Rviz2

RViz2

Treat RViz2 as a consumer of ROS evidence. A blank display usually means its frame, message, QoS, or time contract is wrong.

Build a focused view

• Start with a fixed frame that exists now, then add only the displays needed for the question being asked.
• Prefer adding by topic when discovering a graph; it helps match message type to display type.
• Keep a saved .rviz configuration per robot and task. Do not rebuild the display list on every run or make one unreadable everything-dashboard.
• For navigation, view raw sensors and TF alongside map, costmaps, footprint, plan, and robot model so upstream data can be distinguished from Nav2 output.

Read what the display is telling you

• A red or empty display is evidence about the input boundary, not proof that RViz itself is broken.
• Check fixed frame and TF first, then publisher/display QoS, then simulation time and /clock.
• Compare the configured topic and namespace with the live graph; stale configs often point at an old robot name.
• A missing display plugin can fail one saved display while the rest of the config continues to load.

Read failures when something does not render. Cross into ros2 only when the evidence points to TF, QoS, graph, or time at the publisher. Cross into navigation when those inputs are healthy but a costmap, plan, or controller result is wrong.

Use foxglove instead for a headless, remote, browser, or shareable workflow; use rerun for data-centric ML and non-ROS logging. If the viewer has not been chosen, use visualization first.

Done

• The fixed frame is present and every displayed message transforms into it.
• Display QoS and topic namespaces match their publishers.
• Simulation time is consistent when applicable.
• The saved config opens into a focused, useful debugging view.
• Any CLI or UI details were checked against the installed RViz2 build and current RViz documentation.