dispatcher
- Software
- Middleware
- Tool
A Qt-based ROS 2 widget for starting, stopping, and monitoring ROS nodes and arbitrary shell processes, with its UI built from a YAML file.
Made by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States (checked on github.com/nasa-jpl (opens in a new tab)).
Source on GitHub: github.com/nasa-jpl/dispatcher (opens in a new tab). Facts read at commit 82bc029 (opens in a new tab).
Licenses
- Code
- Apache-2.0 (opens in a new tab)
Read by Robotheca from LICENSE (opens in a new tab) (Apache-2.0) at commit 82bc029 (opens in a new tab), on 16 Oct 2026.
- Commercial use
- Yes
What it does
- Builds its UI from a YAML file that defines processes, categories, configurations, scripts, and variables.
- Launches each configured item in its own detached tmux session, optionally attaching a gnome-terminal window to it.
- Monitors ROS items through the ROS graph and shell items through pgrep to show online status.
- Supports named configurations that select which commands run, with environment variables and command prefixes.
- Provides a scripts panel with grid-placed buttons and variable drop-downs substituted into commands.
- Can run commands on remote hosts over SSH and includes runnable ROS 2 demo examples.
Written by Robotheca from the project's README (opens in a new tab) at commit 82bc029.
Getting started
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- How to start
- The project's README (opens in a new tab)
Maintenance
- Status
- Active: a commit in the last 90 days
- Newest commit
- 23 Sept 2026 on master
- Latest release
- None published on GitHub
Checked on GitHub on 16 Oct 2026.
Links
Robots on Robotheca that use it
No robot on Robotheca is linked to it yet. Links come from a robot's robot.yaml, from its dependency files read as text, or from Robotheca's editors.
Robotheca lists software as a reference: nothing is hosted or run here, and every fact links to where it was read.