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Troubleshooting

Common problems and how to fix them. When in doubt, start with debug mode.

Setup

No colors showing

Run with debug mode: 

DENDROS_DEBUG=1 ros2 launch my_bringup main.launch.py
If you see passthrough mode, the config was not discovered. Verify:

  • The package was built and you sourced install/setup.bash.
  • config/dendROS.yaml is installed. Check CMakeLists.txt for: 
    install(DIRECTORY config DESTINATION share/${PROJECT_NAME})
    Write config without a trailing slash. config/ copies the file to share/<pkg>/dendROS.yaml, where DendROS doesn't look; it must end up at share/<pkg>/config/dendROS.yaml. dendros init in DendROS 1.0 wrote the line with the slash, so check packages you set up with it.
Nodes not matching expected colors

Check the debug summary — it prints each group and its patterns. Compare against raw output: 

DENDROS_DISABLE=1 ros2 launch my_bringup main.launch.py 2>&1 | grep '^\['
Node names are matched after stripping the -N suffix. Use wildcards (nav2_*) for nodes you don't know in advance.

Colors

A node's [TAG] badge is a different shade than its own text

Some terminals brighten bold foreground text but never brighten backgrounds — since a node's regular text is bold foreground and its inverted [TAG] badge uses that same color as a background, the two can end up looking like different shades of the same color on terminals that do this. It's a terminal rendering quirk, not a config problem:

Before — ignore_bold off (default)

Tag and node text rendered as different shades

After — ignore_bold on

Tag and node text rendered as the same shade

Fix it by enabling Ignore bold in dendros config (Output tab), or setting ignore_bold: true in ~/.config/dendROS/defaults.yaml directly. This strips the bold modifier everywhere colors are resolved — ros2 launch/run, the TUI, and every ros2 node/service/action/param/topic CLI command — so hue stays consistent regardless of how your terminal handles bold. See Global Settings.

Colors may look different across terminals

ROS 2's own log-level colors, and any standard named color you use in dendROS.yaml (red, blue, green, …), are rendered using your terminal emulator's own color theme — that's how ANSI works, with or without DendROS. The exact same session can genuinely look different depending on what you're running it in:

Terminator

Same session in Terminator

Konsole

Same session in Konsole

Yakuake

Same session in Yakuake

Use extended/hex colors ("#FF6600", teal, coral, …) instead of the 8 standard names if you want an exact, portable color regardless of terminal theme. If instead a node's text and its [TAG] badge look like different shades, see the entry above.

TUI mode

ros2 launch still shows classic output

TUI mode is the default. Check that launch_mode isn't set to classic in ~/.config/dendROS/defaults.yaml (or Launch mode in the Output tab of dendros config). TUI mode also falls back to classic output on purpose when:

  • the command is ros2 run (TUI mode is for ros2 launch only)
  • stdout is redirected or piped (| tee, > file)
  • curses can't start in the terminal

See TUI Mode.

Copying with the mouse does nothing

DendROS copies through OSC 52 and, if installed, xclip/xsel/wl-copy. Some terminals (several VTE-based ones, Terminator for example) ignore OSC 52. Install a clipboard tool: 

sudo apt install xclip          # X11
sudo apt install wl-clipboard   # Wayland
If no tool is found, the TUI header says -- copy needs xclip/xsel/wl-copy (none found) --.

Colors in the TUI look slightly different from classic mode

The TUI draws with the terminal's 256-color palette, so hex and extended colors are shown as the nearest of those 256 colors. Classic mode shows them exactly.

dendros focus says unknown node

A node can only be focused or muted once a line about it has appeared (its process started line counts). Use Tab completion in the console bar (\focus then Tab) to see the names the TUI knows.

dendros reopen says there's no saved run

Runs are saved per terminal: reopen from the same terminal that ran the launch. Only TUI launches are saved, not classic-mode ones. See Reopen the last run.