hyper-ros-control

A Hyper terminal plugin for ROS/ROS 2 robot control.
Browse topics, nodes and services, publish messages and call services — all from a sidebar inside your terminal, with multi-robot SSH support.

Features

• 🤖 Multi-robot support — switch between Local, Jetson (Robot) and RPi with one click
• 🔌 SSH connection management — connect via VPN or direct IP with password modal
• 📋 Browse topics / nodes / services — live sidebar list with tab switching
• 📤 Topic publisher — auto-detects message type, custom payload, preview command
• 📞 Service caller — auto-detects service type, custom args, preview command
• 🔍 Topic echo & info — run directly in terminal with one click
• ⚡ Source shortcuts — src ROS and src WS buttons for quick environment setup
• 🎨 Clean breadcrumb toolbar — live status dot, user@host info, connect/disconnect
• ⚙️ GUI config editor — edit robot connections without touching JSON

Prerequisites

• Hyper terminal (v3+)
• ROS or ROS 2 installed on target machine
• sshpass for password-based SSH connections

Install sshpass

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install sshpass

# macOS
brew install sshpass

Installation

hyper install hyper-ros-control

Restart Hyper after installation.

Configuration

On first run, a default config is created at:

~/.config/hyper-ros-control/config.json

You can edit it manually or use ROS Control → Configure Connections… from the menu bar.

Full config example

{
  "defaults": {
    "jetsonTarget": "vpn"
  },
  "robots": {
    "jetson": {
      "username": "nvidia",
      "host_ip": "192.168.0.60",
      "host_vpn": "10.8.0.2",
      "ros_flavor": "ros2",
      "ros_setup": "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash",
      "workspace": "~/workspace/my_ws",
      "ws_setup": ""
    },
    "rpi": {
      "username": "pi",
      "host_ip": "192.168.0.55",
      "host_vpn": "",
      "ros_flavor": "ros2",
      "ros_setup": "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash",
      "workspace": "~/workspace/my_ws",
      "ws_setup": ""
    },
    "local": {
      "ros_flavor": "ros2",
      "ros_setup": "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash",
      "workspace": "~/workspace/my_ws",
      "ws_setup": ""
    }
  }
}

Config fields

| Field | Description | Example | |---|---|---| | username | SSH username | "nvidia" | | host_ip | Direct IP address | "192.168.0.60" | | host_vpn | VPN IP address | "10.8.0.2" | | ros_flavor | ROS version | "ros1" or "ros2" | | ros_setup | Source ROS command | "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash" | | workspace | Path to colcon/catkin workspace | "~/workspace/my_ws" | | ws_setup | Custom workspace source (overrides auto) | "source ~/ws/install/setup.bash" |

Usage

Connecting to a robot

1. Click Robot or PLC in the breadcrumb toolbar
2. Select VPN or IP target
3. Click Connect
4. Enter SSH password in the modal
5. Sidebar populates with topics, nodes and services

Browsing topics / nodes / services

• Switch tabs with Topics / Nodes / Services buttons in the sidebar
• Click any item to select it
• Use action buttons below the list:

| Button | Description | |---|---| | Info | Prints detailed info in terminal | | Echo | Starts ros2 topic echo in terminal (topics only) | | Publish | Opens publisher modal (topics only) | | Call | Opens service caller modal (services only) |

Publishing a topic

1. Select a topic → click Publish
2. Message type is auto-detected (or type manually)
3. Edit payload JSON
4. Click Publish — command runs in terminal

Calling a service

1. Select a service → click Call
2. Service type is auto-detected (or type manually)
3. Edit arguments
4. Click Call — command runs in terminal

Sourcing ROS environment

| Button | Action | |---|---| | src ROS | Runs ros_setup command from config | | src WS | Runs ws_setup or auto-generates from workspace path |

Menu

Access ROS Control in the Hyper menu bar:

• Configure Connections… — opens GUI config editor

Troubleshooting

| Problem | Solution | |---|---| | Sidebar empty after connecting | Make sure ros_setup is correct and ROS is running. Try src ROS first. | | sshpass is not installed error | Run sudo apt install sshpass | | SSH asks for password in terminal | Make sure sshpass is installed and in your $PATH | | Wrong host is used | Check VPN/IP toggle and verify host_vpn / host_ip in config |

License

MIT