{"slug": "whatcable", "name": "WhatCable", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 13, "warners": 3, "score": 3.374, "rising": 1.02, "first": "2026-05-01", "latest": "2026-08-14", "why": "I cannot recommend enough https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 5, "compare": 0, "warn": 3}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 2, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I cannot recommend enough https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable", "official_url": "https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["WhatCable"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 788838720, "item_id": 49302420, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49302420", "by": "SweetSoftPillow", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Check this for more details on Windows (original author's repo)", "excerpt": "Check this for more details on Windows (original author's repo) https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable-windows", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "WhatCable: Know what your USB-C cable can do"}, {"id": 787273824, "item_id": 49204614, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49204614", "by": "mrtesthah", "date": "2026-08-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "on Macs you can also use the WhatCable app", "excerpt": "Instead of using a dedicated device, on Macs you can also use the WhatCable app: https://www.whatcable.uk", "context": "", "use_case": "Inspect USB-C cable capabilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them"}, {"id": 782635008, "item_id": 48914688, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48914688", "by": "Labo333", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I cannot recommend enough https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable", "excerpt": "I cannot recommend enough https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable to know what power and data capabilities your cables support.", "context": "", "use_case": "checking cable power and data capabilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm a USB-C Maximalist"}, {"id": 782634048, "item_id": 48914628, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48914628", "by": "paytonjjones", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it seems like it will easily beat my previous strategy of plugging things in randomly", "excerpt": "Someone shared this with me the other day. Haven't used it much yet but it seems like it will easily beat my previous strategy of plugging things in randomly and getting aggravated: https://www.whatcable.uk", "context": "", "use_case": "Checking USB-C cable capabilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm a USB-C Maximalist"}, {"id": 767609152, "item_id": 47975572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47975572", "by": "billyhoffman", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Props to @sleepingNomad here, who has done 16 releases in the last 7 hours", "excerpt": "Props to @sleepingNomad here, who has done 16 releases in the last 7 hours, incorporating feedback from HN on the fly! * Don't like menubar apps? you you can run it as a normal app * Don't like GUIs? Now you can run it on the command line Just look at that Changelog: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/releases?page=2", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 767624112, "item_id": 47976507, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47976507", "by": "avidiax", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Wontfix for Intel Macbooks", "excerpt": "Wontfix for Intel Macbooks: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/issues/12 Seems the Intel southbridge isn't known to expose the needed info.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 767579200, "item_id": 47973700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47973700", "by": "kranner", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "when the menubar mode doesn't seem to add anything", "excerpt": "For some reason the app supports a separate standalone window mode as well [0]. It's not clear why the developer took the trouble to support two different modes when the menubar mode doesn't seem to add anything (like a live-updating icon for throughput). Well, I can think of one reason why it wasn't that much more trouble. Fran\u00e7ois Chollet had a nice tweet [1] on why removing human cognitive friction is resulting in", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 767570080, "item_id": 47973130, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47973130", "by": "bkummel", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "There's an issue on Github for this now", "excerpt": "There's an issue on Github for this now: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/issues/2", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 767570048, "item_id": 47973128, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47973128", "by": "bkummel", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "There's an issue on Github for this now", "excerpt": "There's an issue on Github for this now: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/issues/2", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["usb-c cable capability info", "check usb-c cable capabilities", "inspect usb-c cable capabilities", "checking cable power and data capabilities", "checking usb-c cable capabilities", "identify usb cable capabilities"], "compared": [{"slug": "whatcable-linux", "name": "whatcable-linux", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47972511", "title": "item 47972511", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49297469", "title": "WhatCable: Know what your USB-C cable can do", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49152255", "title": "I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48908214", "title": "I'm a USB-C Maximalist", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47950993", "title": "The USB Situation", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"warn": 3, "neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 3}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 788838720, "item_id": 49302420, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49302420", "by": "SweetSoftPillow", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Check this for more details on Windows (original author's repo)", "excerpt": "Check this for more details on Windows (original author's repo) https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable-windows", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "WhatCable: Know what your USB-C cable can do"}, {"id": 788784688, "item_id": 49299043, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49299043", "by": "haunter", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "it comes with a headless CLI binary (no GUI libraries needed)", "excerpt": "\"This is a Linux-native reimplementation inspired by darrylmorley/whatcable\" https://github.com/nedrichards/whatcable-linux But (hazard guess) it comes with a headless CLI binary (no GUI libraries needed) so probably could be ported to Linux (easily with an LLM?) https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable", "context": "", "use_case": "USB-C cable capability info", "switched_from": "", "story": "WhatCable: Know what your USB-C cable can do"}, {"id": 788784464, "item_id": 49299029, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49299029", "by": "anticorporate", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I came here to ask the same thing.", "excerpt": "I came here to ask the same thing. I did find a Linux tool with the same name and purpose but that seems to be an entirely different codebase: https://github.com/nedrichards/whatcable-linux I have a handful of wireless keyboards that just absolutely refuse to negotiate for charging with certain cables at all, so I'm hoping this will help me at least figure out what those keyboards are looking for in terms of cable.", "context": "", "use_case": "Check USB-C cable capabilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "WhatCable: Know what your USB-C cable can do"}, {"id": 787311024, "item_id": 49206939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49206939", "by": "psittacus", "date": "2026-08-07", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "And two linux ports: https://github.com/Zetaphor/whatcable-linux https://github.com/abrauchli/usbee", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them"}, {"id": 787273824, "item_id": 49204614, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49204614", "by": "mrtesthah", "date": "2026-08-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "on Macs you can also use the WhatCable app", "excerpt": "Instead of using a dedicated device, on Macs you can also use the WhatCable app: https://www.whatcable.uk", "context": "", "use_case": "Inspect USB-C cable capabilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them"}, {"id": 782635008, "item_id": 48914688, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48914688", "by": "Labo333", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I cannot recommend enough https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable", "excerpt": "I cannot recommend enough https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable to know what power and data capabilities your cables support.", "context": "", "use_case": "checking cable power and data capabilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm a USB-C Maximalist"}, {"id": 782634048, "item_id": 48914628, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48914628", "by": "paytonjjones", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it seems like it will easily beat my previous strategy of plugging things in randomly", "excerpt": "Someone shared this with me the other day. Haven't used it much yet but it seems like it will easily beat my previous strategy of plugging things in randomly and getting aggravated: https://www.whatcable.uk", "context": "", "use_case": "Checking USB-C cable capabilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm a USB-C Maximalist"}, {"id": 767762352, "item_id": 47985147, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47985147", "by": "nottorp", "date": "2026-05-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Probably can't tell you anything about the other end of the cable though.", "excerpt": "> https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable This was on show hn only yesterday. Probably can't tell you anything about the other end of the cable though. > Is this hard to do or just something normal people never care about? If i believed in conspiracies i'd say the usb consortium or mafia or whatever it's called is pressuring software developers to not display that info. Otherwise they'd have \"normal people\" with to", "context": "", "use_case": "Identify USB cable capabilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "The USB Situation"}, {"id": 767624112, "item_id": 47976507, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47976507", "by": "avidiax", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Wontfix for Intel Macbooks", "excerpt": "Wontfix for Intel Macbooks: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/issues/12 Seems the Intel southbridge isn't known to expose the needed info.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 767609152, "item_id": 47975572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47975572", "by": "billyhoffman", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Props to @sleepingNomad here, who has done 16 releases in the last 7 hours", "excerpt": "Props to @sleepingNomad here, who has done 16 releases in the last 7 hours, incorporating feedback from HN on the fly! * Don't like menubar apps? you you can run it as a normal app * Don't like GUIs? Now you can run it on the command line Just look at that Changelog: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/releases?page=2", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 767579200, "item_id": 47973700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47973700", "by": "kranner", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "when the menubar mode doesn't seem to add anything", "excerpt": "For some reason the app supports a separate standalone window mode as well [0]. It's not clear why the developer took the trouble to support two different modes when the menubar mode doesn't seem to add anything (like a live-updating icon for throughput). Well, I can think of one reason why it wasn't that much more trouble. Fran\u00e7ois Chollet had a nice tweet [1] on why removing human cognitive friction is resulting in", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 767574608, "item_id": 47973413, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47973413", "by": "wallst07", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "...And claude fixed it already https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/commit/7a3ad1363aea1adbd9b6b21f679edce18a2098bf", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 767570080, "item_id": 47973130, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47973130", "by": "bkummel", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "There's an issue on Github for this now", "excerpt": "There's an issue on Github for this now: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/issues/2", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 767570048, "item_id": 47973128, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47973128", "by": "bkummel", "date": "2026-05-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "There's an issue on Github for this now", "excerpt": "There's an issue on Github for this now: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/issues/2", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}]}