See your robot, live.

Drop-in ROS 2 bridge for Rerun. Stream topics to the viewer in seconds — no ROS 2 runtime required.

Newv0.11.0 release notes

Read the docs

macOS & Linux · v0.11.0 · also onprefix.dev·APT·GitHub Releases

Works with

What lands in the viewer

sensor_msgs/PointCloud2Points3Dnav_msgs/PathLineStrips3Dvision_msgs/Detection3DArrayBoxes3Dsensor_msgs/NavSatFixGeoPointsnav_msgs/OccupancyGridGridMapsensor_msgs/MagneticFieldArrows3Drcl_interfaces/LogTextLogsensor_msgs/ImuScalarssensor_msgs/PointCloud2Points3Dnav_msgs/PathLineStrips3Dvision_msgs/Detection3DArrayBoxes3Dsensor_msgs/NavSatFixGeoPointsnav_msgs/OccupancyGridGridMapsensor_msgs/MagneticFieldArrows3Drcl_interfaces/LogTextLogsensor_msgs/ImuScalars

rewire record -a

sensor_msgs/LaserScanPoints3Dvision_msgs/Detection2DArrayBoxes2Dgeographic_msgs/GeoPathGeoLineStringsgeometry_msgs/PolygonStampedLineStrips3Dsensor_msgs/JointStateScalarsnav_msgs/GridCellsPoints3Dgeometry_msgs/PoseArrayPoints3Dsensor_msgs/BatteryStateScalarssensor_msgs/LaserScanPoints3Dvision_msgs/Detection2DArrayBoxes2Dgeographic_msgs/GeoPathGeoLineStringsgeometry_msgs/PolygonStampedLineStrips3Dsensor_msgs/JointStateScalarsnav_msgs/GridCellsPoints3Dgeometry_msgs/PoseArrayPoints3Dsensor_msgs/BatteryStateScalars

Everything the bridge does, out of the box.

Zero ROS 2 runtime

Pure Rust binary. Speaks DDS and Zenoh natively — no colcon, no ament, no sourcing.

Built-in type mappings

Images, pointclouds, TF, poses, laser scans, odometry, and more — mapped out of the box.

Custom message mappings

Map any ROS 2 type to Rerun archetypes via JSON5 config. No code, no recompilation.

URDF + TF tree

Automatic robot model visualization from /robot_description with full transform tree.

Per-topic diagnostics

Hz, bandwidth, drops, and latency monitoring for every subscribed topic.

WebSocket API

Stream live ROS 2 data to any client. JSON and CDR formats, ZSTD compression, auth, and rate limiting.

Drop it in. Nothing else changes.

Read the docs

Single binary, minimal setup

No colcon, no workspace. Download a single Rust binary and run it. Rewire is not a ROS 2 node — it observes the network directly, so it never interferes with your ROS graph. Source your workspace only for URDF mesh resolution.

Automatic subscribe and unsubscribe

Rewire automatically subscribes to new topics as they appear and unsubscribes when they go away, keeping the ROS graph clean. No stale subscriptions, no manual management.

One graph, whatever it is speaking

rewire topics lists what is live right now: the type each topic carries, and whether it arrived over DDS, Zenoh, or both. Rewire speaks both at once, so a graph split across two transports still reads as one graph.

One command says whether it will work

rewire doctor reads your config, checks the ROS 2 environment, and walks every topic on the graph — the type it carries, whether a converter exists for it, and whether the nodes publishing it are answering. Run it before anything else.

❯ curl -fsSL https://rewire.run/install.sh | sh

Installing rewire 0.11.0 for aarch64-apple-darwin...

rewire 0.11.0 installed to ~/.local/bin/rewire

rewire-viewer installed to ~/.local/bin/rewire-viewer

❯ rewire -v

rewire 0.11.0

From the graph to the viewer.

Rewire subscribes over DDS or Zenoh, converts each message to a Rerun archetype, and streams it through a relay — on one machine or across the network.

A plain rewire record starts the relay in-process and connects the bundled viewer through it. The bridge never talks to a viewer directly.

ROS 2 graph

DDS

Fast DDS · Cyclone

Zenoh

Native wire protocol

In-process

Bridge

rewire record

gRPC

Relay

rewire serve

Rewire Viewer

Bundled

Rerun viewer

Stock, or browser

.rrd file

Archive on disk

Standard ROS 2 messages are built in. Custom ones are resolved over the wire. Nothing to source, nothing to build.

Automatic type resolution

Custom types on Jazzy and newer

Pose uncertainty renders as a shape you can see, not a number you have to imagine.

Covariance

1-sigma ellipsoids, straight off the wire

A recorded bag runs through the same converters as the live bridge — at recorded pace, or as fast as the machine allows.

Bag playback

rewire play · MCAP in, viewer or .rrd out

Live diagnostics, in the same recording as the data.

Run with --diagnostics and every subscribed topic reports its rate, bandwidth, drops and latency into the viewer as Rerun Scalars — next to the pointclouds and images they describe, not in a separate tool.

29.8Hz

Publish rate

Sampled per topic

12.0MB/s

Bandwidth

Per topic, on the wire

Drops

Messages lost since start

0.2ms

Latency

Per topic

Fast, and out of your way.

60×

Faster than rclpy and rclcpp to discover topics

Friction for developers. No code to modify, nothing to rebuild

<30 ms

Chunk processing, for a healthy viewer and low latency

Every detail you need for real work.

The long tail of things that turn a demo into a tool you leave running.

Bag playback with rewire play

Bundled viewer with ROS 2-native panels

Apple Silicon macOS, Linux x86_64 and aarch64

Remote streaming over gRPC

Per-topic throttling with --throttle

Topic filtering with glob patterns

h264 and h265 video streams

Automatic type resolution for Jazzy+

JSON5 config file with CLI overrides

Save recordings to .rrd files

DDS, Zenoh, or both per run

QoS negotiation and large buffer support

Latched topics replayed to late viewers

Runtime control without restarting the bridge

WebSocket auth and rate limiting

Auto-update for bridge and viewer

Shell completions (bash, zsh, fish)

rewire doctor environment health check

74 types, zero config.

Every common ROS 2 message type maps to a Rerun archetype automatically.

Mapping docs

sensor_msgs

Image	Image / DepthImage
CompressedImageexperimental	EncodedImage, EncodedDepthImage, VideoStream
CameraInfoexperimental	Pinhole
PointCloud2	Points3D
LaserScan	Points3D
Imu	Scalars
Joy	Scalars
JointState	Scalars
NavSatFix	GeoPoints
MagneticField	Arrows3D
BatteryState	Scalars
Temperature	Scalars
FluidPressure	Scalars
Illuminance	Scalars
RelativeHumidity	Scalars
Range	Scalars

geometry_msgs

PoseStamped	InstancePoses3D, Scalars
PoseArray	Points3D
PoseWithCovarianceStamped	InstancePoses3D, Ellipsoids3D, Scalars
PointStamped	Points3D
PolygonStamped	LineStrips3D
Twist / TwistStamped	Scalars
TwistWithCovariance(Stamped)	Scalars
AccelStamped	Scalars
AccelWithCovarianceStamped	Scalars
WrenchStamped	Scalars
Vector3Stamped	Scalars
QuaternionStamped	Scalars
VelocityStamped	Scalars

nav_msgs

Odometry	InstancePoses3D, Ellipsoids3D, Scalars
Path	LineStrips3D
OccupancyGrid	GridMap
GridCells	Points3D

nav2_msgs

VoxelGridexperimental

VoxelGridMap

vision_msgs

Detection2DArray	Boxes2D
Detection3DArray	Boxes3D

visualization_msgs

Marker	Arrows3D, Boxes3D, Mesh3D, …
MarkerArray	(same as Marker)
ImageMarker	Points2D, LineStrips2D

std_msgs

Float32 / Float64	Scalars
Int8–Int64 / UInt8–UInt64	Scalars
Bool / Byte / Char	Scalars
String	TextDocument / Asset3D

example_interfaces

Float32 / Float64	Scalars
Int8–Int64 / UInt8–UInt64	Scalars
Bool / Byte / Char	Scalars
String	TextDocument / Asset3D

tf2_msgs

TFMessage

Transform3D, CoordinateFrame

geographic_msgs

GeoPoseStamped	GeoPoints, Scalars
GeoPoseWithCovarianceStamped	GeoPoints, Scalars
GeoPath	GeoLineStrings

rcl_interfaces

Log

TextLog

What's next.

Edge deployment

Run Rewire on resource-constrained devices like Jetson and Raspberry Pi.

Rerun Data Platform

Stream directly to the cloud for fleet-wide analytics and long-term storage.

More type mappings

Expanding coverage based on community feedback and real-world use cases.

Windows support

Bringing Rewire to Windows for cross-platform development workflows.

Get Rewire today.

Questions, feedback, or a type mapping you need? Join the discussion on GitHub.

macOS

Apple SiliconmacOS on aarch64

Linux

.debDebian, Ubuntu .tar.gzAny distro

.debDebian, Ubuntu

amd64 arm64

.tar.gz

x86_64 aarch64

Windows

Coming soon

Native builds are on the way, for cross-platform development workflows.

Install script

macOS and Linux. Detects your OS and architecture, then downloads the matching build.

Package managers

pixiprefix.dev channel aptDebian, Ubuntu

macOS & Linux · x86_64 and aarch64 · v0.11.0