[GPIO (general-purpose input/output)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General-purpose_input/output) is a series of digital interfaces that can be used to connect relays, LEDs, sensors, and other components.
:exclamation: Note: Using GPIO on a Pi-KVM was designed as a feature for advanced users, so please familiarize yourself with the topic to make sure you understand how to use use it before setting it up. Otherwise you might damage your Raspberry Pi or components.
When talking about Pi-KVM and GPIO it refers not solely to the [physical interface of the Raspberry Pi](https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/usage/gpio), but also to various plugins (for example, for [USB relays](http://vusb.wikidot.com/project:driver-less-usb-relays-hid-interface)) that can also be used transparently by emulating an abstract GPIO API.
Setting up GPIO is considerably complex. The interface is divided into several layers for flexibility. Any configuration is performed using a file `/etc/kvmd/override.yaml` which uses the [YAML syntax](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/YAMLSyntax.html). We will look at each part of the configuration individually with an example for each. Sections should be combined under shared keys.
The first part of the configuration refers to the hardware layer, which defines which IO channels are used (standard GPIO pins of the Raspberry Pi, an USB relay, and so on). If you just want to use GPIO with the default settings you can skip to the next section [Scheme](#Scheme).
Each hardware input/output requires a individual driver configuration entry. Each driver has a type (which refers to the plugin that handles the communication between Pi-KVM and the hardware) and a unique name. This allows you to either can add multiple drivers of the same type with different settings or connect multiple USB HID relays.
:exclamation: Each driver requires a unique name. Names surrounded by doube underscore are system reserved and should not be used.
The only exception to this is the default GPIO driver with the name `__gpio__`, representing the physical GPIO interface of the Raspberry Pi. The configuration section for `__gpio__` is only required in your `/etc/kvmd/override.yaml` if you want to change the default settings. It can be omitted if you are fine with the defaults.
The second part defines how the various driver channels are configured. Each channel has a unique name, a mode (`input` or `output`), a pin number, and a reference to the driver configured in the previous part.
:exclamation: Names that starts and ends with two underscores (like `__magic__`) are reserved.
Two interaction modes are available for outputs: `pulse` and `switch`. In pulse mode, the output quickly switches its state to logical 1 and back (just like pressing a button). In switch mode, it saves (toggles) the state that the user set. When Pi-KVM is started/rebooted (any time the KVMD daemon is started or stopped) all output channels are reset to 0. This can be changed using the `initial` parameter. For example, `initial=true` for logic 1 on startup.
| `initial` | `nullable bool` | `true`, `false` or `null` | `false` | Defines the initial state of the switch upon boot, `null` for don't make changes (the last one does not supported by generic GPIO) |
This is the last part of the required configuration. It defines how the previous driver and channel configuration is rendered on the Web interface. Here's an example for the example configuration above:
The driver `gpio` provides access to regular GPIO pins with input and output modes. It uses `/dev/gpiochip0` and the libgpiod library to communicate with the hardware. Does not support saving state between KVMD restarts (meaning `initial=null`).
You can use the [interactive scheme](https://pinout.xyz/) when selecting the pins to use. Please note that when selecting a pin for a channel, you need to use a logical number instead of a physical number. That is, if you want to use a physical pin with the number 40, the channel must have the number 21 corresponding to the logical GPIO21.
The driver `hidrelay` provides access to cheap managed [USB HID relays](http://vusb.wikidot.com/project:driver-less-usb-relays-hid-interface) that can be found on AliExpress. This driver does not support input mode, only output. To use it, you need to specify the path to the device file (like `/dev/hidraw0`) using the `device` parameter.
Additionally, we recommend to configure access rights and static device name using [UDEV rules](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/udev). For example, create `/etc/udev/rules.d/99-kvmd-extra.rules`: