Host-level observability for ROS 2 DDS and Zenoh traffic.
ros2probe attaches eBPF socket filters to loopback and external network interfaces, captures RTPS/DDS and Zenoh packets in the kernel, and reconstructs the ROS graph, topic metrics, and message streams in userspace. A CLI (rp) and a desktop GUI (rp gui) talk to the runtime over a Unix socket.
Project page: https://csi-dgist.github.io/ros2probe-page/
More screenshots and demos are on the project page.
- Passive capture by default — traffic is observed at the socket level; for SHM traffic, ros2probe uses a temporary shadow subscriber to make the middleware emit UDP loopback traffic
- Full graph reconstruction — participants, endpoints, node names, and publisher/subscriber relationships derived from SPDP/SEDP +
ros_discovery_info - Single-host capture — loopback and external interfaces are captured, so local and multi-host deployments use the same packet pipeline
- Live topic metrics — publish rate (hz), bandwidth (bw), end-to-end delay, and message echo with sliding-window statistics
- MCAP recording — bag files with optional zstd/lz4 compression, pause/resume, and topic selection
- CLI + GUI — the same data exposed through both interfaces
No Rust, no compiler, no build dependencies — just download and run. The script detects your architecture and installs rp to /usr/local/bin.
CLI only (default)
curl -fsSL https://github.com/csi-dgist/ros2probe/releases/latest/download/install.sh | shCLI + GUI (x86-64 only)
curl -fsSL https://github.com/csi-dgist/ros2probe/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh -s -- --guiPrebuilt binaries are provided for x86-64 and aarch64 (Raspberry Pi 4/5, Jetson); the GUI build is x86-64 only.
Uninstall
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/rpRequirements
| Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|
| Linux 5.15+ | eBPF socket filter, AF_PACKET TPACKET_V3 |
| ROS 2 Humble+ | Iron, Jazzy, Rolling also supported |
Python 3 + rclpy |
Only for rp topic echo |
| Optional | Jumbo frames, or a DDS XML profile that avoids IP fragmentation |
Start the runtime first, in its own terminal, and leave it running:
rp runThen launch your ROS 2 nodes — a publisher and subscriber on two hosts (or the same host):
# Host A
ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp talker
# Host B
ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp listenerOrder matters:
rp runmust be observing before the nodes announce themselves so it can capture their discovery traffic. If you startedrp runafter some nodes were already up, runrp discoverto refresh RTPS discovery and query existing Zenoh liveliness tokens over the observed local TCP or UDP transport.
In a second terminal, talk to that runtime:
rp topic list # what's on the wire
rp topic hz /chatter # live publish rate
rp bag record /chatter -o session.mcap # record to MCAP
rp gui # or explore visuallyRun rp <command> --help for the full set of flags and options.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
rp run |
Start the runtime daemon (auto-escalates to root if needed) |
rp gui |
Launch the desktop GUI (the runtime must already be running) |
rp topic list |
List topics — recordable first, internal topics separated |
rp topic info / type / find |
Endpoints & QoS, type string, or find topics by type |
rp topic hz / bw / delay |
Live publish rate / bandwidth / end-to-end delay with statistics |
rp topic echo |
Stream decoded messages (requires Python + rclpy) |
rp bag record [TOPICS…] |
Record an MCAP bag — --all, -o <file>, --compression-format, pause/resume |
rp node list / info |
Discovered nodes and their endpoints |
rp service list / type / find |
Service introspection |
rp action list / info |
Action introspection |
rp discover |
Refresh a stale graph using RTPS discovery and local Zenoh TCP/UDP liveliness queries |
Internal topics (tf,
parameter_events,rosout, and debug topics) produce no output forhz/bw/delay/echo, and are never captured byrp bag— even with--all. For SHM traffic, ros2probe may create a temporary shadow subscriber over the active DDS or Zenoh transport so payloads remain observable.
rp gui opens a desktop app with three pages:
- Dashboard — live node/topic counts, system metrics (CPU, memory, network I/O) with history charts, and an interactive ROS graph. Filters for tf, parameter, debug, leaf, and SHM-only topics are on by default.
- Topic Monitor — per-topic hz / bw / delay panels with history charts and statistics, plus an echo view of the last 100 decoded messages.
- Bag Recorder — multi-topic selection, compression and output options, and live recording status (elapsed time, file size, per-topic message counts) with pause/resume.
If you use ros2probe in your research, please cite it:
@article{yu2026ros2probe,
title={ros2probe: Non-intrusive, Kernel-selective Observability for Robot Operating System 2 Middleware},
author={Yu, Jisang and Lee, Sanghoon and Choi, Yeonwoo and Park, Kyung-Joon},
journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.10746},
year={2026}
}The userspace runtime, CLI, and GUI are licensed under the Apache License 2.0. The eBPF kernel program is dual-licensed GPL-2.0 OR Apache-2.0, so it can declare a GPL-compatible license to the kernel's BPF verifier.
ros2probe is developed at the DGIST CSI Lab. For design questions, collaboration proposals, or anything about the project or the paper, reach out to:
- Sanghoon Lee — paper co-first author and project contact; research & tools · email
- Jisang Yu — julienyu@dgist.ac.kr
For reproducible bugs and feature requests, please open a GitHub issue so the discussion stays public.