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Connecting to data

Foxglove can visualize data from a variety of sources, and also offers tools to help you get your data into Foxglove.

Foxglove offers an SDK in Python, Rust, and C++ which makes it easy to log data adhering to Foxglove-defined and custom schemas. The SDK can record data to MCAP files or publish it live to the app.

If you have existing recorded data or live sources, continue on to learn about our supported data sources. If you're a ROS user, check out the ROS Foxglove bridge.

Connecting to data

To start visualizing data, go to the Foxglove dashboard and choose a data source option.

Data source dialog

Data sources

Connect to a live data source or load local and Foxglove-imported files to visualize their data.

Use caseSupported formats
Live data
"Open connection"
Inspect real-time data coming in from a live robotics stack or a remote source (e.g. S3 bucket)
Local data
"Open local file"
Inspect data stored locally on your computer
Imported data
"Upload and share data"
Inspect data imported to the Foxglove platform
tip

If you're curious about Foxglove, but don't have your own robotics data on hand, checkout the Foxglove sample data gallery.

Once connected, Foxglove will display the data source's topics in the sidebar:

sidebar

Next steps

  • Explore Sample Data - Check out our sample data gallery if you don't have your own data yet
  • Start producing data for Foxglove - Use the [Foxglove SDK](/docs/sdk to start recording from your devices