Docker-Based ROS2 Development Skill

When to Use This Skill

• Writing Dockerfiles for ROS2 workspaces with colcon builds
• Setting up docker-compose for multi-container robotic systems
• Debugging DDS discovery failures between containers (CycloneDDS, FastDDS)
• Configuring GPU passthrough with NVIDIA Container Toolkit for perception nodes
• Forwarding X11 or Wayland displays for rviz2 and rqt tools
• Managing USB device passthrough for cameras, LiDARs, and serial devices
• Building CI/CD pipelines with Docker-based ROS2 builds and test runners
• Creating devcontainer configurations for VS Code with ROS2 extensions
• Optimizing Docker layer caching for colcon workspace builds
• Designing dev-vs-deploy container strategies with multi-stage builds

ROS2 Docker Image Hierarchy

Official OSRF images follow a layered hierarchy. Always choose the smallest base that satisfies dependencies.