ros2-humble-devbox

Full ROS2 Humble dev environment in Docker — code, build, test, and run GUI tools (RViz, rqt) from any OS. No local ROS install required.

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Demo

Spin up the container, SSH into a sourced ROS2 workspace, build a package, open RViz over VNC — all from a Mac.

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Why this exists

No native ROS2 on macOS, no colcon build without a Linux box, no RViz without dual-booting or babysitting a VM. This runs a full Ubuntu 22.04 + ROS2 Humble desktop inside Docker instead — any host OS, as long as Docker runs.

• Create and test real packages from a Mac — ros2 pkg create, colcon build, colcon test run the same as native Ubuntu, because it is Ubuntu, just inside the container.
• Full GUI, not just a shell — VNC gives you RViz2, rqt, and any other tool at full framerate. Files sync live between host and container both ways (bind mount, not a copy), so edits in your own editor show up instantly with no rebuild.
• One script for the whole workflow — scripts/dev.sh up/ssh/build/test/create-pkg/tmux covers day-to-day use, no docker exec incantations to memorize.

Quickstart

git clone https://github.com/<you>/ros2-humble-devbox.git
cd ros2-humble-devbox
./scripts/init.sh      # writes .env
./scripts/dev.sh up    # or up-linux on Linux
./scripts/dev.sh ssh   # lands in ~/WORKSPACE_NAME with ROS2 sourced

Full setup, all commands, and troubleshooting: docker/README.md

Prefer an IDE over SSH/tmux? .devcontainer/devcontainer.json attaches VSCode's Dev Containers extension straight to the same service — reopen the folder in a container after ./scripts/init.sh.

Using this as a template

Click Use this template on GitHub, run ./scripts/init.sh, replace this header with your project. WORKSPACE_NAME in .env drives the container/image/tmux naming everywhere else — nothing else to edit.

License

MIT