Foxglove publicly releases SDK for toolkit integration

Robotics development software provider Foxglove recently released its software development kit (SDK) publicly and announced its Actuate 2025 conference.

The unified Foxglove SDK toolkit is designed to make it easier for robot developers to integrate their software stacks with Foxglove’s data visualization, digital twin, and debugging platform. 

Foxglove will host its Actuate 2025 robot developer conference Sept. 23-24 at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Calif. Early bird tickets at a discounted rate are on sale until June 13, but space is limited. Speaker applications are now open.

SDK unifies tools under one API, reducing complexity

Whether you're building a small research project or scaling a production fleet, Foxglove said its SDK can simplify the development journey with a consistent, powerful, and intuitive API for live visualization, structured logging, and remote monitoring.

Integrating robotics systems with visualization and debugging tools has historically been messy, often requiring developers to manually build MCAP files and WebSocket servers, implement custom logging stacks, and grapple with inconsistently documented protocols.

The Foxglove SDK can reduce these complexities, allowing developers to focus on what matters most by unifying scattered tools and processes under one consistent API. The company said its SDK represents a leap forward in simplifying developer interactions with robotics systems.

The Foxglove SDK features:

• Unified logging interface: Record to MCAP files and stream live data with the same code. Log from your devices, simulations, and Jupyter notebooks.
• Cross-language consistency:  Available in C++, Python, and Rust. All bindings share a common Rust core, ensuring consistent behavior and avoiding feature drift across languages.
• High-level and low-level APIs: Use high-level APIs for common schemas like CompressedImage and SceneEntity. Drop down to low-level APIs to log fully custom message types with minimal boilerplate.
• Live visualization support: Seamlessly stream live data to the Foxglove app via WebSocket. Support for future UDP-based protocols (e.g., WebRTC, WebTransport) is on the roadmap, aimed at better handling of lossy network conditions.

Getting up and running is easy. With just a few lines of code, developers can open a local server for live visualization, write structured logs to disk, and stream data to Foxglove.

Python, C++ written around Rust core for idiomatic feel

To provide a consistent experience, Foxglove has consolidated functionality into a Rust core. The Python and C++ SDKs are written around the Rust core. This core functionality allows each language to feel idiomatic, while maintaining consistency between them.

At the core of the SDK is the Foxglove Rust crate, responsible for:

• Context management for writing to MCAP files and streaming live data to the Foxglove app.
• Buffering and connection management for the WebSocket server.
• Serialization and deserialization of Foxglove schemas, when users don't care about having control over that.

Where it makes sense, Foxglove auto-generates parts of the SDK, including schemas and type-safe channels. This allows it to support the full range of schemas that the app supports, while also being flexible with how the interfaces are presented in each language.

Foxglove encourages developers to try out its SDK and send feedback on its Discord.

Actuate builder conference expands into a two-day event

The robotics industry is evolving faster than ever. From autonomous vehicles and warehouse robotics to delivery drones and agricultural platforms, software is merging with the physical world at unprecedented speeds. 

But as the frontier pushes forward, the need for shared knowledge and deep cross-industry collaboration has never been more important. That’s why Foxglove said it is bringing back Actuate - a conference by and for the robot systems engineers, developers, and builders shaping the future of autonomy and physical AI.

Last year, Actuate brought together 300 attendees for a packed one-day event in San Francisco. Thanks to the overwhelming demand of attendees and speakers, Foxglove is expanding the conference. Actuate 2025 will be a two-day event, welcoming over 500 attendees from across the robotics ecosystem.

Connecting robotics verticals across common challenges

Actuate is crafted for technical people working on real-world systems - building fleets, commercializing robots, and navigating the complexity of autonomy at scale. It’s a place for developers to learn what’s working, what’s not, and how the community can build better tools, processes, workflows, and infrastructure together.

Across both days, attendees can expect:

• Technical deep dives from the teams behind prominent autonomous systems.
• ‍Live demonstrations and hands-on explorations of tools and workflows.
• Panels and conversations about shared challenges - from simulation and testing, to deployment and debugging.
• Plenty of hallway time for conversation, collaboration, and new connections.

One of Actuate’s underlying goals is to break down industry silos. Robotics teams may work in different verticals, but the underlying challenges - perception, control, manipulation, and general product development - are strikingly similar.

By connecting people across verticals and surfacing lessons from the field, Actuate aims to accelerate the entire physical AI industry. Foxglove said building the future of autonomy will require not just individual breakthroughs, but also a shared commitment to community and learning.

Actuate 2025 speaker applications now open

Foxglove is now accepting speaker proposals for Actuate 2025 to round out its presenter lineup. Whether you’re building a simulation stack, debugging a production fleet, or scaling a multi-modal data pipeline, Foxglove said it wants to hear from you.

Talks can include technical deep dives, tool stack showcases, system retrospectives, or case studies from the field. This is an opportunity for robot makers to share their technical breakthroughs with an audience of robotics developers across many disciplines. 

If you’ve got a lesson that others could learn from, Foxglove encourages you to apply to speak - and help drive the industry forward.