Seeed Studio's XIAO Debug Mate Makes Power Analysis, Serial Comms, and DAPLink a Breeze

Seeed Studio has announced the launch of the XIAO Debug Mate, a sub-$20 debugging multi-tool powered by the Espressif ESP32-S3 — designed, the company says, around community feedback.

"This all-in-one device features a standalone 2.01-inch TFT LCD display, LED status matrix, and native Seeed Studio XIAO support," explains Seeed's Lily Li of the company's XIAO Debug Mate device. "It combines three essential functions that previously required separate tools: DAPLink chip-level debugging, built-in serial monitoring with UART passthrough, and accurate power consumption measurement. Plug-and-play design eliminates complex wiring for streamlined development."

Though designed primarily with the XIAO system in mind, Seeed's impressively-small microcontroller board ecosystem, the XIAO Debug Mate is being positioned by the company as ideal for debugging and development with a range of devices — including anything supporting Serial Wire Debug (SWD), Arm Cortex-M chips supporting DAPLink, and anything with a UART serial bus, as well as anything that needs its power draw tracking from 1µA to 1A at a claimed ±10% accuracy down at 1–10µA.

"This project started with a simple GitHub discussion," Li explains. "In July 2024, community member @rei-vilo opened Discussion #20 in our repository with an observation that resonated with many developers: 'A programmer-debugger probe is a very useful and 'must have' tool for embedded system development. Today, there is no affordable offer.'

"The conversation highlighted a real problem. The J-Link Edu Mini had jumped from $20 to $70, putting professional debugging tools out of reach for many hobbyists and students. The Raspberry Pi Debug Probe offered great value but didn’t integrate seamlessly with the XIAO ecosystem. Existing XIAO expansion boards relied on fragile pogo pins and only worked with certain boards."

The XIAO Debug Mate is the result of that feedback — and comes with the added bonus of standalone capabilities, thanks to its integrated 240×296 color display. This provides at-a-glance monitoring of power draw and serial data, even when away from a desktop or laptop — and there's a 36-LED matrix for additional feedback, programmed in the default firmware to display serial baud rate information. There's a 14-pin header for a XIAO board as the device-under-test, with pogo pins to connect to its test points underneath, eight additional expansion pins, a four-pin SWD header, and a Grove connector with UART support.

The board is now available, complete with 3D-printed case, on the Seeed store at $19.90; the company warns, however, that "the XIAO nRF54L15 [and] ESP32-C3/S3/C6 series does not currently support debugging feature," though the XIAO Debug Mate could still be used for power analysis and serial communications.