diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0d0b07d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+repos:
+- repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks
+  rev: v6.0.0
+  hooks:
+  - id: check-yaml
+  - id: end-of-file-fixer
+  - id: trailing-whitespace
+- repo: https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff-pre-commit
+  rev: v0.15.1
+  hooks:
+    - id: ruff-check
+      args: [ --fix ]
+    - id: ruff-format
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 20ef4533..4b36ed1a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ First, you will need to log in to Nvidia NGC and get an API Key here: https://or
 Then install Nvidia ngc CLI and make sure it is present in path: https://org.ngc.nvidia.com/setup/installers/cli
 
 Follow the instructions on the website to install and configure ngc.
-    
+
 Test the ngc installation by running `ngc` in a new terminal. If it doesn't work, try adding `echo "export PATH=\"\$PATH:$(pwd)/ngc-cli\"" >> ~/.bash_profile && source ~/.bash_profile` to your `~/.bashrc` file.
 
 Then log in to nvcr with the following command:
@@ -151,12 +151,19 @@ To normalize line endings in git, use the command:
 git config --global core.autocrlf true
 ```
 
+The formatter the codebase uses is ruff. Run `pip install ruff` to install ruff.
+
+To have ruff automatically run on commit use pre-commit.
+
+To install pre-commit run `pip install pre-commit`, then run `pre-commit install` to have the hooks installed. Now any time a commit is started, staged changes will be automatically formatted.
+To run the formatter without initiating a commit run `pre-commit`.
+
 ## Gazebo Simulation
 
 <details>
 <summary>Gazebo Installation & Resources</summary>
 <br>
-  
+
 Install Gazebo Fortress by running: `sudo apt-get install ros-humble-ros-gz`
 
 More info [here](https://gazebosim.org/docs/garden/ros_installation). Remember that we are using ROS 2 Humble.
@@ -169,7 +176,7 @@ Information about ROS types -> gazebo types can be found [here](https://github.c
 <details>
 <summary>Running the Gazebo Simulation</summary>
 <br>
-  
+
 To run the Gazebo simulation:
 ```
 colcon build --symlink-install --packages-up-to ros_gz_launch
@@ -255,7 +262,7 @@ sudo grep -a 'mycmd' /var/log/syslog
 <details>
 <summary>Gstreamer Server/Client Instructions</summary>
 <br>
-To start gstreamer client make sure to add the deepstream layer to the docker layers 
+To start gstreamer client make sure to add the deepstream layer to the docker layers
 
 To start the gstreamer client run the following commands:
 
diff --git a/ruff.toml b/ruff.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..467ed6bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ruff.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# exclude all of the sub modules
+exclude = [
+            "src/zed-ros2-wrapper",
+            "src/isaac_ros/isaac_ros_apriltag",
+            "src/isaac_ros/isaac_ros_image_pipeline",
+            "src/isaac_ros/isaac_ros_nitros",
+            "src/isaac_ros/isaac_ros_visual_slam",
+           ]