cyber_record

Overview

cyber_record is a pure-Python offline tool for Apollo/Cyber record files. It is a file-level reader, writer, recovery tool, and format converter; it does not start a Cyber runtime or provide online vehicle control.

Implemented capabilities:

• Read indexed record files and return (topic, protobuf_message, timestamp_ns).
• Filter reads by topic and inclusive nanosecond start/end time.
• Fall back to section scanning when an index is broken or unavailable.
• Inspect record version, size, time range, message count, and channel cache.
• Write protobuf messages or serialized payloads to new record files.
• Open records for reading, writing, and index modification/recovery.
• Expose record compression and chunk/segment header settings in the record header.
• Recover a channel index from a protobuf FileDescriptorSet.
• Convert record -> record, record -> mcap, and mcap -> record.
• Detect an input format by MCAP magic bytes when --from-format auto is used.
• Optionally convert protobuf image and point-cloud messages to/from files and flatten protobuf values for CSV output.

The core package requires Python >=3.8 and protobuf>=5.29.0,<6. MCAP, WheelOS message definitions, and message tools are optional.

Role in WheelOS

cyber_record is an offline developer/data tool in WheelOS. It sits beside runtime data producers and consumers and provides post-processing for recorded protobuf sensor data. It is not a Runtime, Perception, Control, Hardware, or Calibration component.

WheelOS
 |
 +--- Tools
      |
      +--- cyber_record

Architecture

record file
    |
    +--> Reader
    |      +--> index-based read
    |      +--> section-scan read (broken-index fallback)
    |      +--> channel descriptors -> dynamic protobuf messages
    |
    +--> Writer
           +--> protobuf message serialization
           +--> raw payload writing with explicit type/descriptor
           +--> record header, chunks, and index

Record API
    +--> Python application
    +--> message_tools (optional: image / PCD / CSV)
    +--> converter (optional mcap package)
                +--> record
                +--> MCAP

Relevant implementation modules:

Module	Responsibility
record.py	Record public read/write API and record lifecycle
reader.py	Indexed reads, section scans, channel metadata, protobuf decoding
writer.py	Headers, channels, chunks, indexes, protobuf/raw payload writes
message_tools.py	Optional image, point-cloud, and CSV helpers
converter.py	Record-to-record and cross-format conversion dispatch
mcap_adapter.py	MCAP reader/writer adapters
main.py	cyber_record command-line entry point

Installation

Install the core package:

python3 -m pip install cyber_record

Install from a checkout for development:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python3 -m pip install -U pip
python3 -m pip install -e ".[dev,mcap]"

Optional extras declared by pyproject.toml:

Extra	Provides	Install
msgs	wheelos-msgs>=0.1.5, default Apollo/WheelOS protobuf classes	python3 -m pip install "cyber_record[msgs]"
msg-tools	numpy, Pillow, and python-lzf for image/PCD/CSV helpers	python3 -m pip install "cyber_record[msg-tools]"
mcap	MCAP conversion dependency	python3 -m pip install "cyber_record[mcap]"
dev	Build, test, message, and helper dependencies used by the repository	python3 -m pip install "cyber_record[dev]"

For typed WheelOS image or point-cloud messages, install both msgs and msg-tools:

python3 -m pip install "cyber_record[msgs,msg-tools]"

Dependency boundary and release scope

The core wheel has exactly one runtime dependency: protobuf>=5.29.0,<6. It does not require or import wheelos_msgs, record_msgs, mcap, Pillow, NumPy, or python-lzf during core record reads and writes. wheelos_msgs is needed only when using the default WheelOS protobuf classes or the msgs extra. A caller can provide custom protobuf message classes to the message builders.

Release conclusion: the core offline record reader/writer and CLI are publishable as the current package version. MCAP conversion and message helpers are publishable as opt-in extras. This is not a claim that every placeholder or unfinished path is production-ready: append mode is not initialized, record compression values are currently stored in headers but chunk bodies are not compressed, and Query/Viewer are placeholders.

CLI

The package installs the cyber_record entry point:

cyber_record <command> [options]

info

Print record metadata and per-channel statistics:

cyber_record info -f test/assets/example.record.00000

echo

Print decoded messages for one topic:

cyber_record echo -f test/assets/example.record.00000 \
  -t /apollo/canbus/chassis

convert

Supported source formats are auto, record, and mcap; supported targets are record and mcap. --topic, --start-time, and --end-time filter the converted messages. Timestamps are nanoseconds. --allow-unindexed uses the record section-scan path:

cyber_record convert -f input.record -o output.record \
  --from-format record --to-format record
cyber_record convert -f input.record -o output.mcap \
  --from-format record --to-format mcap
cyber_record convert -f input.mcap -o output.record \
  --from-format auto --to-format record
cyber_record convert -f broken.record -o output.mcap \
  --from-format record --to-format mcap --allow-unindexed
cyber_record convert -f input.record -o window.mcap \
  --from-format record --to-format mcap \
  --topic /apollo/canbus/chassis \
  --start-time 1627031535164278940 \
  --end-time 1627031535215164773

MCAP conversion requires the mcap extra. Conversion errors return a non-zero exit status.

recover

Recover a record channel index using a protobuf descriptor set. The descriptor set must contain the target message definition and its dependencies. Generate one with protoc from an Apollo source tree, then pass its file, topic, and message type:

protoc --include_imports \
  --descriptor_set_out=tmp \
  modules/drivers/proto/sensor_image.proto

cyber_record recover \
  -f broken.record \
  -t /apollo/sensor/camera/front_6mm/image \
  -d tmp \
  -m apollo.drivers.Image

Back up the record before recovery. The -t, -m, and -d options map to the CLI arguments implemented in main.py; a topic or message type is required.

Python API

Reading

from cyber_record.record import Record

with Record("test/assets/example.record.00000") as record:
    print(record.version)
    print(record.size)
    print(record.get_message_count())
    print(record.get_channel_cache())
    print(record.get_start_time(), record.get_end_time())

    for topic, message, timestamp_ns in record.read_messages():
        print(topic, type(message), timestamp_ns)

Record.read_messages(topics=None, start_time=None, end_time=None) accepts a topic string or topic collection and nanosecond time bounds. For damaged index files, use the equivalent read_messages_section_scan(...) method:

with Record("broken.record", allow_unindexed=True) as record:
    for topic, message, timestamp_ns in record.read_messages_section_scan():
        print(topic, message, timestamp_ns)

read_messages_fallback(...) exists as a deprecated alias for read_messages_section_scan(...).

Writing

Record accepts a path or file object. The constructor recognizes r (read), w (truncate/create and write), a (append), and m (modify/recovery). Messages should be written in chronological order. Append initialization is currently empty in record.py, so a is not a supported workflow.

import time

from cyber_record.record import Record
from wheelos_msgs.map_msgs import map_pb2

message = map_pb2.Map()
message.header.version = b"hello"

with Record("example.record.00000", mode="w") as record:
    record.write("/apollo/map", message, int(time.time() * 1e9))

For an already serialized protobuf payload, use write_raw(topic, raw_msg, message_type, proto_desc, t=None) with the message type and serialized descriptor bytes:

with Record("raw.record.00000", mode="w") as record:
    record.write_raw(
        "/example/topic",
        raw_msg=serialized_payload,
        message_type="example.Message",
        proto_desc=serialized_file_descriptor,
        t=1,
    )

The Record constructor accepts compression=Compression.NONE, Compression.BZ2, or Compression.LZ4, and chunk_threshold. These values are stored in the record header; the current writer does not compress chunk bodies. The options dictionary can provide compression and chunk_threshold. set_write_header_options(...) overrides chunk/segment intervals and raw sizes before the first write flush.

Conversion API

The conversion functions are available without the CLI:

from cyber_record.converter import convert_file

result = convert_file(
    input_file="input.record",
    output_file="output.mcap",
    from_format="record",
    to_format="mcap",
    topics="/apollo/canbus/chassis",
)
print(result)

For record inputs, convert_file supports the same format directions, topic/time filters, and allow_unindexed behavior as the CLI. The lower-level convert_record_to_record, record_to_mcap, and mcap_to_record functions are also implemented.

Optional message tools

Install msg-tools for cyber_record.message_tools:

• to_csv(value) flattens scalar values, sequences, protobuf messages, and iterables into a list suitable for csv.writer.
• ImageBuilder builds a protobuf image from an input image using rgb8, bgr8, gray, or y encoding.
• ImageParser writes protobuf images as files (JPEG by default) and supports those same encodings. It uses Pillow and does not require OpenCV.
• PointCloudBuilder reads ASCII, binary, or binary_compressed PCD files. The PCD must contain x, y, z, and intensity fields; compressed PCD input additionally requires python-lzf.
• PointCloudParser writes protobuf point clouds as ASCII PCD files and returns a NumPy structured array. Its output mode is currently ASCII only.

The builders use wheelos_msgs message types by default. A caller can pass a protobuf message_type explicitly instead of installing wheelos-msgs.

Repository examples and development

The repository contains the fixture test/assets/example.record.00000, test/assets/test.jpg, and test/assets/test.pcd. It also contains analysis examples under examples/analysis/ and the conversion benchmark:

PYTHONPATH=. PROTOCOL_BUFFERS_PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION=python \
python3 scripts/benchmark_conversion.py \
  -f test/assets/example.record.00000 --repeat 3

Run the repository tests after installing the dev extra:

pytest -q

Apollo dataset validation

The following local validation was performed against /mnt/synology/apollo/sensor_rgb.record:

Data	Result
/apollo/sensor/camera/front_6mm/image	Read dynamically as apollo.drivers.Image; rgb8, 1920x1080
/apollo/sensor/velodyne64/compensator/PointCloud2	Read dynamically as apollo.drivers.PointCloud; 101,101 points
ImageParser	Wrote 3 JPEG samples successfully
PointCloudParser	Wrote 1 ASCII PCD sample successfully

The extracted samples and manifest.json are in /mnt/synology/apollo/cyber_record_validation/. The source record was not modified. demo_3.5.record opens successfully but has no image or point-cloud channel. sensor_rgb_mixed_pod.record currently fails before message decoding with google.protobuf.message.DecodeError while parsing a channel ProtoDesc; allow_unindexed=True does not bypass this descriptor error. Therefore compatibility with that file, and with arbitrary Apollo records, is not established by this release.

Documentation

• Online documentation
• Documentation source
• Record and MCAP comparison
• Implementation plan
• Project repository
• Issue tracker

The Query and Viewer modules currently contain placeholder classes and are not documented as user-facing features.