ROC - Robot Operations Command

ROC is a ROS 2 command-line tool implemented in Rust. It implements many ROS 2 workflows directly and uses command naming close to the ros2 CLI.

For detailed command-by-command implementation status, see COMPAT.md.

Installation

From crates.io

cargo install rocc

From source

git clone https://github.com/bresilla/roc.git
cd roc
cargo build --release

Basic usage

roc <COMMAND> [SUBCOMMAND] [OPTIONS]

Main command groups:

• topic - topic discovery, publish, echo, bandwidth/rate/delay tools
• service - service discovery; service call currently delegates to ros2
• action - action discovery; action goal currently delegates to ros2
• node - node discovery and introspection
• param - parameter operations
• interface - ROS interface inspection
• frame - TF frame tools
• bag - MCAP recording/playback and rosbag metadata tools
• run - executable discovery and execution
• launch - launch file discovery with execution delegated to ros2 launch
• work - workspace package create/list/info/build
• idl - protobuf and ROS message conversion tools

Use command help to inspect options:

roc --help
roc work --help
roc topic pub --help

Workspace commands

roc work includes package and workspace utilities:

• roc work create - scaffold packages (ament_cmake, ament_python, cmake)
• roc work list - list discovered packages and build state
• roc work info <package> - print package metadata
• roc work build - build workspace packages with dependency ordering

Examples:

# Build all packages in the current workspace
roc work build

# Build selected packages
roc work build --packages-select my_pkg other_pkg

# Build with merged install layout
roc work build --merge-install

# Create a CMake package
roc work create my_pkg --build_type ament_cmake --node_name talker

# Inspect package details
roc work info my_pkg

IDL and protobuf conversion

roc idl protobuf converts between .proto and .msg files.

# Proto -> msg
roc idl protobuf robot.proto

# Msg -> proto
roc idl protobuf RobotStatus.msg

# Write generated files to a directory
roc idl protobuf --output ./generated robot.proto

Architecture notes

The project is organized into command modules under src/commands and argument definitions under src/arguments.

• ROS interactions are implemented through Rust code and ROS 2 bindings.
• Some subcommands intentionally delegate to ros2 today. Current delegated paths are:
  • roc service call
  • roc action goal
  • roc launch <pkg> <launch>
• Workspace package discovery logic is shared across work commands.

Refer to:

• COMPAT.md for feature status
• FEATURES.md for high-level feature notes
• book/ for extended project documentation

Development

Requirements:

• Rust toolchain
• ROS 2 environment available/sourced for ROS-dependent commands
• clang/libclang for bindgen-based builds

Build and test:

cargo build --release
cargo test

License

Licensed under MIT. See LICENSE.md.