Core Concepts

Everything you need to understand how HORUS works — from the basic building blocks to advanced communication patterns.

Start Here

• Architecture — How the four primitives (Nodes, Topics, Scheduler, Memory) fit together
• Choosing Configuration — Progressive guide from prototyping to production

Nodes

• Nodes (Beginner) — What nodes are and how they work
• Nodes — Full Reference — Node trait, lifecycle, communication patterns, safety
• The node! Macro — Declarative node definition with less boilerplate

Topics & Communication

• Topics (Beginner) — How nodes talk through pub/sub channels
• Topics — Full Reference — 10 backends, ring buffers, memory model, performance
• Communication Overview — Topics vs Services vs Actions — when to use each
• Services — Request/response RPC pattern (Beta)
• Actions — Long-running tasks with feedback and cancellation (Beta)
• Multi-Process — Cross-process shared memory communication

Scheduler & Execution

• Scheduler (Beginner) — How the scheduler runs your nodes
• Scheduler — Full Reference — Tick model, execution classes, safety, deterministic mode
• Execution Classes — Rt, Compute, Event, AsyncIo, BestEffort
• Real-Time Systems — What RT means, why robots need it, how HORUS handles it

Messages & Data

• Message Types — 70+ standard robotics messages (CmdVel, Imu, LaserScan, etc.)
• Custom Messages & Performance — Define your own types, zero-copy optimization
• TransformFrame — Coordinate frame management (lock-free, sub-microsecond)

Configuration & Multi-Language

• horus.toml — Project manifest and dependency management
• Multi-Language — Rust + Python integration
• What is HORUS? — Overview and positioning

See Also

• Learn — Why HORUS, comparisons, migration guides
• Tutorials — Hands-on learning path
• Getting Started — Install and build your first robot
• Rust API Reference — Complete Rust API documentation
• Python API Reference — Python bindings documentation