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LeRobot

Visualize LeRobot with Foxglove​

As of LeRobot 0.6.0, Foxglove is a built-in visualization backend. Pass --display_mode=foxglove to lerobot-teleoperate, lerobot-record, or lerobot-rollout to stream live camera feeds and joint plots over WebSocket. Replay any recorded dataset as a seekable timeline with lerobot-dataset-viz --display-mode foxglove. No custom integration code is required.

tip

The Native Foxglove Visualization in LeRobot blog post walks through teleoperation, recording, and dataset playback with videos.

note

This example uses an SO-101 arm. If you are using a different robot, adjust --robot.type, --teleop.type, and the related configuration for your hardware. Data will stream to Foxglove as expected for any LeRobot-supported robot as long as you pass --display_data=true and --display_mode=foxglove.

1. Install LeRobot​

LeRobot requires Python 3.12+. Use uv to create a virtual environment and install from PyPI:

uv venv --python 3.12
source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install 'lerobot[feetech,dataset_viz]'

The dataset_viz extra includes everything needed for Foxglove visualization. See the LeRobot installation guide for system dependencies and hardware setup.

2. Connect Foxglove​

Start any LeRobot command with --display_mode=foxglove (live) or --display-mode foxglove (dataset replay). Data appears on ws://localhost:8765 as soon as the server starts.

Make sure you are on the same network as your robot. In Foxglove, select Open connection from the dashboard or left-hand menu.

Select open connection

Select Foxglove WebSocket in the Open a new connection dialog, then enter the URL of the server:

Foxglove WebSocket dialog

Click "Open" to connect.

note

Local development: Use ws://localhost:8765 when running the server on the same machine as Foxglove.

Robot connection: Use ws://ROBOT_IP:8765 when connecting to a server running on your robot, where ROBOT_IP is your robot's IP address on the network.

Import a starter layout from the Foxglove SDK examples or create your own.

3. Live visualization​

tip

Make sure your SO-101 hardware is set up and calibrated. When in doubt, follow the LeRobot SO-101 guide.

Pass --display_data=true --display_mode=foxglove to stream observations, actions, and camera feeds in real time:

uv run lerobot-teleoperate \
  --robot.type=so101_follower \
  --robot.port=/dev/tty.usbmodemFOLLOWER \
  --robot.id=my_follower \
  --robot.cameras="{ front: {type: opencv, index_or_path: 0, width: 640, height: 480, fps: 30}}" \
  --teleop.type=so101_leader \
  --teleop.port=/dev/tty.usbmodemLEADER \
  --teleop.id=my_leader \
  --display_data=true \
  --display_mode=foxglove

Replace the USB port paths with your device paths (find them with lerobot-find-port). Camera IDs come from lerobot-find-cameras opencv.

Live data is published on these topics:

TopicContents
/observation/statePer-joint observation values (named series for Plot panels)
/action/stateTeleoperator or policy action targets
/observation/images/<camera>Camera frames (RawImage or compressed JPEG)

The same flags work for lerobot-record and lerobot-rollout. During recording, live visualization helps catch bad camera framing or joint limits before you finish an episode.

4. Dataset replay​

lerobot-dataset-viz serves any LeRobot dataset — from the Hugging Face Hub or recorded locally — as a seekable timeline in Foxglove:

# A public dataset from the Hub
uv run lerobot-dataset-viz \
  --repo-id lerobot/svla_so101_pickplace \
  --episode-index 0 \
  --display-mode foxglove

# A dataset you recorded locally
uv run lerobot-dataset-viz \
  --repo-id ${HF_USER}/my-dataset \
  --root ~/.cache/huggingface/lerobot/${HF_USER}/my-dataset \
  --episode-index 0 \
  --display-mode foxglove

The Foxglove playback bar drives play, pause, seek, and speed. Dataset replay uses the same topics as live streaming, plus /episode/state for episode metadata.

note

Live commands use underscores (--display_mode, --display_data) while lerobot-dataset-viz uses hyphens (--display-mode). This matches each tool's CLI convention.

5. Common options​

GoalLive commandsDataset replay
JPEG-compress images--display_compressed_images--display-compressed-images
Custom port--display_port=8766--web-port 8766
Stream to another machine--display_ip=0.0.0.0--host 0.0.0.0
Don't auto-play on connect—--no-autoplay

When streaming to another machine, connect Foxglove to ws://<robot-ip>:8765 instead of localhost.

Learn more​