The ROS Central Registry (RCR) is a collection of Bazel modules for building ROS packages completely from source within Bazel. Some of its key features are the following:
- It is pinned at a very recent upstream release,
lyrical/2026-10-05. - It has immutable modules as releases, ensuring long-term stability.
- It supports FastRTPS, Zenoh, and CycloneDDS.
- It supports both Mac and Linux on arm64 and x86_64.
- It is tested with hermetic-llvm and supports cross-compilation.
- It has unit tests to verify behavior correctness cross-platform.
- It has most packages from rosdistro ported to Bazel.
- It runs CI on desktop_full to make sure building and testing pass.
- It builds everything from source, including Qt 6.10.2 and libtorch.
- It has a user-friendly web-based package manager: https://bazel.ros.org
Make sure you are working in a session that has access to a display, as some examples launch GUIs.
Make sure you have git, Python3, and zip compression tools installed:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y git unzip zip
Then download bazelisk and put it on your path:
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -Lo ~/.local/bin/bazel \
https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazelisk/releases/latest/download/bazelisk-linux-$(dpkg --print-architecture)
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/bazelInstall the system SDK frameworks:
xcode-select --install
Install Homebrew and then the necessary tools:
brew install bazelisk gitFor high-precision timing and benchmarks on macOS, timer coalescing can introduce millisecond jitter into your execution loops. We recommend disabling it before running any time-critical code, and then enabling it again afterwards:
sudo sysctl -w kern.timer.coalescing_enabled=0
<run time-critical code>
sudo sysctl -w kern.timer.coalescing_enabled=1
Check out code:
git clone https://github.com/asymingt/rcr-example.git
cd rcr-exampleProvided you are on Mac or Linux, you will by default use a pre-warmed remote cache, and so all build events should complete fairly quickly.
Pubsub example with FastRTPS (default RMW):
bazel run @examples_rclcpp_minimal_publisher//:publisher_lambda
bazel run @examples_rclcpp_minimal_subscriber//:subscriber_lambda
Start up a zenohd router and then run a publisher and subscriber:
bazel run @rmw_zenoh_cpp//:rmw_zenohd
bazel run @examples_rclcpp_minimal_publisher//:publisher_lambda \
--run_env=RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_zenoh_cpp
bazel run @examples_rclcpp_minimal_subscriber//:subscriber_lambda \
--run_env=RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_zenoh_cpp
Launch the Rviz2 robot simulator (needs a display):
bazel run @rviz2
Launch an end-to-end MoveIt example with a Universal Robot arm:
bazel run @ur_simulation_gz//launch:ur_sim_moveit_launch
rcr_example_moveit.mov
bazel run @nav2_bringup//launch:tb3_simulation_launch -- headless:=false
rcr_example_nav2.mov
To build portable binaries, you must specify which RMW middleware implementation you want to use, and then pass --config portable to statically link it and perform size optimizations:
bazel build @examples_rclcpp_minimal_publisher//:publisher_lambda \
--@rosdistro//:rmw=rmw_cyclonedds_cpp \
--config portable
Use du -hs to measure the resulting file size:
du -hs bazel-bin/external/examples_rclcpp_minimal_publisher+/publisher_lambda
6.5M bazel-bin/external/examples_rclcpp_minimal_publisher+/publisher_lambda
Then you can use otool -L or ldd to see what it links to. For example, on macOS it just requires the Foundation framework, libc++, and libSystem:
otool -L bazel-bin/external/examples_rclcpp_minimal_publisher+/publisher_lambda
bazel-bin/external/examples_rclcpp_minimal_publisher+/publisher_lambda:
/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/C/Foundation (compatibility version 300.0.0, current version 5026.5.4)
/usr/lib/libc++.1.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 2100.43.0)
/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1356.0.0)
The bazel-bin/external/examples_rclcpp_minimal_publisher+/publisher_lambda binary should now be portable across any aarch64 (M-series Mac) with Foundation series 300 and above.
Take a look at https://bazel.ros.org to find ROS packages you'd like to test. When you find one, add it to the MODULE.bazel file and it becomes available with an @ prefix. For example, rclpy is a package in the desktop_full variant, so you can just import it this way (the 0.0.0 version is immediately overridden by the resolved version for the release):
diff --git a/MODULE.bazel b/MODULE.bazel
index 6b2fa67..a2d19e3 100644
--- a/MODULE.bazel
+++ b/MODULE.bazel
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ bazel_dep(name = "desktop_full", version = "lyrical.2026-10-05.rcr.0")
# Declare 0.0.0 versions for the ROS modules you want in the variant above.
bazel_dep(name = "examples_rclcpp_minimal_publisher", version = "0.0.0")
bazel_dep(name = "examples_rclcpp_minimal_subscriber", version = "0.0.0")
+bazel_dep(name = "rclpy", version = "0.0.0")
bazel_dep(name = "rmw_zenoh_cpp", version = "0.0.0")
bazel_dep(name = "rosdistro", version = "lyrical.2026-10-05.rcr.1")
bazel_dep(name = "rviz2", version = "0.0.0")To make sure that all tests in @rclpy pass, you can run this command (after the edit above). Great care is taken to launch each test in its own network sandbox with multicast disabled, and a cleanup script to ensure no processes are left dangling after the test exits. This gives a nice deterministic result:
bazel test @rclpy//...
INFO: Invocation ID: 339f695d-1180-4fb5-b9dd-4acccfbae754
INFO: Analyzed 65 targets (2102 packages loaded, 133879 targets configured, 3822 aspect applications).
INFO: Found 7 targets and 58 test targets...
INFO: Elapsed time: 69.936s, Critical Path: 34.90s
INFO: 688 processes: 19746 action cache hit, 25 remote cache hit, 605 internal, 115 darwin-sandbox.
INFO: Build completed successfully, 688 total actions
@rclpy//test:test_action_client PASSED in 21.8s
@rclpy//test:test_action_graph PASSED in 4.7s
@rclpy//test:test_action_server PASSED in 15.7s
@rclpy//test:test_async_client PASSED in 8.7s
@rclpy//test:test_async_clock PASSED in 4.6s
@rclpy//test:test_async_node PASSED in 9.4s
@rclpy//test:test_async_publisher PASSED in 3.5s
@rclpy//test:test_async_service PASSED in 4.9s
@rclpy//test:test_async_subscription PASSED in 3.9s
@rclpy//test:test_async_timer PASSED in 9.0s
@rclpy//test:test_callback_group PASSED in 3.1s
@rclpy//test:test_client PASSED in 10.6s
@rclpy//test:test_clock PASSED in 8.4s
@rclpy//test:test_context PASSED in 1.8s
@rclpy//test:test_create_node PASSED in 3.6s
@rclpy//test:test_create_while_spinning PASSED in 5.8s
@rclpy//test:test_destruction PASSED in 5.4s
@rclpy//test:test_events_executor PASSED in 14.2s
@rclpy//test:test_expand_topic_name PASSED in 2.9s
@rclpy//test:test_guard_condition PASSED in 3.5s
@rclpy//test:test_init_shutdown PASSED in 4.2s
@rclpy//test:test_lifecycle PASSED in 4.5s
@rclpy//test:test_logging PASSED in 11.7s
@rclpy//test:test_logging_rosout PASSED in 26.3s
@rclpy//test:test_logging_service PASSED in 4.6s
@rclpy//test:test_messages PASSED in 2.3s
@rclpy//test:test_node PASSED in 6.5s
@rclpy//test:test_parameter PASSED in 2.0s
@rclpy//test:test_parameter_client PASSED in 3.4s
@rclpy//test:test_parameter_event_handler PASSED in 8.1s
@rclpy//test:test_parameter_service PASSED in 4.1s
@rclpy//test:test_publisher PASSED in 4.0s
@rclpy//test:test_python_allocator PASSED in 1.3s
@rclpy//test:test_qos PASSED in 5.9s
@rclpy//test:test_qos_event PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_qos_overriding_options PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_rate PASSED in 4.2s
@rclpy//test:test_rosout_subscription PASSED in 14.0s
@rclpy//test:test_serialization PASSED in 4.8s
@rclpy//test:test_service PASSED in 3.1s
@rclpy//test:test_service_introspection PASSED in 3.7s
@rclpy//test:test_subscription PASSED in 6.0s
@rclpy//test:test_task PASSED in 2.6s
@rclpy//test:test_time PASSED in 2.7s
@rclpy//test:test_time_source PASSED in 29.0s
@rclpy//test:test_timer PASSED in 5.7s
@rclpy//test:test_topic_endpoint_info PASSED in 3.2s
@rclpy//test:test_topic_or_service_is_hidden PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_type_description_service PASSED in 7.8s
@rclpy//test:test_type_hash PASSED in 2.6s
@rclpy//test:test_type_support PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_utilities PASSED in 2.9s
@rclpy//test:test_validate_full_topic_name PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_validate_namespace PASSED in 2.3s
@rclpy//test:test_validate_node_name PASSED in 2.6s
@rclpy//test:test_validate_topic_name PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_wait_for_message PASSED in 5.8s
@rclpy//test:test_waitable PASSED in 7.8s
Executed 58 out of 58 tests: 58 tests pass.
If you run the test again, Bazel is clever enough to notice that nothing upstream has changed for every test in the suite, and so it gives you back the cached test results.
$ bazel test @rclpy//...
INFO: Invocation ID: 81ff401e-4205-422f-9329-58dbb8596f62
INFO: Analyzed 65 targets (0 packages loaded, 0 targets configured).
INFO: Found 7 targets and 58 test targets...
INFO: Elapsed time: 2.168s, Critical Path: 0.00s
INFO: 1 process: 58 action cache hit, 1 internal.
INFO: Build completed successfully, 1 total action
@rclpy//test:test_action_client (cached) PASSED in 21.8s
@rclpy//test:test_action_graph (cached) PASSED in 4.7s
@rclpy//test:test_action_server (cached) PASSED in 15.7s
@rclpy//test:test_async_client (cached) PASSED in 8.7s
@rclpy//test:test_async_clock (cached) PASSED in 4.6s
@rclpy//test:test_async_node (cached) PASSED in 9.4s
@rclpy//test:test_async_publisher (cached) PASSED in 3.5s
@rclpy//test:test_async_service (cached) PASSED in 4.9s
@rclpy//test:test_async_subscription (cached) PASSED in 3.9s
@rclpy//test:test_async_timer (cached) PASSED in 9.0s
@rclpy//test:test_callback_group (cached) PASSED in 3.1s
@rclpy//test:test_client (cached) PASSED in 10.6s
@rclpy//test:test_clock (cached) PASSED in 8.4s
@rclpy//test:test_context (cached) PASSED in 1.8s
@rclpy//test:test_create_node (cached) PASSED in 3.6s
@rclpy//test:test_create_while_spinning (cached) PASSED in 5.8s
@rclpy//test:test_destruction (cached) PASSED in 5.4s
@rclpy//test:test_events_executor (cached) PASSED in 14.2s
@rclpy//test:test_expand_topic_name (cached) PASSED in 2.9s
@rclpy//test:test_guard_condition (cached) PASSED in 3.5s
@rclpy//test:test_init_shutdown (cached) PASSED in 4.2s
@rclpy//test:test_lifecycle (cached) PASSED in 4.5s
@rclpy//test:test_logging (cached) PASSED in 11.7s
@rclpy//test:test_logging_rosout (cached) PASSED in 26.3s
@rclpy//test:test_logging_service (cached) PASSED in 4.6s
@rclpy//test:test_messages (cached) PASSED in 2.3s
@rclpy//test:test_node (cached) PASSED in 6.5s
@rclpy//test:test_parameter (cached) PASSED in 2.0s
@rclpy//test:test_parameter_client (cached) PASSED in 3.4s
@rclpy//test:test_parameter_event_handler (cached) PASSED in 8.1s
@rclpy//test:test_parameter_service (cached) PASSED in 4.1s
@rclpy//test:test_publisher (cached) PASSED in 4.0s
@rclpy//test:test_python_allocator (cached) PASSED in 1.3s
@rclpy//test:test_qos (cached) PASSED in 5.9s
@rclpy//test:test_qos_event (cached) PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_qos_overriding_options (cached) PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_rate (cached) PASSED in 4.2s
@rclpy//test:test_rosout_subscription (cached) PASSED in 14.0s
@rclpy//test:test_serialization (cached) PASSED in 4.8s
@rclpy//test:test_service (cached) PASSED in 3.1s
@rclpy//test:test_service_introspection (cached) PASSED in 3.7s
@rclpy//test:test_subscription (cached) PASSED in 6.0s
@rclpy//test:test_task (cached) PASSED in 2.6s
@rclpy//test:test_time (cached) PASSED in 2.7s
@rclpy//test:test_time_source (cached) PASSED in 29.0s
@rclpy//test:test_timer (cached) PASSED in 5.7s
@rclpy//test:test_topic_endpoint_info (cached) PASSED in 3.2s
@rclpy//test:test_topic_or_service_is_hidden (cached) PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_type_description_service (cached) PASSED in 7.8s
@rclpy//test:test_type_hash (cached) PASSED in 2.6s
@rclpy//test:test_type_support (cached) PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_utilities (cached) PASSED in 2.9s
@rclpy//test:test_validate_full_topic_name (cached) PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_validate_namespace (cached) PASSED in 2.3s
@rclpy//test:test_validate_node_name (cached) PASSED in 2.6s
@rclpy//test:test_validate_topic_name (cached) PASSED in 3.3s
@rclpy//test:test_wait_for_message (cached) PASSED in 5.8s
@rclpy//test:test_waitable (cached) PASSED in 7.8s
Executed 0 out of 58 tests: 58 tests pass.
If you really want to run a specific test again:
$ bazel run @rclpy//test:test_utilities --cache_test_results=False --test_output=streamed
INFO: Invocation ID: b818af55-9839-4ab5-aa32-22c012de44f9
WARNING: Build option --run_under has changed, discarding analysis cache (this can be expensive, see https://bazel.build/advanced/performance/iteration-speed).
INFO: Analyzed target @@rclpy+//test:test_utilities (0 packages loaded, 58709 targets configured, 3813 aspect applications).
INFO: Found 1 target...
Target @@rclpy+//test:test_utilities up-to-date:
bazel-bin/external/rclpy+/test/test_utilities
INFO: Elapsed time: 4.122s, Critical Path: 0.23s
INFO: 4 processes: 19738 action cache hit, 4 internal.
INFO: Build completed successfully, 4 total actions
INFO: Running command line: external/bazel_tools/tools/test/test-setup.sh ../rclpy+/test/test_utilities ../rclpy+/test/test_utilities.py
exec ${PAGER:-/usr/bin/less} "$0" || exit 1
Executing tests from @@rclpy+//test:test_utilities
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================================================================================== test session starts ===========================================================================================================================================
platform darwin -- Python 3.12.13, pytest-9.1.1, pluggy-1.6.0
rootdir: /Users/simmers/Library/Caches/bazel/_bazel_simmers/e473a31147ec3708b60d35faee5a14d8/execroot/_main/bazel-out/darwin_arm64-fastbuild/bin/external/rclpy+/test/test_utilities.runfiles
collected 2 items
../rclpy+/test/test_utilities.py .. [100%]
================
If you want to see verbose output from the pytest engine, you need even more arguments:
bazel test @rclpy//test:test_utilities \
--cache_test_results=False \
--test_output=all \
--test_arg=-vv \
--test_arg=-s \
--test_arg=-rA
...
../rclpy+/test/test_utilities.py::TestValidateRemoveRosArgs::test_remove_ros_args PASSED
../rclpy+/test/test_utilities.py::TestUtilities::test_timeout_sec_to_nsec PASSED
==================================== PASSES ====================================
=========================== short test summary info ============================
PASSED ../rclpy+/test/test_utilities.py::TestValidateRemoveRosArgs::test_remove_ros_args
PASSED ../rclpy+/test/test_utilities.py::TestUtilities::test_timeout_sec_to_nsec
============================== 2 passed in 0.17s ===============================
================================================================================
INFO: Found 1 test target...
Target @@rclpy+//test:test_utilities up-to-date:
bazel-bin/external/rclpy+/test/test_utilities
INFO: Elapsed time: 10.542s, Critical Path: 3.96s
INFO: 5 processes: 19745 action cache hit, 4 internal, 2 darwin-sandbox.
INFO: Build completed successfully, 5 total actions
@rclpy//test:test_utilities PASSED in 1.3s