VS Code Extensions
MCAP Viewer

MCAP Viewer

by codevilot

ROS 2 MCAP log viewer for VS Code with synchronized CompressedImage camera panels, JointState timelines, JointTrajectory action views, step-by-step state signals, nearest-frame synchronization, and camera stream controls.

Downloads

291

Rating

— (0)

Version

0.1.4

Last updated

Jun 05, 2026

Custom editor for exploring ROS 2 oriented .mcap logs inside VS Code.

This extension is aimed at robot data inspection workflows where camera streams and joint signals need to be reviewed together step-by-step.

Features

  • Open .mcap directly from Explorer
  • Render sensor_msgs/msg/CompressedImage topics as synchronized camera panels
  • Use sensor_msgs/msg/JointState as the main timeline when available
  • Merge trajectory_msgs/msg/JointTrajectory topics into an action view
  • Show step-by-step state/action signals beside the camera frames
  • Show nearest-frame lag and persist per-camera visibility/focus state
  • Package as a VS Code custom editor for direct file opening

Development

npm install
npm run compile
npm test
npm run smoke -- ../mcap-example/20260416_150442_961284/20260416_150442_961284_0.mcap
npm run package:vsix

Then open this folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch an Extension Development Host.

Supported topics

  • sensor_msgs/msg/CompressedImage
  • sensor_msgs/msg/JointState
  • trajectory_msgs/msg/JointTrajectory

The webview currently picks the nearest camera frame for each timeline step.

Controls

  • Space: play/pause
  • Left Arrow: previous step
  • Right Arrow: next step
  • Camera chips: hide, restore, focus a single stream

Packaging Notes

  • Optimized for ROS 2 MCAP logs with cdr message encoding.
  • Currently focused on CompressedImage, JointState, and JointTrajectory.
  • Validated against the sample log in ../mcap-example/20260416_150442_961284/.
  • Treat 0.1.x as a pre-release line unless it has been tested against your specific MCAP variants.