Topic Filtering

Rewire supports glob patterns for selecting which topics to subscribe to. Patterns work in both CLI flags and the JSON5 config file.

Include patterns

Subscribe only to topics matching a pattern:

rewire record --topics "/camera/*" "/odom"

In config:

{
    topics: {
        include: ["/camera/*", "/odom"],
    },
}

Exclude patterns

Subscribe to everything except matching topics:

rewire record --exclude "/rosout" "/parameter_events" "/diagnostics/*"

In config:

{
    topics: {
        exclude: ["/rosout", "/parameter_events", "/diagnostics/*"],
    },
}

Glob syntax

Per-topic overrides

Disable specific topics by name using topic_overrides:

{
    topic_overrides: [
        { name: "/diagnostics", enabled: false },
        { name: "/camera/debug", enabled: false },
    ],
}

Throttling high-rate topics

A topic that publishes faster than you need to see it can be capped, so excess messages are dropped before they are deserialized, converted, or logged:

rewire record --throttle "/camera/image_raw=10" "/tf=100"

The same caps live in the config file as max_hz on a topic_overrides entry:

{
    topic_overrides: [
        { name: "/camera/image_raw", max_hz: 10 },
        { name: "/lidar/**", max_hz: 5 },
    ],
}

Rates must be finite and positive; fractional rates like 0.5 are allowed. The rewire play command accepts the same --throttle flag, where the cap applies in bag time.

Matching rules

Unlike enabled, a max_hz entry may name a glob (* within a segment, ** across segments). When several entries could apply:

1. An exact topic name beats any glob.
2. Among globs, the first matching entry wins.
3. Command-line --throttle entries are checked before config entries, so the CLI wins per topic.

Caps are resolved when Rewire subscribes, so topics that appear later pick up matching patterns automatically.

Throttling changes what Rewire bridges, not what the publisher sends. The diagnostics panel keeps reporting the topic's real wire rate, and shows the effective cap beside it.

Precedence

1. topic_overrides with enabled: false always wins
2. --exclude / topics.exclude patterns are checked next
3. --topics / topics.include patterns determine what to subscribe to
4. With neither naming a topic, everything not excluded is subscribed to — what --all asks for explicitly, and what a bare rewire record does on its own

Buffer side-channels

On ROS 2 Lyrical, some transports expose internal buffer side-channel topics named <topic>/_buf_*. These mirror a real subscription but never deliver data, so Rewire skips them during auto-subscribe. To bridge one anyway, name it explicitly with --topics — an exact match overrides the exclusion.