Add live visualization for behavior trees by kmolan · Pull Request #58 · Sollimann/bonsai

kmolan · 2026-05-07T22:58:36Z

Live web visualizer: Attach via BT::with_telemetry(port) (default 127.0.0.1) or BT::with_telemetry_at(addr, port) — opens an embedded HTML page at http://{addr}:{port}/ that renders the tree over a WebSocket. Rationale for choosing websockets, along with advantages I wrote here: Add view/read only graphical interface for inspecting tree state in real-time #55 (comment)
Zero-overhead when off: Whole feature is hidden behind visualize

To see a live demo:

cargo run --bin visualizer_smoke
On your local web browser, open http://127.0.0.1:8910/

I also added a whole bunch of tests for prevent regression. Also, a huge chunk of this PR is me adding a tracer to all bt nodes. While there is graphviz and json serialization support, without an actual tracer it would be impossible to know the live state of each node (running/pass/fail/idle) at every tick. Existing code only gave static structure of the tree, not the live state of the entire tree along with every single node's status at each tick.

Disclaimer: Used claude code to generate documentation and the unit tests.

Recording.2026-05-07.223944.mp4

Sollimann

Will try to find some time to review during the weekend. Its a big PR, so I'll have to do it batches. I pinged a few other reviewers as well

kaphula

I can't participate at this time. Thanks.

Sollimann · 2026-05-08T22:14:27Z

+<title>bonsai-bt visualizer</title>
+<script src="https://d3js.org/d3.v7.min.js"></script>


This might not be a problem, but this grabs d3.js from a CDN which means the visualizer server requires egress (internet access) or else you'll get a 404.

I think one way around it is by downloading the file locally and referencing following way

pub const VISUALIZER_D3: &str = include_str!("d3.v7.min.js");

I guess its fine for now, but might be something we need to address in future if someone complains

kmolan · 2026-05-09T05:32:27Z

@Sollimann I will address all PR comments once you've had the time to go through it all as the first pass. Let me know. In the meantime, I saw you comment here, and whipped up some changes to the html file, shall I push? Any refinements to the UI/color scheme/etc? #55 (comment)

Recording.2026-05-09.002941.mp4

Sollimann · 2026-05-10T10:48:35Z

Very cool, looks great! Yes, please push changes👍 how does the color animations look e.g if ticks run at 20Hz? Also, is the animations able to keep up at that rate? Will try to take do a second wave of reviews later today.

kmolan · 2026-05-10T20:05:04Z

Will push in a second! Attaching what it looks like for 20Hz - it is able to keep up (although I doubt the human looking at it will be able to make sense of it haha). I also cranked it up all the way to 100Hz, where I change tree status every tick. Framework is able to handle the load no problem 👍

Recording.2026-05-10.150150.mp4

Sollimann

Added a few more comments. General opinion is that implementation looks solid and test coverage is good 👍 I think you need to rebase as there has been a change to main today, also you need to install and run pre-commit

Let me know when you have addressed comments, and I'll take another look

Sollimann · 2026-05-11T15:12:34Z

+    /// Like [`with_telemetry`](Self::with_telemetry), but lets you pick the
+    /// bind address. Pass `"0.0.0.0"` to listen on every interface (so peers
+    /// on the LAN can connect), `"127.0.0.1"` for loopback only, or any
+    /// specific interface IP. The address is parsed by `TcpListener::bind`,
+    /// so hostnames and IPv6 literals (e.g. `"::1"`) also work.
+    ///


localhost debug server is fine for most cases. Debugging on a separate machine can be achieved with ssh port portwarding 👍

kmolan · 2026-05-14T05:34:23Z

@Sollimann I addressed all the comments, rebased onto main, and builds are passing now.

Sollimann

Its getting closer now 🚀 I just noticed a couple of things when doing a final round of reviews. Please take a look

Also, once merged, to get some publicity around your latest enhancement of the crate you can post an announcement in following subreddits Rust, rust_gamedev, robotics, gamedev etc - include the gif. Up to you, but I think people will be excited to see this :)

Sollimann · 2026-05-14T07:19:58Z

+    use Behavior::*;
+    match b {
+        Action(a) => ("Action", Some(format!("{a:?}"))),
+        Wait(t) => ("Wait", Some(format!("Wait({t:.2}s)"))),


not for this PR, just pointing out for future

if you're up for the task, I think this porting Wait to take in std::time::Duration instead of seconds in float is something we should #52

Hmm. While the actual fix is non-trivial, it may break backwards compatibility, how do you feel about that?
Wither way I might address in future PR.

yes, the fix is non-trivial. Its not great introducing breaking changes, but the sooner the better. Also, if any wants to use this crate for production scenarios having Wait only accept seconds in floating point is not a great interface I think. I'll have to look at the implementation to fully jugde whether we want to publish it or not

kmolan · 2026-05-14T10:09:17Z

@Sollimann

Also, once merged, to get some publicity around your latest enhancement of the crate you can post an announcement in following subreddits Rust, rust_gamedev, robotics, gamedev etc - include the gif

Do you have a template you generally follow for bonsai announcements? Also, what about tagging new release/pushing to crates.io, etc. ?

Sollimann · 2026-05-14T17:08:55Z

Do you have a template you generally follow for bonsai announcements? Also, what about tagging new release/pushing to crates.io, etc. ?

Nope, no template. Just explain the new feature and link to the repo

on second question - I'll make sure to release it now right after merge

Sollimann

Fix looks good. Great work on this one! 🚀 I'll make sure to publish it

kmolan mentioned this pull request May 7, 2026

Add view/read only graphical interface for inspecting tree state in real-time #55

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kmolan commented May 8, 2026

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Comment thread bonsai/src/bt.rs

Sollimann requested review from andriyDev, kaphula and matthewashton-k and removed request for andriyDev and kaphula May 8, 2026 08:46

Sollimann reviewed May 8, 2026

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Comment thread bonsai/src/telemetry.rs

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kaphula reviewed May 8, 2026

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Sollimann reviewed May 8, 2026

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Comment thread bonsai/Cargo.toml Outdated

Comment thread bonsai/src/bt_telemetry.rs Outdated

Comment thread bonsai/src/bt.rs

Sollimann reviewed May 8, 2026

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Comment thread bonsai/src/visualizer_server.rs Outdated

Sollimann reviewed May 11, 2026

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kmolan added 11 commits May 14, 2026 00:28

update dependencies

4d2929b

add support for websockets

919a3f5

create telemetry.rs

5d49eab

consolidate telemetry.rs

d94e09a

refine telemetry approach

b15cf82

add node meta info, and add tests for telemetry

1603470

better test coverage for telemetry

ad347a0

plumbing tracing through state. first attempt

f15ef3a

cleanup tracer plumbing

2abd364

add tests for tracer

a0922b4

initial attempt at the viz server

c5a9cf0

kmolan added 12 commits May 14, 2026 00:28

more changes to the viz server

7e466ea

cleanup

c409785

viz server improvements

d45877c

add tests for the viz server

4c5973e

add frontend html

0e0cbfb

better viz server example

dfad791

cleamup

dc41f39

cleanup

e00d1d7

make demo reel cleaner

56753ed

color the edges ont he frontend

c77f350

address review comments

3c48f73

run precommit

4a51e33

kmolan force-pushed the main branch from 41b1f79 to 4a51e33 Compare May 14, 2026 05:31

Sollimann reviewed May 14, 2026

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review comments

9ddbe85

Sollimann approved these changes May 14, 2026

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Sollimann merged commit ce44276 into Sollimann:main May 14, 2026
2 checks passed

		<title>bonsai-bt visualizer</title>
		<script src="https://d3js.org/d3.v7.min.js"></script>

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