Ros Typescript Generator

A CLI for generating typescript interfaces and enums from ros msg files.

Features

• ROS1 and ROS2 support
• Generate ts types from ROS msgs
• Generate ts enums from ROS msgs
• Configurable type prefix, eg) IRosType or Ros (config: {"typePrefix": "IRosType"})
• TypeScript namespaces for ROS packages (config: {"useNamespaces": true})
• Works with custom .msg, .srv and .action files
• No runtime dependencies
• Smart enum support (config: {"smartEnums": true})

# example_msgs/example.msg
uint8 STATUS_DISABLED = 0 
uint8 STATUS_ENABLED = 1

uint8 OTHER_THING_1 = 1
uint8 OTHER_THING_2 = 2

uint8 status
uint8 other
uint8 more

Becomes

export interface ExampleMsgsExample {
  status: ExampleMsgsExampleStatus;
  other: ExampleMsgsExampleOther;
  more: number;
}

export enum ExampleMsgsExampleStatus {
  DISABLED = 0,
  ENABLED = 1,
}

export enum ExampleMsgsExampleOther {
  THING_1 = 1,
  THING_2 = 2,
}

Comparison to rclnodejs / rostsd-gen

Unlike rostsd-gen, this ONLY generates ts types and enums. This means the output does not include any nodejs dependencies. In fact, it has no runtime dependencies at all. It uses interfaces rather than classes 🙂. This makes it good option for any frontend project.

Usage

• Add a ros-ts-generator-config.json file to your project root. For example:

{
  "output": "./generated/ros_msgs.ts",
  "rosVersion": 2, // 1 or 2
  "typePrefix": "IRosType",
  "useNamespaces": false, // Should we use namespaces for ROS packages?
  "smartEnums": true, // Should we use smart enums (as described above)
  "input": [
    {
      "namespace": "std_msgs",
      "path": "/opt/ros/iron/share/std_msgs"
    },
    {
      "namespace": "geometry_msgs",
      "path": "/opt/ros/iron/share/geometry_msgs"
    },
    // Add any other messages including your own custom messages.
  ],
}

• Run npx ros-typescript-generator --config ros-ts-generator-config.json
• Done!

Examples

• Basic Example
• Real ROS1 Example
• Real ROS2 Example

Credit

Credit goes to foxglove for their foxglove/rosmsg library.