Module getting_started 

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Rust nightly toolchain (edition 2024)
• zenohd 1.6.2 router (build from submodule with just build-zenohd, or install from zenoh releases)
• ROS 2 Humble (optional — only needed for message packages beyond std_msgs and builtin_interfaces, which are bundled)

1. Create a project

cargo new my-talker && cd my-talker

Add nros and your message crate to Cargo.toml:

[package]
name = "my-talker"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2024"

[dependencies]
nros = { git = "https://github.com/jerry73204/nano-ros", default-features = false, features = ["std"] }
std_msgs = { version = "*", default-features = false }

2. Declare message dependencies

Create a package.xml in the project root:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package format="3">
  <name>my_talker</name>
  <version>0.1.0</version>
  <description>My first nros talker</description>
  <maintainer email="you@example.com">You</maintainer>
  <license>MIT</license>
  <depend>std_msgs</depend>
  <export><build_type>ament_cargo</build_type></export>
</package>

3. Generate message bindings

Build the nros tool (one-time, from a nano-ros checkout):

git submodule update --init packages/cli
just setup-cli
source ./activate.sh   # puts packages/cli/target/release/nros on PATH

Or grab the no-Rust prebuilt:

scripts/install-nros-prebuilt.sh

Generate bindings (for packages beyond std_msgs/builtin_interfaces, source a ROS 2 environment first):

nros generate-rust --config --nano-ros-git

This creates:

• generated/std_msgs/ — Rust types (Int32, String, etc.)
• generated/builtin_interfaces/ — Time, Duration
• .cargo/config.toml — [patch.crates-io] entries

Key options: --force (overwrite existing), --nano-ros-path <PATH> (local dev instead of git), -o <DIR> (output directory, default generated).

4. Build and run

# Terminal 1: start zenoh router
zenohd --listen tcp/127.0.0.1:7447

# Terminal 2: run your node
RUST_LOG=info cargo run --features zenoh

To verify with a ROS 2 listener:

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_zenoh_cpp
ros2 topic echo /chatter std_msgs/msg/Int32 --qos-reliability best_effort