DBC Craft

CAN DBC editor, diff and merge

Only for Mac

Free · In‑App Purchases

Mac

The CAN database editor Windows tools never gave the Mac: copy signals and messages between databases, edits that touch one line, diff and merge. Reading is free. DBC Craft is a CAN database (.dbc) editor built for the Mac. Most CAN database tools are Windows programs, which leaves a Mac user with a virtual machine, a remote desktop, or a browser editor that uploads a confidential file. DBC Craft is none of those: double-click a .dbc in the Finder and it opens, offline, in a native window. Reading is free, with no trial clock: tables, bit grid, decode sandbox, validation, and CSV and JSON export. One purchase unlocks editing and saving, compare and merge, the other formats, and code generation. Bought once, never subscribed to. WHAT SETS IT APART Edits that touch one line. Change a signal's factor and exactly one line of the file changes. The rest keeps its bytes: statement order, spacing, line endings, text encoding, and every vendor statement the app doesn't model. Open and save without editing and you get the same file back. In version control, a review shows what you changed, not a reformatted file. Copy and paste between databases. Copy signals or whole messages from one database and paste them into another, or drag a message between windows. Comments, value tables and multiplexing come along, and a name or ID already taken is renamed or renumbered, never overwritten. The clipboard holds plain DBC text, so a copy pastes into a text editor too. Compare and merge. Compare two databases by message and signal, not by line, in a side-by-side window with a change tree. Merge chosen changes from one open database into another, preview the result, and undo it in one step. Export the diff as Markdown, CSV or text. Every bit numbering, side by side. Motorola start bits are shown exactly as the file writes them, next to the AUTOSAR and LSb-start numbering other tools use, so a start bit from a spreadsheet or an ARXML file is never a guess. The bit grid can label cells either way. Problems marked where they are. Validation runs as you edit and marks the field at fault: an overlapping start bit, a signal past the payload, a zero factor, a range the scaling can't reach, an undeclared node. Every finding is also listed and one click selects its object. Opens real-world files. CRLF endings, Windows-1252 or Shift-JIS text, undocumented extensions, the odd broken line: DBC Craft reads them anyway, reports what it found, and keeps a line it can't read rather than dropping it on save. SEE AND DECODE A colour-coded byte-by-bit grid shows where every signal sits, Intel or Motorola, with overlaps striped and named. The decode sandbox works both ways: paste frame bytes and read physical values, or set values and read the bytes. Supports CAN FD payloads, 29-bit identifiers, and extended multiplexing for OBD2 and UDS. J1939 identifiers break down into parameter group, priority and source address. EDIT Nodes, messages, signals, value tables, attributes and attribute definitions, with undo and redo for every change. Renames follow every reference. A raw-syntax pane shows the DBC text behind whatever is selected. CONVERT AND GENERATE Read and write SYM (5 and 6), KCD, DBF, CSV and JSON. Import ARXML (AUTOSAR 3 and 4, container and secured PDUs, CAN FD), including each message's sender and each signal's receivers. Generate C pack/unpack functions and Swift encoders and decoders from editable templates; the generated C is compiled and checked against the app's own codec. PRIVATE BY DESIGN A DBC file is confidential IP. DBC Craft is sandboxed and has no networking of its own: no analytics, telemetry, accounts or cloud. The only network use is Apple's purchase and restore, given a product identifier and nothing else. Pro is checked against purchases already on your Mac, so it keeps working offline for good. No dongle, no licence server, no activation. A NATIVE DOCUMENT APP With autosave, version history, window tabs and databases side by side. Undo everywhere, dark mode, VoiceOver labels on the bit grid, and built-in help on byte order and bit numbering. Requires macOS 15 or later.

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Bug fixes and performance improvements.

Version 1.1

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    Information

    Seller
    AVV Systems LLC
    Size
    3.7 MB
    Category
    Developer Tools
    Compatibility
    Requires macOS 15.0 or later.
    • Mac
      Requires macOS 15.0 or later.
    Languages
    English
    Age Rating
    4+
    In-App Purchases
    Yes
    Copyright
    © 2026 AVV Systems
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