zrm 3.0.0

A minimal, single-file communication middleware built on Zenoh

ZRM (Zenoh ROS-like Middleware)

A minimal, single-file communication middleware built on Zenoh, providing a clean and simple API inspired by ROS2 patterns.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3e41d9a7-f553-457b-a879-cae2af45bf63

Features

• Minimalist: Single-file implementation
• Type-safe: Protobuf-based serialization with runtime type checking
• Ergonomic: Pythonic API with sensible defaults

Migration from v2.x

v3.0 replaces the Node-based API with a simpler session-centric architecture. If you prefer the old API, pin to zrm==2.1.0.

Installation

pip install zrm

Requires Python 3.11+.

Quick Start

import zrm
from zrm.msgs import geometry_pb2

with zrm.open(name="my_session") as session:
    # Publish
    pub = zrm.Publisher(session, "robot/pose", geometry_pb2.Pose2D)
    pub.publish(geometry_pb2.Pose2D(x=1.0, y=2.0, theta=0.5))

    # Subscribe
    sub = zrm.Subscriber(session, "robot/pose", geometry_pb2.Pose2D)
    if pose := sub.latest():
        print(f"Position: x={pose.x}, y={pose.y}")

    pub.close()
    sub.close()

Protobuf definition:

message Pose2D {
  double x = 1;
  double y = 2;
  double theta = 3;
}

CLI Tools

zrm-topic list                    # List topics
zrm-topic echo robot/pose         # Echo messages
zrm-topic pub robot/pose 'x: 1.0' # Publish to topic
zrm-topic hz robot/pose           # Measure frequency
zrm-service list                  # List services
zrm-service call add 'a: 1 b: 2'  # Call service
zrm-session list                  # List sessions

More Examples

See examples/ for complete working examples including services and graph discovery.

---

Configuration

Environment Variables

ZRM checks environment variables for Zenoh configuration (priority order):

1. ZRM_CONFIG_FILE - path to a JSON5 config file
2. ZRM_CONFIG - inline JSON5 config string
3. ZENOH_CONFIG - Zenoh's native config file path

# Inline config
export ZRM_CONFIG='{ mode: "peer", listen: { endpoints: ["tcp/0.0.0.0:0#iface=enp8s0"] } }'

# Or with multicast discovery
export ZRM_CONFIG='{
  mode: "peer",
  listen: { endpoints: ["tcp/0.0.0.0:0#iface=enp8s0"] },
  scouting: { multicast: { enabled: true, interface: "enp8s0" } }
}'

# Or from a file
export ZRM_CONFIG_FILE=/path/to/config.json5

Programmatic Configuration

import zenoh
import zrm

config = zenoh.Config()
config.insert_json5("mode", "'peer'")
config.insert_json5("listen/endpoints", "['tcp/0.0.0.0:0#iface=enp8s0']")

with zrm.open(config) as session:
    pub = zrm.Publisher(session, "robot/pose", geometry_pb2.Pose2D)

Services

Services use nested Request/Response messages:

import zrm
from zrm.srvs import examples_pb2

def add_callback(req):
    return examples_pb2.AddTwoInts.Response(sum=req.a + req.b)

with zrm.open(name="service_example") as session:
    server = zrm.Server(session, "add_two_ints", examples_pb2.AddTwoInts, add_callback)
    client = zrm.Client(session, "add_two_ints", examples_pb2.AddTwoInts)

    response = client.call(examples_pb2.AddTwoInts.Request(a=5, b=3), timeout=5.0)
    print(f"Sum: {response.sum}")  # Output: 8

    server.close()
    client.close()

Protobuf definition:

message AddTwoInts {
  message Request { int32 a = 1; int32 b = 2; }
  message Response { int32 sum = 1; }
}

Graph Discovery

Discover topics, services, publishers, and subscribers in the network:

import zrm

with zrm.open(name="discovery") as session:
    graph = zrm.Graph(session)

    # Get all topics and services
    topics = graph.get_topics()      # [(name, type), ...]
    services = graph.get_services()  # [(name, type), ...]

    # Get publishers/subscribers for a topic
    pubs = graph.get_publishers("robot/pose")
    subs = graph.get_subscribers("robot/pose")

    # Get servers/clients for a service
    servers = graph.get_servers("add_two_ints")
    clients = graph.get_clients("add_two_ints")

    # Wait for entities to appear
    graph.wait_for_publisher("robot/pose", timeout=5.0)
    graph.wait_for_server("add_two_ints", timeout=5.0)

    graph.close()

Message Organization & Proto Generation

Directory Structure

src/<package>/
├── proto/                 # Proto definitions
│   ├── msgs/              # Message definitions
│   └── srvs/              # Service definitions
├── msgs/                  # Auto-generated *_pb2.py
└── srvs/                  # Auto-generated *_pb2.py

Generating Python Code

zrm-proto              # Generate from local protos
zrm-proto --dep zrm    # Include dependency protos

Standard Messages

Category	Module	Types
Messages	zrm.msgs.header_pb2	Header
Messages	zrm.msgs.geometry_pb2	Point, Vector3, Quaternion, Pose, Pose2D, Twist, PoseStamped
Messages	zrm.msgs.sensor_pb2	Imu, Image, CompressedImage, CameraInfo, JointState
Messages	zrm.msgs.vision_pb2	Point2D, BoundingBox2D
Services	zrm.srvs.std_pb2	Trigger
Services	zrm.srvs.examples_pb2	AddTwoInts

Development

git clone https://github.com/JafarAbdi/zrm.git
cd zrm
uv sync

# Linting
uv run pre-commit run -a

# Testing
uv run pytest tests/ -v

Acknowledgements

• Graph class inspired by ros-z
• Built on Eclipse Zenoh