (Desktop)
- Lovense Devices via the Lovense Dongle (HID and Serial dongles, Desktop)
- Lovense Connect App (Desktop and Android/iOS)
- Websockets (for simulated and DIY devices, Desktop and Android/iOS)
- XInput gamepads (Windows only)
See IOSTIndex for a full list of supported hardware (Filter on "Buttplug Rust").
To learn how to use the Buttplug Library, check out the Buttplug Developer Guide.
Examples are included in the examples portion of this repo.
This project consists of the following crates:
| Crate Name | Description |
|---|---|
| buttplug | meta-crate that's just a rehost on buttplug_client, see README for more info |
| buttplug_client | Buttplug Rust Client, useful for building application that will access Intiface Engine or Intiface Central. We recommend most developers use this. See crate README for more info. |
| buttplug_client_in_process | Buttplug Rust Client w/ integrated Buttplug Server. Useful for building standalone applications and examples. |
| buttplug_core | Contains the protocol message schema, message class implementations, and structures shared by the client and server implementations. Will be rarely needed as a direct dependency. |
| buttplug_derive | Procedural macros used in the Buttplug rust implementation. Will be rarely needed as a direct dependency. |
| buttplug_server | The core server implementation, including server and device structures, all protocol implementations, etc... |
| buttplug_server_device_config | Device configuration file loading and database implementation. |
| buttplug_server_hwmgr_btleplug | Bluetooth LE device communication support |
| buttplug_server_hwmgr_hid | HID device communication support |
| buttplug_server_hwmgr_lovense_connect | Lovense Connect device communication support (soon to be deprecated) |
| buttplug_server_hwmgr_lovense_dongle | Lovense Dongle device communication support (soon to be deprecated) |
| buttplug_server_hwmgr_serial | Serial device communication support |
| buttplug_server_hwmgr_websocket | Websocket device communication suppor, used for devices that may connect in ways not directly supported by other formats |
| buttplug_server_hwmgr_xinput | XInput gamepad support (windows only) |
| buttplug_tests | For tests that need the whole framework |
| buttplug_transport_websocket_tungstenite | Communications transport for clients/servers using tokio-tungstenite |
| intiface_engine | Command line interface for running a Buttplug server |
For more information on each crate, check the README in its directory in this repo.
On Windows and macOS, running cargo build should suffice for building the project. All
dependencies are vendored in.
On Linux, the following packages will be needed to build with default features:
libudev-dev(Required for serial port/HID support)libusb-1.0-0-dev(Required for serial port/HID support)
The package names are listed as their Debian requirements, and may be different for other
distributions. Removing the lovense-dongle-manager and serial-manager features should stop these
from being required.
To use Buttplug in your Rust application or library, check out the buttplug package on crates.io.
The following crate features are available
| Feature | Other Features Used | Description |
|---|---|---|
client |
None | Buttplug client implementation (in-process connection only) |
server |
None | Buttplug server implementation (in-process connection only) |
websockets |
tokio-runtime |
Websocket connectors, used to connect remote clients (Clear/SSL)/servers (Clear Only) |
btleplug-manager |
server |
Bluetooth hardware support on Windows >=10, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android |
lovense-dongle-manager |
server |
Lovense USB Dongle support on Windows >=7, macOS, Linux |
serial-manager |
server |
Serial Port hardware support on Windows >=7, macOS, Linux |
xinput-manager |
server |
XInput Gamepad support on Windows >=7 |
lovense-connect-service-manager |
server |
Lovense Connect App support (all platforms) |
websocket-server-manager |
websockets |
Support for connecting devices via Websockets (all platforms) |
dummy-runtime |
None | Runtime that panics on any spawn. Only used for tests. |
tokio-runtime |
None | Uses tokio for futures |
wasm-bindgen-runtime |
None | Uses the wasm-bindgen executor as a runtime (WASM only) |
Default features are enough to build a full desktop system:
tokio-runtimeclientserverwebsocketwebsocket-server-managerbtleplug-manager(feature builds as noop on WASM)serial-manager(feature builds as noop on iOS, Android)lovense-dongle-manager(feature builds as noop on iOS, Android)xinput-manager(feature is only relevant on windows, but builds as a noop on all other platforms).
If you have issues or feature requests, please feel free to file an issue.
We are not looking for unsolicited code contributions or pull requests, and will not accept pull requests that do not have a matching issue where the matter was previously discussed in an issue on this repo or in one of our communication channels, listed below.
Pull requests should only be submitted after talking to qdot via issues (or on Discord, our forums, or via DMs on one of our social media accounts if you would like to stay anonymous and out of recorded info on the repo) and receiving approval to develop code based on an issue. Any random or non-issue pull requests will most likely be closed without merging.
If you'd like to contribute in a non-technical way, we need money to keep up with supporting the latest and greatest hardware. We have multiple ways to donate!
See the awesome-buttplug repo for a full list of client implementations in other programming languages.
Buttplug is BSD 3-Clause licensed.
Copyright (c) 2016-2025, Nonpolynomial, LLC
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this
list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
* Neither the name of buttplug nor the names of its
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
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