Turtle Nest

Just as the natural turtle nests are the birthplace for young turtles, ROS 2 Turtle Nest is where new ROS packages are born and brought to life.

Turtle Nest offers a user-friendly graphical interface for creating new ROS 2 packages and adding nodes to existing ones. Forget digging through the documentation and the countless build errors, and create your packages and nodes easily with Turtle Nest!

Features

• 📦 Create new ROS 2 packages - with nodes, launch files and parameter files. Supported package types:
  • C++
  • Python
  • Mixed (C++ & Python)
  • Custom Message Interfaces
• ✨ Create ROS 2 Nodes - add nodes to new and even existing packages - with a single click! Supported node types:
  • Regular Nodes
  • Lifecycle Nodes
  • Composable Nodes
• 🔍 List the existing packages in the workspace - See the package information such as package type, executables, launch & parameter files, package description, and so on.

The created packages and nodes are ready to build and run right away, so you can jump straight into development. Turtle Nest takes care of updating the CMakeLists.txt, setup.py and package.xml files with all the needed configuration and dependencies.

Turtle Nest enforces the naming conventions and best practices, so you don’t have to worry about the details.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 22 or 24
• Python 3.9+
• ROS 2 (any one of the following versions)
  • Humble
  • Jazzy
  • Kilted
  • Rolling

Installation

Install the package by running:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-turtle-nest

• If your ${ROS_DISTRO} env variable is not set, replace it with your ROS 2 distribution, such as humble or jazzy.

Alternative Installation - Build from Source

The previous installation method is usually sufficient for most users. However, if you want the latest features or want to customize the Turtle Nest, you can build it from source:

Usage

To run the application, simply execute:

turtle-nest

New package creation

Set a new or existing workspace for your ROS 2 packages in the UI. Select “Create New Package” and fill in the necessary information to create a new ROS 2 package.

After the package has been created, build and source the new package as normal:

cd <ros2_ws_location>
colcon build --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash