Command Reference

The genesys command-line interface (CLI) is the unified entry point for managing your ROS 2 projects. This page provides a comprehensive reference for every available command, its options, and examples.

genesys new

Creates a new, structured ROS 2 workspace with all the standard directories.

Signature

genesys new <project_name>

Description This command generates a new directory with the given <project_name>. Inside, it creates a standard ROS 2 workspace layout, including src/, launch/, config/, and sim/ directories. This ensures your projects start with a consistent and clean structure.

Example

# Creates a new workspace directory named "my_robot_ws"
genesys new my_robot_ws

# Navigate into the new workspace
cd my_robot_ws

genesys make pkg

Interactively creates a new Python or C++ package within the src/ directory.

Signature

genesys make pkg <pkg_name> [--with-node]

Description This command launches an interactive wizard to help you create a new ROS 2 package. It will prompt you for details like the package type (Python/C++) and description. It automatically generates the package.xml, setup.py (for Python), and CMakeLists.txt (for C++) files.

  • --with-node: If specified, the wizard will ptompt you to know what type of node (publisher, Subscriber, Service, Action Service, Interface, etc) after that, it will immediately proceed to the make node flow after the package is created.

Example

# Starts the interactive wizard to create a Python package named "robot_brain"
genesys make pkg robot_brain

genesys make node

Creates a new node and automatically registers it within an existing package.

When creating it, you will be prompted to selecte the type of node you want to create (publisher/subscriber, actionservice, service, interface), etc.

Signature

genesys make node <node_name> --pkg <package_name>

Description This command generates a new node file and, more importantly, handles all the boilerplate for registering it. It will:

  1. Create the node source file (e.g., src/my_pkg/my_pkg/my_node.py).

  2. Add the node as an executable entry point in the package's setup.py or CMakeLists.txt.

  3. Generate or update a launch file in the workspace's launch/ directory to include the new node.

Example

# Creates a node named "camera_processor" inside the "robot_vision" package
genesys make node camera_processor --pkg robot_vision

genesys build

Builds the entire workspace using colcon and sources the environment.

Signature

genesys build

Description This is a convenience wrapper that runs colcon build --symlink-install and then automatically sources the install/setup.bash file for you. This means that after the build completes, your new nodes are immediately available as executables in your current terminal session.

Example

# Build all packages in the current workspace
genesys build

genesys run

Runs a node by its executable name without needing to specify the package.

Signature

genesys run <node_name>

Description This command searches your workspace for a node with the given executable name and runs it using ros2 run. It saves you from having to remember which package a specific node belongs to.

Example

# Assuming you have a node named "path_planner_node" somewhere in your workspace
genesys run path_planner_node

# This is equivalent to running `ros2 run <some_pkg> path_planner_node`

genesys launch

Launches a package's default launch file or a specific one.

Signature

genesys launch <pkg_name>[:<launch_file_name>]
genesys launch --all

Description This command simplifies launching your application.

  • genesys launch <pkg_name>: Looks for and runs a default launch file named <pkg_name>_launch.py in the workspace's launch/ directory.

  • genesys launch <pkg_name>:<file_name>: Runs a specific launch file from the launch/ directory (e.g., launch/file_name.py).

  • genesys launch --all: Finds and executes a default.launch.py file in every package's launch directory.

Example

# Run the default launch file for the 'robot_brain' package
genesys launch robot_brain

# Run a specific launch file named 'navigation_launch.py'
genesys launch robot_brain:navigation

genesys sim

Starts a Gazebo simulation with a specified world and robot model.

Signature

genesys sim <world_file>

Description This command provides a one-step way to start a simulation. It launches Gazebo, loads the specified world file (e.g., from a worlds/ directory), and automatically includes any robot models found in the sim/models directory of your workspace.

Example

# Start Gazebo and load the 'my_world.world' file
genesys sim my_world.world

genesys doctor

Checks the local environment for common configuration issues.

Signature

genesys doctor

Description A simple diagnostic tool to ensure your development environment is set up correctly. It checks for a sourced ROS 2 distribution, required dependencies, and other common setup problems.

Example

# Run a check on your environment
genesys doctor

Genesys Tooling Commands

Genesys provides a suite of commands that act as convenient aliases for common ros2 CLI functions.

Node Commands

  • genesys node list: Lists all active nodes. This is an equivalent to

    ros2 node list.

  • genesys node info <node>: Displays detailed information about a specific node. This command mirrors

    ros2 node info <node>.

Topic Commands

  • genesys topic list: Lists all active topics.

  • genesys topic info <topic>: Displays information about a given topic, similar to ros2 topic info <topic>.

  • genesys topic echo <topic>: Prints messages from a topic to the console, equivalent to ros2 topic echo <topic>.

  • genesys topic pub <topic> <msg_type> <args>: Publishes a message to a topic directly from the command line. This is an alias for

    ros2 topic pub <topic> <msg_type> <args>.

  • genesys topic bw <topic>: Shows the bandwidth usage for a specified topic, which is an alias for ros2 topic bw <topic>.

  • genesys topic find <msg_type>: Finds all topics that use a specific message type, mirroring the functionality of ros2 topic find <msg_type>.

Service Commands

  • genesys service list: Lists all active services.

  • genesys service type <srv>: Prints the service type of a specific service, equivalent to ros2 service type <srv>.

  • genesys service info <srv>: Displays information about a service, equivalent to ros2 service info <srv>.

  • genesys service find <srv_type>: Finds services that use a specific service type.

  • genesys service call <srv> <srv_type> <args>: Calls a service from the CLI, which is an alias for ros2 service call <srv> <srv_type> <args>.

  • genesys service echo <srv>: Displays the service data, an alias for ros2 service echo <srv>.

Action Commands

  • genesys action list: Lists all active actions, mirroring ros2 action list.

  • genesys action type <action>: Prints the action type of a specified action.

  • genesys action info <action>: Displays information about an action, similar to ros2 action info <action>.

  • genesys action send_goal <action> <args>: Sends a goal to an action server from the CLI, an alias for ros2 action send_goal <action> <args>.

  • genesys action echo <action>: Displays the action data, an alias for ros2 action echo <action>.

Parameter Commands

  • genesys param list: Lists all parameters for a node.

  • genesys param get <node> <param>: Gets the value of a specific parameter from a node.

  • genesys param set <node> <param> <value>: Sets a parameter value on a node.

  • genesys param dump <node>: Dumps all parameters from a node to a YAML file.

  • genesys param load <node> <file>: Loads parameters from a file onto a node.

Debugging Tools:

  • genesys debug record <topics>: Records data from specified topics, serving as a simplified version of ros2 bag record.

  • genesys debug replay <file>: Replays recorded data from a .db3 file, similar to ros2 bag play

PreviousThe Genesys wayNextDecorator Reference

Last updated

Was this helpful?