State Transitions panel

The State Transitions panel visualizes changes in discrete values from your topic message paths. Use message path syntax to specify which values to track. Message path functions are supported; see the Series settings for details.

The panel displays data for specified topics across the entire visualization time range.

Current playback time will be indicated by a vertical gray bar.

Paths can point to any primitive value (numbers, booleans, enums, etc.), but will be most useful for enums.

note

Constants included in your ROS message definition will be displayed as a label for each "enum" plot. Limit enums to one per message definition, as Foxglove will not know which constant name to use in the event of multiple matches.

Settings

General

field	description
Sync with other plots	Sync zooming and panning with other plots
Show points	Show a point for each incoming message

X-axis

field	description
Axis label	Label displayed along the time axis
Timestamp format	Relative (default) shows seconds elapsed since the start of the data source Absolute shows timestamps formatted according to the app's time format and timezone settings
Time window	Automatic Last 30 seconds for live data, or the full time range for recorded data Sliding Specify a sliding time window that follows the current playback time Fixed Set fixed min and max values
Window size	For Sliding time window: range of time in seconds
Playhead position	For Sliding time window: either at the center or the right edge
Min	For Fixed time window: min value in seconds
Max	For Fixed time window: max value in seconds

Series

To reorder series, drag a row to a new position or use the row actions menu.

field	description
Message path	Message path containing values for the series
Label	Label displayed in the legend for the series. For dynamic series, this label applies to all sub-series from that path, and each sub-series's label from the data is shown alongside it.
Timestamp	Timestamp used for message ordering: Log time is the standard timestamp used for playback message ordering across the app A custom field can be any field within the message data containing sec and nsec integers Header stamp is a header.stamp ROS 1 or ROS 2 field containing sec and nsec integers (and special case of 'custom field', above) Publish time is an optional MCAP-specific field
Customize	State customization strategy: Labels and colors allow you to override existing states in the data Continuous value indicators allow you to map ranges of numbers to a set of discrete states

Supported message path functions

Scalar (.@abs, .@acos, .@asin, and more)

Function	Description
.@abs	Absolute value
.@acos	Arc cosine (radians)
.@asin	Arc sine (radians)
.@atan	Arc tangent (radians)
.@ceil	Round up to nearest integer
.@cos	Cosine (input in radians)
.@degrees	Convert radians to degrees
.@log	Natural logarithm
.@log1p	Natural log of 1 + value
.@log2	Base-2 logarithm
.@log10	Base-10 logarithm
.@negative	Negate the value
.@radians	Convert degrees to radians
.@round	Round to nearest integer
.@sign	Sign of value (-1, 0, or 1)
.@sin	Sine (input in radians)
.@sqrt	Square root
.@tan	Tangent (input in radians)
.@trunc	Truncate to integer

Operand (.@add(number), .@sub(number), .@mul(number), and more)

Function	Description
.@add(number)	Add a number
.@sub(number)	Subtract a number
.@mul(number)	Multiply by a number
.@div(number)	Divide by a number

Array (.@length)

Function	Description
.@length	Length of an array or typed array

Vector (.@norm)

Function	Description
.@norm	Euclidean norm (magnitude) of a vector object or numeric array

Struct (.@rpy, .@quat)

Function	Description
.@rpy	Convert quaternion to roll/pitch/yaw (radians)
.@quat	Convert roll/pitch/yaw to quaternion

Not supported in this panel: Time-series functions (.@delta, .@derivative, .@timedelta). See the Plot panel for time-series modifiers (timestamp x-axis).

Dynamic series

You can visualize multiple state series from a single message path using dynamic series. This is useful when your message contains an array of state objects, such as tracking faults or statuses for multiple sensors or subsystems.

To use dynamic series, your message data must contain an array of objects with the following structure:

{
  "states": [
    { "label": "sensor_1", "value": "ok" },
    { "label": "sensor_2", "value": "warning" },
    { "label": "sensor_3", "value": "error" }
  ]
}

Each object requires:

• label (string): A user-facing identifier for the sub-series (e.g., 'Sensor ID' or 'Component name'). If the same label appears more than once in the array, only the last occurrence is processed for that sub-series. If a label is missing from a subsequent message, a gap is rendered for that sub-series at that timestamp.
• value (string, number, or boolean): The state value to display.

Use a slice operator ([:], [2:], [1:5], [4], …) in your message path to enable dynamic series. Use [:] to include the entire array, a range like [1:5] or [2:] to limit the dynamic series to a sub-range, or a single index like [4] to target a single element:

/topic.states[:]

The panel automatically detects this format and creates a separate row for each unique label.

You can also filter dynamic series using message path syntax:

/topic.states[:]{label=="sensor_1"}

Labels and colors

These options are visible when Customize is set to Labels and colors. Use these options to override the colors and labels of existing states in your data. To reorder entries in the list, drag a state to a new position or use the row actions menu.

field	description
Value	When this value matches a state in your data, the overrides below are applied
Label	Override for state text label
Color	Override for state color

Continuous value indicators

These options are visible when Customize is set to Continuous value indicators. The section lists all range rules in order of precedence, and also includes a fallback Otherwise state. To change precedence, drag a range rule to a new position or use the row actions menu.

field	description
Comparison	Operator used to determine if the continuous value matches the range
Value	Reference value used for comparison
Label	Text label to be displayed when a value is in this range
Color	Color to be displayed when a value is in this range

Controls and shortcuts

Pan and zoom

To pan, click and drag using the mouse or trackpad.

To zoom, scroll using the mouse wheel or trackpad. Alternatively, enable the Zoom tool by clicking the button in the toolbar or pressing z on your keyboard:

With the Zoom tool on, click and drag to select an area:

Click the Reset view button in the panel toolbar, press r (when the panel is selected), or double-click the panel to reset to the original viewport, as defined by your panel's range settings:

Scroll vertically

Sometimes not all series fit in the viewport. To scroll vertically, you can:

• Press Shift while scrolling anywhere in the panel
• Scroll over the scrollbar
• Drag the scrollbar

Click-to-seek

Hover over any point on the state transition chart to see state details at the time in a tooltip. You'll see a vertical yellow bar appear, as well as a corresponding yellow marker at the same time on the playback timeline. Click to seek playback to the yellow marker on the timeline.

note

Only available for recorded data.