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Colcon Dashboard

A live web dashboard for colcon build. It shows how many packages are done, building, ready, waiting, or failed. It draws the dependency graph and colors each node as the build moves through it. Each package gets its own log pane, so logs never mix.

The server uses only the Python standard library, with zero dependencies. It works on any colcon workspace (ROS 2, Autoware, or anything else that colcon builds). For every build, colcon writes events.log and logger_all.log under log/. The dashboard reads these files and needs nothing from colcon itself. Any build shows up, from any terminal, with any options.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xmfcx/colcon-dashboard
sudo apt install python3-colcon-dashboard
colcon-dashboard --install-service

The package upgrades with the usual system updates (sudo apt upgrade).

pipx install colcon-dashboard
colcon-dashboard --install-service

To upgrade to the newest release:

pipx upgrade colcon-dashboard

pip install colcon-dashboard
colcon-dashboard --install-service

To upgrade to the newest release:

pip install --upgrade colcon-dashboard

git clone https://github.com/autowarefoundation/colcon-dashboard
pipx install ./colcon-dashboard
colcon-dashboard --install-service

To upgrade, pull and reinstall:

git -C colcon-dashboard pull
pipx install --force ./colcon-dashboard

Open http://127.0.0.1:8642/ and pick your workspace. That is the whole setup. After an upgrade, run colcon-dashboard --restart-service. The install page has the service commands.

What you get

  • Dependency graph: every package, laid out by dependency depth and recolored live as the build moves. The layouts are layered, force, and a 3D wavefront.
  • Timeline: a Gantt chart of every started package. It makes the parallelism and the long serial chains visible.
  • Log panes: one tab per package, with search, ANSI colors, timestamps, and editor links. Failed panes open by themselves.
  • AI failure analysis: one click starts a headless claude run on a failed package and streams the investigation live.
  • System pressure: a per-core heatmap plus CPU, RAM, and swap meters. A colcon build can exhaust the machine, so pressure stays visible.
  • Build history: every build and colcon test run of the workspace, with outcomes, durations, and deltas against the previous run.

How it fits in

One server runs per machine, on port 8642, and serves every workspace. The ws query parameter picks the workspace, so each browser tab can show a different one. The server keeps running after the build, so the pages stay available for the next build and for post-mortems.

Start with the quick start, or read how it works.