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Adding a new ROS 2 node to ADORe

This guide explains how to add a new ROS 2 node to the ADORe codebase, using the official ROS 2 tutorials as the primary reference and then describing what’s different in the ADORe setup.

Before or while adding a node, it’s worth skimming these (Jazzy docs shown, Humble is essentially identical):

  • Developing a ROS 2 package (creating packages, C++/Python, install rules) (docs.ros.org)

  • Jazzy: https://docs.ros.org/en/jazzy/How-To-Guides/Developing-a-ROS-2-Package.html

  • There you can follow Writing a simple publisher and subscriber :

  • Writing a simple publisher and subscriber (C++)

  • Writing a simple publisher and subscriber (Python)

  • Optional but useful:

  • Creating custom msg and srv files

  • Creating a launch file and Integrating launch files into ROS 2 packages

Where packages live in ADORe

In a generic ROS 2 tutorial, you create packages under something like ~/ros2_ws/src. (docs.ros.org)

In ADORe, the layout is slightly different:

  • The repo root is mounted inside the dev container at:
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/home/<user>/adore
  • The colcon workspace is:
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/home/<user>/adore/.colcon_workspace
  • .colcon_workspace/src is populated via symlinks, created by .docker/scripts/setup_colcon_src.sh, to mirror a set of top-level “category” directories in the repo (nodes, libraries, interfaces, vendor, etc.).

Where to put your new node package

  1. Open the repo in the dev container:
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just dev
  1. In the container, inspect the top-level directories to see how things are grouped:
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ls

You’ll see one or more directories that contain other ROS 2 packages already (for example, a “nodes” directory, a “libraries” directory, etc.). Choose the category that matches what you’re adding:

  • A runtime ROS node → put it alongside other node packages.
  • A pure library → put it alongside existing library packages.

  • New message/service definitions → put them in the interfaces/messages category.

  • You can create the package either:

  • Directly in the top-level category directory, or

  • Via the colcon symlink under .colcon_workspace/src/<category> → both end up in the same place because of the symlink.

What’s different vs the vanilla ROS 2 tutorials?

Here’s a quick comparison between the official docs and the ADORe flow:

Topic ROS 2 tutorials ADORe specifics
Workspace location ~/ros2_ws/src Repo root + .colcon_workspace/src via symlinks
Environment setup Manually source /opt/ros/<distro>/setup Dev container auto-sources ROS Jazzy and the colcon overlay
Package creation command ros2 pkg create ... Same command, but run inside the dev container
Where to create packages Directly in ~/ros2_ws/src In the appropriate top-level category inside the repo
Build command colcon build just build or colcon build inside .colcon_workspace
Running nodes ros2 run <pkg> <exec> Same, but from inside dev container (recommended)

If you follow the official Jazzy “Developing a ROS 2 package” tutorial step-by-step inside the ADORe dev container and just adjust the workspace paths and category directory, you’ll end up with a node that behaves exactly like any other ADORe node, and it will be built and tested automatically by the existing just/colcon workflow.