4ward is a glass-box P4 simulator: trace every parser transition, table lookup, action, branch, and emitted packet so P4 programs are finally explainable.
The project focuses on correctness, observability, and practical test workflows for P4 and P4Runtime:
- Spec-compliant v1model, PSA, and PNA simulation
- Structured trace trees for every possible packet outcome
- P4Runtime and gRPC services for control-plane and dataplane tests
- A browser playground, CLI, and C++ embedding API
Main project: https://github.com/4ward-p4/4ward
Documentation: https://smolka.st/4ward/