nros-cli

nros — the command-line tool for nano-ros, a lightweight ROS 2 client for embedded RTOS.

nros scaffolds projects, generates message bindings, provisions SDK toolchains, and builds/deploys/monitors nano-ros applications on embedded targets (Zephyr, FreeRTOS, NuttX, ThreadX, bare-metal, …). This repo builds the nros binary; nano-ros itself lives at NEWSLabNTU/nano-ros.

nros is a generic tool: it knows no nano-ros directory layout. All workspace/toolchain knowledge lives in nano-ros's committed nros-sdk-index.toml (board → package sets, toolchain URLs, source git/ref/dest). nros just executes that data — fixes are index edits, not new binaries.

Install

Prebuilt binary (recommended — no Rust toolchain needed):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NEWSLabNTU/nros-cli/main/install.sh | sh
# installs to ~/.nros/bin (override NROS_HOME); add it to PATH if prompted

The prebuilt nros is a portable, libc-only binary (Linux glibc ≥ 2.35, macOS). NROS_VERSION selects a version.

From source (Rust):

git clone --recursive https://github.com/NEWSLabNTU/nros-cli
cargo install --path nros-cli/packages/nros-cli   # builds the `nros` binary

Setup — one command for toolchains + sources

nros setup <board> provisions everything that board needs, board-scoped, from nano-ros's SDK index: prebuilt host toolchains (cross-GCC, QEMU, the RMW daemon) and the target source it builds against (RTOS kernels, lwip, …), checked out from the index's pinned git/ref into its declared destination. Run it from a nano-ros checkout (it reads ./nros-sdk-index.toml):

nros setup qemu-arm-freertos      # arm-none-eabi-gcc + qemu + FreeRTOS-Kernel + lwip
nros setup native --rmw cyclonedds
nros setup --list                 # every package + version
nros setup --licenses             # license-gated SDKs (NVIDIA SPE, ARM FVP)

Prebuilt where available, source-built fallback otherwise — same install layout either way. This unifies what used to be scattered across just <module> setup recipes.

Build / deploy

As a user — import nano-ros into your project and build/flash:

nros new talker --platform zephyr   # scaffold from a template
nros build                          # auto-detects cargo / cmake / west
nros deploy <target>                # build + flash + (optionally) monitor
nros doctor                         # check SDK paths / toolchains / env

As a contributor — build and test inside the nano-ros checkout (just ci, just <plat> test); nros drives codegen + orchestration there.

Commands

nros new	scaffold a project (talker / listener / service / action)
nros generate / generate-rust	message bindings from package.xml
nros codegen	build-tool C/C++ binding generation (cmake/build.rs interface)
nros setup	provision a board's toolchains + sources (above)
nros build / deploy / run / monitor	build, flash, run, attach
nros doctor / board	health-check; inspect supported boards
nros plan / check / explain	launch-file → plan resolution¹

¹ Launch parsing shells out to the separate play_launch_parser (pip install play-launch-parser) so nros itself stays python-free; the build system runs it internally to produce the plan record.

License

See nano-ros. Built from this repo's Rust workspace (packages/).