Systems, methods, and apparatus for communication virtualized general-purpose input/output (GPIO) signals over a serial communication link. An apparatus includes a serial bus, and an originating device and destination device coupled to the serial bus. The originating device may be configured to generate a first virtual GPIO packet that carries a payload representative of signaling state of physical GPIO in the originating device, generate a second virtual GPIO packet that carries a payload representative of an event generated by a processor in the originating device, and transmit the first and second virtual GPIO packets on the serial bus. The destination device may be configured to receive the second virtual GPIO packet from the serial bus, and communicate the event to a processor of the destination device or modify signaling state of physical GPIO in the destination device in accordance with the payload of the second virtual GPIO packet.