Splinter: A ROS2 Terminal User Interface

Splinter is a Terminal User Interface (TUI) for ROS2. It provides a keyboard-driven way to interact with ROS2 topics and nodes from your terminal.

Demo

Topic Graph and Plots

Browse topics using fuzzy search, select a topic to inspect its message fields, and add fields to a live plot.

State Messages

Browse topics using fuzzy search, select a topic to inspect its message fields, and add fields to a state graph.

Topic Publishing

Fill in a message field by field using arrow keys or j/k, edit values in place, and publish with p.

Calling Services

Navigate to a node, pick one of its services, edit the request fields, and call the service.

Features

Category	Features
Topics	List, publish, echo, and monitor message frequency
Nodes	List active nodes
Plots	Multi-line plots, frequency plots

Installation Guide

Debian/Ubuntu Installation

1. Download the latest release
   See https://github.com/TonyWelte/splinter/releases

2. Install the .deb archive

   sudo apt-get install ./splinter_VERSION.deb

3. Run splinter

   splinter

Manual Installation

1. Set up ros2_rust
   Follow the installation instructions for ros2_rust.

2. Clone the Splinter repository

   git clone https://github.com/TonyWelte/splinter.git

3. Build the project

   colcon build --packages-up-to splinter

4. Run splinter

   ros2 run splinter splinter

Roadmap

Upcoming Features

Feature	Notes
New Plots: Delay plot	Visualize message delays
New Plots: Bitrate plot	Monitor topic bandwidth
Message Widget: Folding	Collapse/expand message sections
Parameters (Set List)

Long Term Plan

Feature	Notes
MCAP Reader	Navigate and visualize MCAP files
New Connections: Foxglove bridge	-
New Connections: Rosbridge	-
New Connections: Multi-connection support	Multiple ROS_DOMAIN_ID simultaneously
Grid layout	Customizable widget layouts

Why Rust ?

I picked Rust to learn the language, period. Is it a good choice for this project? Absolutely not.

If you’re writing a TUI for ROS2, use Python. Save yourself the trouble.

Don’t get me wrong, Rust is a fantastic language. But wrestling with static types for a tool that has to handle messages whose types are only known at runtime? That’s just masochism.

Where Does the Name Come From?

Splinter is named after the wise rat sensei from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's a nod to both the TUI library Ratatui (symbolized by a rat) and ROS2 (symbolized by turtles).