rerun

Drive the Rerun URDF API (rerun.urdf.UrdfTree) to ingest a URDF as a Transform3D layer on a robot recording. Read when logging a robot model, running forward kinematics from joint states, composing a fixed chain for sensor extrinsics, or when the transform tree will not connect from the data alone. Builds on rerun-chunk-processing (stream/lens mechanics) and rerun-data-model (entity paths, timeline, base-vs-layer).

Ingest tabular Parquet files into Rerun chunk streams with rerun.experimental.ParquetReader. Read when converting trajectory or sensor tables (LeRobot-style parquet, exported logs) into entities and components — column grouping, timeline/index columns, static columns, and lenses (DeriveLens) that assemble the typed components (Transform3D, Scalars) from the reader's grouped struct/scalar output. Builds on rerun-chunk-processing and rerun-data-model.

Ingest MCAP files into Rerun chunk streams with rerun.experimental.McapReader. Read when converting an MCAP recording, selecting topics or decoders, decoding custom protobuf messages, or when an MCAP-derived stream comes out empty. Builds on rerun-chunk-processing (stream mechanics) and rerun-data-model (what the topics should become).

Ingest a LeRobot (HuggingFace) dataset into Rerun. Read when converting a LeRobot dataset to RRDs, splitting it into per-episode segments, or registering it on a Rerun catalog. Covers the built-in directory importer (log_file_from_path), the RrdReader + send_chunks per-episode split, and when to drop to ParquetReader for custom control.

How raw multimodal robot data maps onto the Rerun data model. Read FIRST, before modeling or converting a dataset — and whenever you are about to convert/ingest/preprocess robot data into an .rrd or build a Rerun recording, even if not asked for the data model. Resolves the entity-vs-component, property-vs-component-vs-layer, and static-vs-temporal decisions and routes to the mechanism (do it with readers and lenses, not hand-built chunks or per-message rr.log): rerun-chunk-processing and the importer skills rerun-mcap, rerun-urdf, rerun-parquet, rerun-mp4, rerun-lerobot.

Core mechanics of the Rerun Chunk Processing API (rerun.experimental) — LazyChunkStream pipelines, Chunk, lenses (MutateLens/DeriveLens/Selector), RrdReader, writing optimized RRDs. Read BEFORE writing any ingestion/conversion/preprocessing code (convert an MCAP, build a recording from a dataset, preprocess an .rrd, port an old converter): it mandates reader+lens pipelines and steers away from hand-built chunks — no Chunk.from_columns for data a reader/lens can produce, no per-message rr.log, no manual pa.array assembly. Source-specific knowledge lives in the importer skills (rerun-mcap, rerun-urdf, rerun-parquet, rerun-mp4, rerun-lerobot); read rerun-data-model first to decide what the data should become.

Performance patterns and gotchas for querying a Rerun catalog from Python. Reach for this when a CatalogClient/dataset query is unexpectedly slow, or when shaping a per-segment / per-episode pipeline that hits the catalog from many places.

Design a Rerun blueprint from the data, then iterate on it from headless screenshots. Read this when laying out a recording or dataset in the viewer, designing a default blueprint, or deciding which views show which entities. Covers archetype-to-view mapping, layout reasoning, the rrb construction API, the contents grammar, and the screenshot loop.