A VS Code extension for quickly running ROS2 launch files, Python nodes, and C++ nodes

ROS ROS General
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ROS2 Quick Runner

This is a VSCode extension I recently wrote, and I’ve been using it lately

A VS Code extension for quickly running ROS2 launch files, Python nodes, and C++ nodes.

GitHub - Knighthood2001/vscode-ros2-quick-runner: Quickly run ROS 2 launch, Python, and C++ files in VSCode · GitHub

Features

1. Launch ROS2 Files

Right-click any .launch.py file and select “ros2 launch” to:

  • Automatically find the ROS2 workspace
  • Source the workspace’s install/setup.bash
  • Execute ros2 launch <package_name> <launch_file>

2. Run ROS2 Nodes

Right-click any .py or .cpp file and select “ros2 run” to:

  • Automatically find the ROS2 workspace and package name
  • Source the workspace’s install/setup.bash
  • Execute ros2 run <package_name> <node_name>

3. Get Workspace Name

Right-click any file and select “ros2 source” to:

  • Display the workspace name
  • Source the workspace in a new terminal

4. Build ROS2 Workspace

Right-click any folder in your ROS2 workspace and select “colcon build” to:

  • Automatically find the ROS2 workspace root
  • Open a terminal at the workspace root
  • Execute colcon build

Smart path detection:

  • Right-click xxx_ws/ → build in xxx_ws/
  • Right-click xxx_ws/src/ → build in xxx_ws/
  • Right-click any sub-folder (e.g. xxx_ws/src/pkg_a) → build in xxx_ws/

How It Works

The extension automatically:

  1. Finds the ROS2 workspace by searching for directories whose src/ subdirectory contains at least one package with package.xml
  2. Extracts the package name by parsing the package.xml file in the package directory
  3. Executes commands in a new VS Code terminal

Usage

  1. Search for ros2-quick-runner in VS Code extensions and install it
  2. Open your ROS2 project in VS Code
  3. Right-click on a file in the explorer:
    • .launch.py files → “ros2 launch”
    • .py or .cpp files → “ros2 run”
    • Any file → “ros2 source”
    • Any folder → “colcon build”

Commands

Command Description
ros2-quick-runner.ros2launch Launch a .launch.py file
ros2-quick-runner.ros2run Run a Python or C++ node
ros2-quick-runner.getWorkspaceName Get and source the workspace
ros2-quick-runner.colconBuild Build the ROS2 workspace

Requirements

  • VS Code 1.80.0 or higher
  • ROS2 installed (e.g., ROS 2 Humble)
  • A compiled ROS2 workspace with install/ directory

Release Notes

For detailed changelog, please see: vscode-ros2-quick-runner/CHANGELOG.md at main · Knighthood2001/vscode-ros2-quick-runner · GitHub

0.0.3

  • Initial release
  • Support for ROS2 launch files, Python nodes, and C++ nodes
  • Automatic workspace detection
  • Automatic package name extraction