ROS2 Persistent Parameter Server

ROS 2 Persistent Parameter Server, that resides in the ROS 2 system to serve the parameter daemon. The other nodes(e.g the client demo provided in the code) can write/read the parameter in Parameter Server, and Parameter Server is able to store the parameter into the persistent storage which user can specify such as tmpfs, nfs, or disk.

See overview slide deck for general information.

• ROS2 Persistent Parameter Server
  • Background
  • Overview
    • Persistent Parameter Registration
      • Persistent Prefix
      • Scope Overview
    • Configurable Options
    • Services
  • Sequence
  • Getting Started
    • Supported Distribution
      • Docker Container
    • Dependent Packages
    • Prerequisites
    • Build
    • Run
  • Kubernetes
  • Test
    • Run
  • Known Issues
  • Authors
  • License

Background

The discussion is opened here, and centralized parameter server is not a good affinity to ROS 2 distributed system architecture. One of the most valuable things about ROS APIs is that we make sure that the messages have specific semantic meaning so that they can’t be misinterpreted. As we develop the ROS 2 tools and best practices we should make sure to bring that same level of rigor to parameters too for greater reusability and correctness.

Although, it is expected to be the following requirement.

• Global configuration that many nodes share (e.g. RTOS priorities, vehicle dimensions, …)
• Generic ROS 2 system property server.
• Persistent storage support to re-initialize the system. parameters are modified in runtime and cache it into persistent volume as well. and next boot or next re-spawn, modified parameter will be loaded at initialization. (parameter lifetime is dependent on use case, sometimes system lifetime, sometimes node lifetime.)
• Using ROS1 based application with Parameter Server.

Overview

Generally ROS 2 Parameter Server is simple blackboard to write/read parameters on that. The other nodes can write/read the parameter on the server to share them in the ROS 2 system. there is a new concept for “Persistent Parameter” which is described later.

ROS 2 Parameter Server is constructed on ROS parameter API’s, nothing specific API’s are provided to connect to the server from the client. Also, about the security it just relies on ROS 2 security aspect.

Persistent Parameter Registration

Persistent Prefix

persistent parameter must have prefix “persistent”

Scope Overview

parameter server has the following scope for persistent parameter. since parameter server is built on top of ROS 2 Parameter API, parameter server supports “persistent” parameter based on /parameter_events topic.

Category	Supported	Description
Parameter API	YES	ROS 2 Parameter Client API supported, since this activity can be detected via /parameter_events.
Persistent Parameter File	YES	parameter server dedicated argument to specify the file to load as parameters. in addition, all of the persistent parameters will be stored into this file during shutdown. e.g) –file-path /tmp/parameter_server.yaml
Parameter Arguments	NO	e.g) –ros-args -p persistent.some_int:=42 some_int cannot be registered as persistent parameter, since this cannot be notified via /parameter_events to parameter server.
Parameter File Arguments	NO	e.g) –ros-args –params-file ./parameters_via_cli.yaml same with parameter arguments, cannot be registered as persistent parameter, since these cannot be notified via /parameter_events to parameter server.
Launch Parameter	NO	e.g) ros2 launch persist_parameter_server parameter_server.launch.py same with parameter arguments, cannot be registered as persistent parameter, since these cannot be notified via /parameter_events to parameter server.

Configurable Options

• Node Name

  Since ROS 2 parameter is owned by node, node name will be needed to access the parameters, this is designed to clarify semantics for the parameters and owners. Node name will be “parameter_server” if node name is not specifies. so the other nodes can use “parameter_server” as well to access in the same system Parameter Server. If there must exist multiple parameter servers, these parameter servers need to specify a different node name, such as “parameter_server_[special_string]”, please notice that ROS 2 node name can only contains alphanumerics and ‘_’.

• Persistent Volume

  Definition of “Persistent” is different from user and use cases, so it should be configurable to set the path to store the persistent –file-path FILE_PATH parameter. Expecting if the parameter’s lifespan is system boot, path would be “/tmp” because user wants a fresh start via reboot. Or maybe physical persistent volume is chosen if users want to keep the parameter into the hardware storage. At the initialization time, Parameter Server will load the parameters from the storage which is specified by user.

• Storing Period

  It sets the interval for periodically saving parameters to the file system, and that setting the value to 0 disables periodic storing.

• Node Options

  there are three important options:

  • allow_undeclared_parameters: (default true)
  • automatically_declare_parameters_from_overrides: (default true)
  • allow_dynamic_typing: (default false) all of the configuration options will be passed via arguments as following.

File truncated at 100 lines [see the full file](https://github.com/fujitatomoya/ros2_persist_parameter_server/tree/rolling/./README.md)

Options	CLI

Changelog for package persist_parameter_server

1.0.2 (2025-10-21)

• Update package name in script and document
• Change package name for other configuration files
• Use a set of CMakeLists.txt and package.xml files for server and test
• update README for additional service interfaces. (#60)
• Added ros2 service call to manually trigger yaml save (#38)
• remove ament_target_dependencies deprecation warnings. (#59)
• a few follow-ups after https://github.com/fujitatomoya/ros2_persist_p… (#56)
• Fix/dynamic typing (#37)
• add tutorial video from The Construct.
• declare dependencies to boost dev libraries (#55)
• update markdown presenation.
• add kubernetes examples and docs. (#54)
• add JP markdown presentation for possible ROSCon JP 2025 LT. (#53)
• enable Gemini CLI workflow. (#51)
• remove ros signing key temporary workaround. (#48)
• enable builtin dictionaries with custom ones. (#47)
• support codespell github action. (#46)
• Support Kilted Kaiju. (#43)
• Remove use of ament_target_dependencies. (#42)
• perform periodic storing of the yaml file. (#36)
• add nightly workflow files for each distribution. (#34)
• add system test to github workflow for all distributions. (#32)
• fix github workflow target branch, should be rolling. (#30)
• docker images release and build script, and doc update. (#29)
• fix overview html markdown link.
• Iron Irwini is End of Life.
• add overview slide deck link on top.
• Blank issue enabled for miscellaneous issues. (#27)
• cosmetic fix for github issue template files.
• update issue templates and configuration.
• Mirror rolling to master branch.
• Signal(SIGINT) needs to be injected to the server executable. (#25)
• add jazzy to the presentation slides.
• Jazzy support (#23)
• update README and remove deprecation.
• update cmake and package files (#22)
• add work-around to load double sequence [1.0, 1.1]. (#17)
• add presentation slide deck for lightning talk. (#16)
• add issue templates for bug, featurea and question.
• add github workflow status badges. (#15)
• add build script issued in ros docker containers.
• add github workflows template.
• add supported ROS 2 distribution in doc.
• fix bunch of readme uncrustify warnings.
• Fix log statement of parameter type which are of an enum type
• check if ros2 env is sourced before starting test.
• update readme to explicitly show it is supported on ros:foxy.
• Change package name
• Modify based on comments
• respawn in 5 seconds in default.
• minor fix in doc.
• Modify based on review
• Support demos with client and verify basic functionalities
• add persistent parameter scope and more samples for parameter load via launch and cli.
• readme update with getting started.
• 1st commit for parameter server with persistent cache feature.
• Initial commit
• Contributors: Tomoya Fujita, Ada-King, Barry Xu, Drew Hoener, Hugal31, Mahmoud, Roberto Zegers