Getting Started with HDDS

Welcome to HDDS, a high-performance DDS (Data Distribution Service) middleware written in pure Rust. This guide will help you get started quickly.

Quick Start

Rust

# Clone HDDS and install hddsgen
git clone https://git.hdds.io/hdds/hdds.git
git clone https://git.hdds.io/hdds/hdds_gen.git
cd hdds_gen && cargo install --path .
cd ..

# Generate a full project from IDL
echo 'struct Temperature { @key unsigned long sensor_id; float value; };' > temp.idl
hddsgen gen rust temp.idl --example --out-dir ./my-sensor --hdds-path "$(pwd)/hdds/crates/hdds"

# Build and run (two terminals needed: subscriber + publisher)
cd my-sensor
cargo run --bin subscriber &   # Terminal 1
cargo run --bin publisher      # Terminal 2

Or write it manually:

use hdds::{Participant, QoS, TransportMode};

fn main() -> hdds::Result<()> {
    let participant = Participant::builder("my_app")
        .domain_id(0)
        .with_transport(TransportMode::UdpMulticast)
        .build()?;

    // Types are generated from IDL by hddsgen
    let writer = participant
        .topic::<Temperature>("TemperatureTopic")?
        .writer()
        .qos(QoS::reliable())
        .build()?;

    writer.write(&Temperature { sensor_id: 1, value: 23.5 })?;
    Ok(())
}

C

# Clone and build HDDS
git clone https://git.hdds.io/hdds/hdds.git
cd hdds && cargo build --release -p hdds-c

#include <hdds/hdds.h>

int main() {
    hdds_participant_t* participant = hdds_participant_create(0, NULL);
    hdds_topic_t* topic = hdds_topic_create(participant, "sensor/temp", "Temperature");
    hdds_writer_t* writer = hdds_writer_create(participant, topic, NULL);

    Temperature data = { .value = 23.5 };
    hdds_writer_write(writer, &data);

    return 0;
}

Python

# Clone and build HDDS Python bindings
git clone https://git.hdds.io/hdds/hdds.git
cd hdds/sdk/python && pip install -e .

import hdds

participant = hdds.DomainParticipant(domain_id=0)
topic = participant.create_topic("sensor/temp", Temperature)
writer = participant.create_writer(topic)

writer.write(Temperature(value=23.5))

What's Next?

Learn the Basics

Understand DDS concepts and RTPS protocol fundamentals.

What is DDS?

Install HDDS

Get HDDS installed on Linux, macOS, or Windows.

Installation Guide

Build Something

Follow our step-by-step Hello World tutorial.

Hello World

Why HDDS?

Feature	HDDS	FastDDS	CycloneDDS	RTI Connext
Language	Pure Rust	C++	C	C/C++
Memory Safety	Guaranteed	Manual	Manual	Manual
Latency	Sub-microsecond	~1-5 µs	~2-10 µs	~1-5 µs
Zero-copy	Yes	Partial	Partial	Yes
Multi-language	Rust, C, C++, Python	C++, Python	C, Python	C, C++, Java, C#, Python
License	Apache 2.0	Apache 2.0	Eclipse 2.0	Commercial

Architecture Overview