URDF Studio

#Quickstart — online URDF viewer in the browser

URDF Studio's web build is a fully featured online URDF viewer. It runs entirely client-side — file bytes never touch a server; the page asks for read access to a folder you choose and resolves package:// URIs against it.

#1. Open the deployed URL

Reference deployment: https://urdf.deyuf.org

Any Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera) supports the File System Access API and gets the full experience. Safari and mobile browsers fall back to a webkitdirectory file picker.

The first visit shows a 4-step onboarding tour. Press Esc or click Skip to dismiss; the ? button in the topbar re-opens it.

#2. Open a folder

Click Open Folder and pick the root of a ROS package or workspace. The browser scans for:

  • package.xml (so package:// URIs resolve)
  • .urdf, .urdf.xacro, .xacro (robot files)
  • .stl, .dae, .obj, .gltf, .glb (meshes)
  • .yaml, .yml (xacro load_yaml inputs — pre-cached for sync access)
  • .srdf (semantic descriptions)

The scan yields a flat path index used for everything else. Folders like .git, node_modules, build, install, log are skipped.

#3. Pick a robot

The dropdown lists every URDF/xacro file in the folder. If there is exactly one, it auto-loads.

franka_description ▾
  /franka_description/robots/fr3/fr3.urdf.xacro
  /franka_description/robots/fer/fer.urdf.xacro
  /franka_description/robots/fp3/fp3.urdf.xacro
  ...

The status line below the topbar shows progress while xacro expands and meshes load. When the robot pops into the viewport, link / joint / movable counts appear briefly.

#4. Drive and inspect

Right-side panel tabs:

  • Joints — sliders for every movable joint, search box, filter to modified joints only.
  • Inspector — selected link details (parent/child joints, mass, CoM, inertia tensor, mesh paths).
  • Checks — diagnostics from the parser and analyzer.
  • Links — kinematic tree.
  • Tools — reachability sampling, never-colliding pair detection.

See Features for the full reference.

#5. Save your work

Action Result
Save Pose Joint values + camera snapshot stored in localStorage, keyed by <folder>:<file-path>. Restored next time you open the same robot.
Save As… Names the pose and adds it to the bookmark dropdown.
Export Pose Downloads a JSON file with pose + camera + source path.
Capture Screenshot Downloads a PNG of the current viewport.

#Fallbacks and limits

  • Safari / iOS / Firefox without secure context — showDirectoryPicker is unavailable. The Pick Files button uses webkitdirectory instead; works but reads all file metadata into memory up-front, so cold start is slower for large packages.
  • HTTPS required — the File System Access API only works on secure origins. Loopback (127.0.0.1) counts as secure for dev.
  • Persistence — directory handles are not persisted across reloads (yet). You re-pick the folder each session. Bookmarks and pose are kept.