krabby-launcher

CLI for installing, updating, and running the Krabby locomotion stack on a Jetson Orin host.

PyPI package name is krabby-launcher (the krabby name was already taken); the installed command is still krabby.

Install

On Orin, use a user venv (system pip install fails with PermissionError):

python3 -m venv ~/.venv-krabby
source ~/.venv-krabby/bin/activate
pip install -U pip
pip install 'krabby-launcher>=0.1.23'

Host setup (krabby install) needs sudo with the venv binary — see Start on boot.

Fleet onboarding and teleop: fleet/ENROLL.md, fleet/FIELD-TELEOP.md.

Usage

krabby install            # pull release-latest, set up udev + dialout, enable boot autostart
krabby install --image <ref>          # pull a specific tag or digest
krabby install --no-launch-on-startup # set up the host but DON'T start on boot

krabby update             # re-pull the last installed image
krabby update --image <ref>    # pull a different tag

krabby run                # locomotion HAL (fleet-enrolled: portal/inference + teleop to agent shim)
krabby run --gamepad-only      # gamepad stack: HAL + krabby-uno (non-fleet / explicit)
krabby run -- --device-id 1    # forward client args to krabby-uno (gamepad mode)
krabby run -- --checkpoint /path/to/ckpt.pt   # inference mode (policy checkpoint)

krabby firmware show           # run krabby-firmware show inside the container
krabby firmware show <branch>  # list a branch's builds newest-first, paged
krabby firmware update         # run krabby-firmware update inside the container
krabby firmware <args>         # any krabby-firmware subcommand/flags

krabby pair-pro                # pair Nintendo Switch Pro Controller (Bluetooth; usually under sudo)

krabby enroll                        # one-time fleet onboarding (operator-run, needs sudo + AWS creds)
krabby enroll --thing-name my-krab   # override the default MAC-derived thing name
krabby enroll --endpoint xxx-ats.iot.us-east-1.amazonaws.com  # override the auto-resolved ATS endpoint

krabby agent                   # run the IoT Core MQTT client in the foreground (normally systemd-managed)
krabby get telemetry           # print the fleet telemetry snapshot (same JSON the agent publishes)

krabby --version
krabby --help

Fleet onboarding (enroll / agent)

krabby enroll and krabby agent are the device-side half of Krabby fleet management (control plane: AWS IoT Core; see fleet/infra/). Step-by-step enroll: fleet/ENROLL.md. One-source SSH: fleet/SSH-TUNNEL.md.

enroll is run once per device, by an operator; agent then runs forever as a systemd service (krabby-agent.service, separate from krabby-locomotion.service).

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=... AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=... AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=<region>  # krabby-enroll keys
sudo -E env PATH="$PATH" krabby enroll --thing-name <thing-name>

Creates/finds the IoT thing — name defaults to the wired NIC's MAC address (no hostname fallback: Orin hostnames aren't unique across a fleet), or override with --thing-name. Then generates a keypair + CSR on the device (private key never leaves it), gets it signed and attaches KrabDevicePolicy, writes cert/key/root CA/ATS endpoint to /etc/krabby/iot/ (root-owned, key 0600), writes /etc/krabby/locomotion.json, tries apt-install of aws-iot-securetunneling-localproxy (if apt has no package, see ENROLL.md), and enables krabby-agent.service and krabby-locomotion.service — verifying a real MQTT connect before declaring success. AWS credentials are used only during enroll, never persisted; agent only ever does MQTT.

sudo systemctl start krabby-agent
journalctl -u krabby-agent -f

Over its one MQTT connection, krabby agent publishes the output of krabby get telemetry to the Classic Shadow once a minute, spawns/reaps the Secure Tunneling destination localproxy against localhost:22 on .../tunnels/notify (with -c /etc/ssl/certs), and bridges teleop/{thing}/signaling/in|out to a localhost WebSocket at ws://127.0.0.1:9000/ws/robot (same JSON shape as the existing teleop stack). Point the existing WebRTC edge agent at the shim with --teleop-ip 127.0.0.1 (fleet path); LAN --teleop-ip <portal-host> still works when the agent shim is not the target. The SDK reconnects with backoff on drops, and Restart=always brings the process back if it exits.

krabby run starts the whole gamepad stack in one container — the HAL server and the krabby-uno client/controller together — so a paired gamepad drives the robot with a single command. To run just the client (e.g. the two-process debug flow), use the krabby-uno console script from the controller package (pip install krabby-controller) against the server's TCP endpoints (tcp://host:6001 / :6002).

Start on boot

krabby install installs a systemd unit (krabby-locomotion.service) that runs krabby run on boot — enabled by default. It runs as the invoking user, starts after docker.service, and retries if the MCU hasn't enumerated yet at boot.

If krabby-launcher is in a user venv (recommended on Orin), activate that venv before install. Use the venv binary under sudo — PATH="$PATH" keeps the venv on sudo's search path; "$(which krabby)" pins the same CLI you just installed:

sudo -E env PATH="$PATH" "$(which krabby)" install                       # boot autostart (default)
sudo -E env PATH="$PATH" "$(which krabby)" install --no-launch-on-startup  # host setup only; no autostart
sudo systemctl disable krabby-locomotion    # turn off later
journalctl -u krabby-locomotion -f          # service logs

The unit starts the gamepad stack. ⚠️ On boot the stack goes live; if a gamepad is paired/connected it can drive the robot unattended. To run a policy instead, edit ExecStart in the unit to krabby run -- --checkpoint /path/to/ckpt.pt.

Image refs

The default image is pulled from ECR:

public.ecr.aws/t7t7b3i3/krabby-locomotion:release-latest

release-latest tracks the newest release/* build — the stable channel for kit owners (CI moves the tag on each release build; see images/locomotion/README.md). Use --image mainline-latest to follow the development line instead.

A bare tag (e.g. --image v1.2.3) is expanded to the full ECR URI automatically. Pass a fully-qualified URI to use a different registry entirely.

State

The last installed image ref and digest are recorded at ~/.config/krabby/state.json. krabby update and krabby run read this file when --image is omitted.

GPU

On aarch64 (Jetson) the container is started with --runtime=nvidia. On x86_64 it uses --gpus all.

Firmware pass-through

There are two related but distinct commands — same flash CLI, different host requirements:

krabby firmware forwards every argument verbatim to krabby-firmware in a transient container, mounts ~/.cache/krabby-firmware so cached artifacts are shared across runs, and passes serial devices (/dev/ttyACM*, /dev/ttyUSB*) through via --device. When your shell is interactive it allocates a TTY, so the interactive menu and paged show <branch> output behave the same as running krabby-firmware directly.