Reference

Environment variables

Variable	Effect
`DENDROS_DEBUG=1`	Print config summary, color map, and group list to stderr on startup
`DENDROS_DISABLE=1`	Bypass DendROS entirely; call the real `ros2` binary directly

# Confirm DendROS found your config and matched your node names
DENDROS_DEBUG=1 ros2 launch my_pkg my_launch.py

# Disable for a single invocation (env prefix, not persistent)
DENDROS_DISABLE=1 ros2 launch my_pkg my_launch.py

# Toggle for the entire shell session
dendros disable    # sets DENDROS_DISABLE=1 in the current shell
dendros enable     # unsets DENDROS_DISABLE

Note

DENDROS_DEBUG=1 always overrides the debug setting in defaults.yaml.

dendROS.yaml — group keys

Key	Required	Type	Description
`color`	yes	string	Color for this group. See Colors.
`label`	no	string	Short badge text shown as `[LOC]`. `""` = no badge.
`nodes`	yes	list	Node name patterns to match (supports `fnmatch` wildcards).
`show_tag`	no	bool	`false` suppresses the badge for this group only.
`color_mode`	no	string	`tag_only` or `full_line`. Overrides the package/global setting for this group.
`tag_style`	no	string	`normal` or `inverted`. Overrides badge style for this group.
`highlight` / `highlights`	no	list	Keyword entries to highlight within this group's output lines. See Keyword highlighting.

dendROS.yaml — defaults keys

Key	Default	Type	Description
`color_mode`	`tag_only`	string	`tag_only` or `full_line`.
`show_group_tag`	`true`	bool	Show badges in `ros2 launch` / `ros2 run` output for all groups in this package.
`tag_position`	`after`	string	`after` or `before` — badge position relative to `[node-N]`.
`tag_style`	`normal`	string	`normal` or `inverted` — badge appearance.
`unmatched_color`	`null`	string\|null	Color for nodes not in any group.
`unmatched_tag`	`null`	string\|null	Badge for unmatched nodes. Only shown when `unmatched_color` is set.
`dim_unmatched`	`false`	bool	Dim unmatched nodes. Only when `unmatched_color: null`.
`colorize_launch_msgs`	`true`	bool	Colorize `[INFO] [node-N]: …` lifecycle lines.
`highlight` / `highlights`	`[]`	list	Keyword entries applied to all matched nodes in this package. See Keyword highlighting.

Global config — all keys

Stored in ~/.config/dendROS/defaults.yaml, managed via dendros config:

Key	Default	Description
`color_mode`	`tag_only`	Global default output mode.
`show_tag_launch`	`true`	Show badges in `ros2 launch` / `ros2 run` output globally.
`show_tag_cli`	`true`	Show badges in `ros2 node list`, `node info`, `service list`, `action list` globally.
`tag_position`	`after`	Badge position relative to `[node-N]` in launch/run output.
`tag_style`	`normal`	`normal` or `inverted` — badge appearance globally.
`unmatched_color`	`null`	Global fallback color for unmatched nodes.
`unmatched_tag`	`null`	Global badge for unmatched nodes.
`dim_unmatched`	`false`	Dim unmatched nodes globally.
`show_default_services`	`true`	When `false`, hide standard ROS 2 system services from `ros2 service list` output.
`topic_sort`	`default`	`default` = ros2 alphabetical order; `group` = system topics first, then by publisher group.
`debug`	`false`	Print debug output on startup.
`config_merge`	`true`	Merge configs from included packages.
`colorize_launch_msgs`	`true`	Colorize lifecycle lines globally.
`crash_alert`	`true`	Print an inline banner when a node dies unexpectedly.
`crash_alert_color`	`node`	`node` = use group color; `red` = always bold red.
`crash_alert_interval`	`30`	Seconds between periodic banner reprints. `0` = only on new crashes.
`traceback_color`	`fancy`	`fancy` = bold red header + dim red frames; `red` = all bold red; `off` = passthrough.
`param_change_alert`	`true`	Print inline notification on runtime parameter changes.
`param_change_alert_scope`	`tracked`	`tracked` = only config-listed nodes; `all` = entire graph.
`param_change_alert_style`	`inline`	`inline` = compact line; `inverted` = white-background strip.
`init_modify_build`	`true`	`dendros init`: patch build files.
`init_on_existing`	`abort`	`dendros init`: `abort`, `merge`, or `overwrite`.
`init_color`	`palette`	`dendros init`: `palette` or `null`.
`init_color_bold`	`false`	`dendros init`: prefix palette colors with `bold`.
`init_label`	`false`	`dendros init`: auto-generate labels.

ros2 — intercepted subcommands

The ros2() shell wrapper intercepts specific subcommands; everything else calls the real ros2 binary directly:

Subcommand	Behavior
`ros2 launch …`	Output piped through the DendROS colorizer.
`ros2 run …`	Output piped through the DendROS colorizer.
`ros2 node list`	Output piped through `dendros_node_list.py` — nodes colored by group. See ros2 node list.
`ros2 node info …`	Output piped through `dendros_node_info.py` — node name, sections, and entries colorized by group. See ros2 node info.
`ros2 service list`	Output piped through `dendros_service_list.py` — services colored by owning node; default system services dimmed. See ros2 service list.
`ros2 action list`	Output piped through `dendros_action_list.py` — actions colored by owning node. See ros2 action list.
`ros2 param list`	Output piped through `dendros_param_list.py` — node headers colored, param lines dimmed. See ros2 param list.
`ros2 param describe`	Output piped through `dendros_param_describe.py` — badge + colored param name, dim labels, bold section headers. See ros2 param describe.
`ros2 topic list`	Output piped through `dendros_topic_list.py` — topics colored by primary publisher group, pub/sub count blocks, badge left. `-v` verbose: bold headers, dim types. See ros2 topic list.
Everything else	Passed directly to the real `ros2` binary, untouched.

dendros — subcommands

Subcommand	Description
`dendros config`	Open the interactive global-settings TUI.
`dendros init`	Scaffold `config/dendROS.yaml` from launch files. See flags below.
`dendros disable`	Set `DENDROS_DISABLE=1` in the current shell — colorization off until re-enabled.
`dendros enable`	Unset `DENDROS_DISABLE` — restore colorization in the current shell.

Tab completion is available for all subcommands and dendros init flags after sourcing dendROS.sh.

dendros init — CLI flags

Flag	Alias	Description
`--recursive`	`-r`	Follow launch file includes into external packages (BFS, cycle-safe).
`--labels`	`-l`	Auto-generate short uppercase labels from package names.

Node matching rules

Matching is performed in this order; first match wins:

Exact full-path — /ns/talker matches only nodes at that exact path
Exact basename — talker matches [talker-1] under any namespace
Wildcard full-path — */amcl matches /robot/amcl, /ns/amcl, …
Wildcard basename — nav2_* matches nav2_controller, nav2_planner, …

fnmatch syntax: * (any chars), ? (one char), [seq] (character class). The numeric instance suffix (-N) is stripped before matching.