diff --git a/tools/requirements.txt b/tools/requirements.txt
index 8dbbc4a..d30b2c3 100644
--- a/tools/requirements.txt
+++ b/tools/requirements.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,13 @@
-python-socketio==4.0.1
+certifi==2019.3.9
+chardet==3.0.4
+idna==2.8
+netifaces==0.10.6
+protobuf==3.7.1
+pyserial==3.4
+python-engineio==3.5.2
+python-socketio==4.0.2
 PyYAML==5.1
+requests==2.22.0
+six==1.12.0
+urllib3==1.25.3
+websocket-client==0.56.0
diff --git a/tools/ugv.py b/tools/ugv.py
index a00512e..25727ea 100755
--- a/tools/ugv.py
+++ b/tools/ugv.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ log = logging.getLogger("ugv")
 
 class UGVComms:
     MAX_WRITE_RETRY = 5
-    RETRY_TIME = 3.0
+    RETRY_TIME = 1.5
 
     def __init__(self, serial_port: serial.Serial, on_msg_received=None):
         self.ser = serial_port
@@ -54,8 +54,9 @@ class UGVComms:
         last_write_time = time.time()
         if not retry:
             return
+        tries = UGVComms.MAX_WRITE_RETRY
         with self.ack_cv:
-            while True:
+            while tries > 0:
                 if cmdid in self.msg_acks:
                     self.msg_acks.remove(cmdid)
                     log.debug("received ack for command")
@@ -65,7 +66,9 @@ class UGVComms:
                     log.warning("retry writing command")
                     self.write_message(gmsg)
                     last_write_time = time.time()
+                    tries -= 1
                 self.ack_cv.wait(timeout=time_left)
+            raise TimeoutError("Timeout waiting for command ack")
 
     def read_message(self):
         data = self.ser.read_until(terminator=b'\n')
diff --git a/tools/ugv_cmd.py b/tools/ugv_cmd.py
index 5a05a78..3b9685b 100755
--- a/tools/ugv_cmd.py
+++ b/tools/ugv_cmd.py
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ import time
 import logging
 import readline
 import yaml
+try:
+    from yaml import CLoader as YamlLoader, CDumper as YamlDumper
+except ImportError:
+    from yaml import YamlLoader, YamlDumper
 import types
 
 from ugv import UGVComms
@@ -87,9 +91,9 @@ class UGV_CLI:
         log.info("set target to (%f, %f)", lat, long)
 
     @cli_cmd(names=["set_config", "sc"], description="Load configuration from config.yml and send")
-    def set_config(self):
-        with open('./tools/config.yml', 'r') as configfile:
-            config = yaml.load(configfile)
+    def set_config(self, config_file_name="./tools/config.yml"):
+        with open(config_file_name, 'r') as configfile:
+            config = yaml.load(configfile, Loader=YamlLoader)
 
         if 'REVISION' in config:
             config_rev = config['REVISION']
@@ -170,12 +174,15 @@ class UGV_CLI:
                                     stopbits=serial.STOPBITS_ONE, bytesize=serial.EIGHTBITS,
                                     timeout=0.5)
 
-        readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")
-        readline.set_completer(self.complete_command)
-
         self.ugv = UGVComms(ser, self.on_msg_received)
         self.ugv.start()
-        time.sleep(0.2)
+
+    def run_cli(self):
+        if self.ugv is None:
+            self.start()
+
+        readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")
+        readline.set_completer(self.complete_command)
         last_line = None
         try:
             print("Run 'help' to find out what commands are available")
@@ -217,4 +224,4 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     logging.basicConfig(
         format='%(asctime)s [%(name)s] %(levelname)s: %(message)s', datefmt='%Y-%b-%d %H:%M:%S')
     logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.INFO)
-    UGV_CLI().start()
+    UGV_CLI().run_cli()
diff --git a/tools/ugv_to_ground.py b/tools/ugv_to_ground.py
index 12f677c..21ba7a5 100755
--- a/tools/ugv_to_ground.py
+++ b/tools/ugv_to_ground.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 import socketio
-import signal
 import logging
-from base64 import b64decode, b64encode
+from base64 import b64encode
+from threading import Thread
 
 from ugv_cmd import UGV_CLI
 import messages_pb2 as messages
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ def encode_msg(msg: Message):
     return b64encode(data)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
+    logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s [%(name)s] %(levelname)s: %(message)s', datefmt='%Y-%b-%d %H:%M:%S')
+    logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.INFO)
+
     server_ip = 'localhost'
 
     sio = socketio.Client()
@@ -21,6 +24,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
        sio.emit('UGV_MESSAGE', encode_msg(msg), namespace='/ugv')
 
     ugv_cli = UGV_CLI(on_msg_received)
+    ugv_cli.start()
 
     @sio.on('connect', namespace='/ugv')
     def on_connect():
@@ -48,7 +52,4 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
             print("Can't connect to ground server. Retrying in 2 seconds...")
             sio.sleep(2)
 
-    logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s [%(name)s] %(levelname)s: %(message)s', datefmt='%Y-%b-%d %H:%M:%S')
-    logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.INFO)
-
-    ugv_cli.start()
+    ugv_cli.run_cli()