System Requirements

Supported Platform

Requirement	Supported
Operating System	Ubuntu 20.04+ (Debian-based distributions)
Architecture	x86_64 (amd64)
ROS Version	ROS2 Humble (LTS) or Jazzy recommended; Foxy is EOL and unsupported
Simulators	Gazebo Sim (Harmonic), MuJoCo 3.8.1+

ROS2 Foxy reached end-of-life in June 2023. It may work with Drift but is not tested or supported. Use Humble or Jazzy for a supported experience. Support for additional ROS distributions is on the roadmap.

Dependencies

Drift CLI works with the simulator + framework combinations below. You need at least one path installed — most users have both.

ROS2 + Gazebo Harmonic path

For traditional ROS2 workflows: URDF / SDF, launch files, controllers, RViz, bridge to Gazebo Harmonic. Install ROS2 Humble on Ubuntu: official install guide — or ask Drift to install it after first launch:

install ROS2 Humble and Gazebo Harmonic, then verify they work

Install Gazebo Harmonic: official install guide.

MuJoCo path

For fast headless / scriptable simulation: MJCF, Python control loops, contact-rich tasks, RL training.

pip install mujoco
python3 -c "import mujoco; print(mujoco.__version__)"

Drift expects MuJoCo 3.8.1 or newer. The Python passive viewer (mujoco.viewer.launch_passive) works on Linux with a working display.

Additional Tools

Drift works in any terminal, including the integrated terminal in VS Code or Cursor with no extra setup.

If you take the ROS2 path, the standard ROS2 build tools come with a typical install:

colcon — build tool for ROS2 workspaces
rosdep — dependency management for ROS2 packages

Verifying Your Setup

After installing, verify everything is reachable:

# Check ROS2 (if using the ROS2 path)
ros2 --version

# Check Gazebo (if using the Gazebo path)
gz sim --version

# Check MuJoCo (if using the MuJoCo path)
python3 -c "import mujoco; print(mujoco.__version__)"

# Check Drift
drift --help

If the ones you care about return version information, you’re ready to go.

Commands Reference Troubleshooting

Getting Started

Guides

Robot Showcase

Reference

Changelog

System Requirements

Supported Platform

Dependencies

ROS2 + Gazebo Harmonic path

MuJoCo path

Additional Tools

Verifying Your Setup

​Supported Platform

​Dependencies

​ROS2 + Gazebo Harmonic path

​MuJoCo path

​Additional Tools

​Verifying Your Setup

Supported Platform

Dependencies

ROS2 + Gazebo Harmonic path

MuJoCo path

Additional Tools

Verifying Your Setup