Launches a CARLA RPC server a carla.Client can connect to, working out for itself what you pointed it at — a downloaded/extracted release, a package cooked inside a checkout, or a source checkout run through the UE4 editor — headless or windowed, and shuts it down cleanly. ROS2=1 starts it with the native ROS 2 interface active (--ros2, --rmw=fastdds/cyclonedds/zenoh, --ros-domain-id). Use when the user asks to "run/start the CARLA server", "boot CARLA headless", "launch CARLA with a window", "run the CARLA I downloaded", "start CARLA with ROS2 enabled", or "serve a packaged CARLA build".
Runs the Autoware autonomous-driving stack against CARLA on UE 5.8 over CARLA's native ROS 2 interface — no bridge process. Reports the DDS contract (rt/vehicle/status/* out, rt/control/command/* in), the Autoware-only sensor blueprints, generates the lanelet2 + point-cloud map artifacts Autoware needs instead of an .xodr, and drives the two shipped modes (classical NDT stack, or the camera-only VAD end-to-end model). Use when the user asks to "run Autoware on CARLA", "connect an AV stack", "drive the ego from Autoware", "generate a lanelet2 map", or asks which topics CARLA exchanges with Autoware.
Create, migrate, improve, or debug detailed vehicle assets for CARLA using Blender and Unreal, including reference-based geometry, materials, wheels, physics, lights, and runtime validation. Use for vehicle asset authoring rather than ordinary traffic spawning or map decoration.
Imports FBX meshes into CARLA on UE 5.8 as spawnable props — drives the editor headlessly to import the mesh, derives the prop size from its measured bounds, and registers it in PropParameters.json so it appears in the blueprint library as static.prop.<name>. Handles the FBX unit-scale problem, verifies the result against a running server, and can revert cleanly. Use when the user asks to "import a prop", "add a custom mesh/object to CARLA", "make my model spawnable", or a prop imports but never shows up in the blueprint library.
Builds CARLA on Unreal Engine 5.8 from the ue58-dev branch using its CMake build system — configure a preset, then build the carla-unreal / carla-unreal-editor / carla-python-api-install / launch targets — with ROS 2, DLSS, RSS and cook-scope options, and the engine-side build of the CarlaUnreal UE 5.8 fork. There is no Makefile and no Util/BuildTools in this tree, so every UE4 `make` recipe is invalid here. Use when the user asks to "build CARLA UE5", "build ue58-dev", "compile CARLA with cmake", "rebuild the Python API", or hits a CMake configure or target failure.
Starts a CARLA UE 5.8 server from a ue58-dev tree — the editor binary in -game mode (the working headless server), the packaged shipping build, or the full editor — with offscreen/nullrhi rendering, custom RPC and streaming ports, and native ROS 2 via the single-dash -ros2 flag. Probes a running server, and stops one cleanly despite the 15-character process-name truncation. Use when the user asks to "run/start CARLA UE5", "launch a ue58 server", "run headless", "publish ROS 2 topics from UE5", or a client cannot reach the simulator.
Gets a custom map into CARLA on UE 5.8 — the four distinct routes and which one to pick — via Util/Tools/Import.py for FBX+OpenDRIVE assets into a source build, CARLA_MAPS_TO_COOK to ship a map inside a package, or client.generate_opendrive_world() for an OpenDRIVE-only map at runtime with no build at all. Covers where imported assets land, why an imported map cannot be loaded from a package by name, and the four capabilities the UE4 skill has that ue58 lacks — standalone asset packages, their installer, semantic-material tagging, and a pedestrian navmesh that is generated but silently skipped. Use when the user asks to "import a map", "add a custom map", "load my .xodr", "package my own town", or "create a standalone map package".
Cooks and packages a shippable CARLA server from a UE 5.8 ue58-dev checkout via the CMake `package` targets (shipping/development/debug/test), scoping the cook with CARLA_MAPS_TO_COOK, and inspects an existing package for the failures a green build hides — stale pak/ucas mismatch, missing staged OpenDrive/TM road data, missing post-process profiles, and Town15's uncookable content. Use when the user asks to "package CARLA UE5", "cook a map", "build a shipping server", "make a distributable CARLA", or a package builds but renders black / has no maps.
Tells you what CARLA on UE 5.5 (branch ue5-dev) cannot do that UE 5.8 (ue58-dev) can, so you do not attempt an unsupported workflow there — no Autoware integration, no ROS 2 middleware choice (FastDDS only), no DLSS or ray-traced-lens camera, no OFPA large-map mount so Town12/13/15 load black, and a few missing World/Actor methods. Also states what is identical, so the ue58 skills can be used directly for everything else. Use when working against a 5.5 checkout, when a ue58 skill's step has no counterpart, or when deciding whether a feature request is possible on 5.5 at all.
Imports a pedestrian into CARLA on UE 5.8 as a spawnable, animating walker — imports the skinned FBX bound to CARLA's shared pedestrian skeleton, duplicates a donor walker blueprint and repoints it at the new mesh, and registers it in WalkerParameters.json as walker.pedestrian.<id>. Can also export a shipped walker to FBX, which is how you obtain a rig-conforming mesh to start from. Use when the user asks to "import a walker/pedestrian", "add a custom character", "clone a walker", or has a walker that spawns but stands still.
Builds CARLA (branch ue4-dev, Unreal Engine 4.26) from source on Linux end-to-end — UE4 fork, the Carla server (editor C++ modules), the LibCarla Python client wheel, and content — then verifies them against a from-source server. Optionally builds the native ROS 2 interface in (ROS2=1 → --ros2, Fast-DDS/CycloneDDS/Zenoh), which is compile-time only and cannot be enabled later. Use when the user asks to "build CARLA from source", "compile CARLA ue4-dev", "set up CARLA on Ubuntu (incl. 24.04)", "build CARLA with ROS2 support", or "produce a CARLA server + client wheel". Cooking a distributable Dist/ package is a separate skill (package-carla-ue4); running the build is run-carla-server.
Imports an FBX pedestrian into a CARLA source build as a spawnable walker.pedestrian.NNNN — checks the FBX is skinned to CARLA's GEN3 rig, imports the mesh, physics asset and materials, builds the walker blueprint from a GEN3 donor, registers it in WalkerFactory through CARLA's own add_walker_to_walker_factory.py, and verifies it spawns, stands on the ground and walks. Use when the user asks to "add a pedestrian to CARLA", "import a walker/character FBX", or needs a custom human spawnable from the Python API.
Queries the live CARLA world and resolves an entity description into a concrete actor id — find actors by type, role, or colour, or the single one nearest a point/actor; read the world snapshot; get static level bounding boxes by label; cast rays for semantic points; project a point to the ground; or (ros-topics) list the native ROS 2 topics each actor should be publishing and why any is silent. Identifies by stable attributes, not by any rank/order. Use when the user asks "what actors are here", "find the red prius", "the vehicle nearest the ego", "list the pedestrians", or needs a specific actor id for another skill.
Writes a new Scenic scenario (.scenic) from a natural-language description — "a car cuts in from the right lane", "a pedestrian crosses in front of the ego", "negotiate an unsignalized four-way" — by turning the request into a spec, generating the file from idioms proven on this build, and validating it by compiling and sampling before any simulator is involved. Use when the user asks to "write a Scenic scenario", "create a .scenic file", "turn this description into Scenic", "generate a scenario from text", or wants a Scenic scenario authored or repaired.
Lists and toggles a map's static environment objects via get_environment_objects / enable_environment_objects — hide or show buildings, vegetation, poles, fences, traffic signs and other baked assets by CityObjectLabel (and optional name filter). Use when the user asks to "hide/remove the buildings", "turn off the trees/vegetation", "show only the roads", "disable the fences", or "list the environment objects". Affects rendering and collision; resets on map reload.
Answers "can CARLA do X here, and is there a vetted procedure for it" before you promise anything, and detects client/server/tree version skew — a support matrix over the whole collection (covered by a skill / works but undocumented / present but untested / broken or removed), an index of the features that are verified BROKEN on 0.10.0 (gbuffers crash the server, map layers do nothing, Landmark.waypoint is None, standalone asset packages are gone), and a probe that reports what this machine's build flags and running server actually offer. Use when the user asks whether CARLA supports something, when a feature has no skill, when a UE4 tutorial's steps do not exist, or before improvising a procedure.
Downloads CARLA so nothing has to be fetched by hand — an official release package for any published version (resolved live from the GitHub releases, with AdditionalMaps), the rolling nightly Dev build, a shallow source checkout of a branch or tag, or the carlasim/carla Docker image. Reports exactly what was obtained and where, plus the environment variables the other skills read. Use when the user asks to "download CARLA", "get CARLA 0.9.16", "install CARLA", "clone the carla repo", "fetch the latest CARLA", or has no CARLA at all yet.
Writes a new ScenarioRunner scenario — a Python class deriving from BasicScenario with its behaviour tree assembled from srunner atomic behaviours and criteria, plus the XML config that gives it a town, ego spawn and parameters — and registers it so `--scenario MyScenario_1` works. Also covers adding a scenario to a route via --additionalScenario. Generates a working skeleton and validates it without a simulator. Use when the user asks to "create/write a new scenario", "add a custom scenario", "make my own traffic situation", or wants to extend the scenario library.
Spawns pedestrians that wander autonomously via WalkerAIController, and destroys them in the correct order. Pairs each walker.pedestrian.* with a controller.ai.walker, places them on the navigation mesh, and sends them to random navmesh points at walking speed. Use when the user asks to "spawn pedestrians/walkers", "add people/crowds", "make pedestrians walk around", or "remove the walkers". Reads the world settings first: if the world is already synchronous it never ticks it, and if it is asynchronous it makes it synchronous and drives the clock itself.
Reads and changes a running CARLA server's WorldSettings via apply_settings — synchronous vs asynchronous mode, fixed_delta_seconds (fps), physics substepping, and no_rendering_mode — and keeps the Traffic Manager's sync state matched automatically. Use when the user asks to "enable/disable sync mode", "set synchronous mode", "run at a fixed fps/step", "turn off rendering", "make the sim deterministic", or "restore async mode", and as the prerequisite for keeping settings across a map load.
Reads a specific actor's live telemetry from a running CARLA server — location and rotation, velocity and speed, acceleration, angular velocity, and for vehicles the control input (throttle/steer/brake), front-wheel steer angle and mass. All kinematics come from one world snapshot so they are frame-consistent. Use when the user asks "how fast is it going", "where/what heading is the car", "show the ego's telemetry", or "stream a vehicle's state". Resolve ambiguous targets with the world-data skill.
Adds a new ROS 2 message type to CARLA's native ROS 2 interface — the hand-written POD struct under LibCarla/source/carla/ros2/types/msg, its Fast-CDR serialize/deserialize pair, the RIHS01 type hash computed in Docker, the CdrTopicInfo registration and the type-hash test. Use when the user asks to "add a ROS message type", "support sensor_msgs/X in CARLA", "add a carla_msgs type", "why is my type hash warning appearing", or needs a message CARLA does not publish yet. There is no IDL codegen — every step is manual.
Imports an FBX vehicle into a CARLA source build as a spawnable vehicle.<make>.<model> — checks the FBX carries CARLA's 4-wheel bone rig, imports the mesh, then assembles the vehicle through CarlaTools' VehicleAuthoringLibrary (physics asset with kinematic wheel bodies, retargeted anim blueprint, four configured wheel blueprints, the vehicle blueprint), registers it in VehicleFactory through CARLA's own add_vehicle_to_vehicle_factory.py, and verifies it spawns, drives and steers. Use when the user asks to "add a car/truck/van to CARLA", "import a vehicle FBX", or needs a custom drivable vehicle spawnable from the Python API.
Spawns vehicles on a running CARLA server and destroys them — scattered across the map's spawn points on Traffic Manager autopilot, a row queued in a single lane at a fixed spacing, or a single hero/ego vehicle (optionally named for native ROS 2 publishing with --ros-name). Covers blueprint filtering, the atomic autopilot hand-off, and cleanup. Use when the user asks to "spawn vehicles/cars/traffic", "add N cars driving around", "put cars in a lane 15 m apart", "spawn the ego/hero vehicle", or "remove the vehicles".