omniverse-realtime-viewer
nvidia/skills
Top-level router and reference guide for building Omniverse Realtime Viewer USD applications.
What is omniverse-realtime-viewer?
This is an orchestrator skill that serves as the entry point for Omniverse Realtime Viewer implementations. It provides routing logic, architectural conventions, and focused reference documents to guide building USD viewer apps across local, streaming, and cloud deployment paths.
- Routes viewer requests to appropriate delivery paths (local, streaming, cloud)
- Provides read-order guidance and architectural rules for viewer implementation
- Documents conventions for camera, input, selection, viewport, and scene loading behavior
- Specifies ovrtx as the required 3D renderer and prohibits client-side WebGL substitutes
- Guides stage management, OVStage runtime integration, and viewer state isolation
- Includes focused references for UI/UX patterns, interaction routing, and validation
How to install omniverse-realtime-viewer
npx skills add https://github.com/nvidia/skills --skill omniverse-realtime-viewer- NVIDIA GPU (for ovrtx rendering)
- OpenUSD library
- Python, TypeScript, or C++ (depending on delivery path)
- Optional: Tauri, Electron, Node/React, or cloud GPU deployment infrastructure
How to use omniverse-realtime-viewer
- 1.Read references/routing.md to classify your viewer type and select the delivery path
- 2.Read references/conventions.md to understand camera, input, selection, and viewport rules
- 3.Select focused references based on your delivery path (local, streaming, or cloud)
- 4.Implement the render path first using ovrtx, then layer interaction and UI
- 5.Use references/validation.md to capture review evidence before handoff
Use cases
- Building a real-time USD viewer with WebRTC streaming and browser UI
- Creating a local Tauri or Electron viewer with native rendering
- Implementing a headless or cloud-deployed viewer with GPU rendering
- Adding camera controls, object selection, and viewport interaction to a viewer app
- Integrating CAE/CFD data visualization with temporal playback and volume rendering
- 3D application developers building USD viewers
- Graphics engineers implementing rendering pipelines with ovrtx
- Full-stack engineers deploying viewers to cloud or local environments
- Teams building interactive visualization tools for CAD, simulation, or design workflows
omniverse-realtime-viewer FAQ
No. The skill explicitly prohibits WebGL, Three.js, Babylon.js, and other client-side 3D renderers. Browser apps must display an ovstream WebRTC video stream; the browser does not render USD geometry.
Local viewers (Tauri, Electron, C++ native), streaming viewers (browser + WebRTC), and cloud-deployed viewers (NVCF self-hosted or container-based).
Keep user USD files unmodified. Store viewer cameras, render settings, selection metadata, and runtime state in session/composite layers, OVStage runtime state, or app state.
Scaffold the ovrtx path and document the runtime requirement. Do not add a browser-renderer fallback.
Start with references/routing.md to choose your delivery path, then references/conventions.md, then the focused references for your specific features (UI, interaction, streaming, etc.).
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from nvidia/skills.
name: omniverse-realtime-viewer description: "Use as the top-level router for Omniverse Realtime Viewer USD app requests and focused viewer reference documents." version: "0.2.0" license: Apache-2.0 tools:
- Read
- Shell
- Write
compatibility: >
Orchestrator skill. Downstream focused references may require NVIDIA GPUs, ovrtx,
ovstream, ovui, OpenUSD, Python, Node/React, Tauri, Electron, C++, or cloud
GPU deployment access depending on the selected viewer path.
metadata:
author: NVIDIA Omniverse
tags:
- omniverse
- usd
- viewer
- workflow domain: ai-ml languages:
- python
- typescript
- cpp
<!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved. --> <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 -->
Omniverse Realtime Viewer
This is the top-level entry point for the Omniverse Realtime Viewer skill package. It is self-contained: all required routing, conventions, and validation guidance live in the selected references.
Use the focused reference documents as implementation recipes. This file chooses the right recipes and preserves the architectural rules that must hold across all generated viewer apps.
Instructions
Start by classifying the requested viewer, then read only the references needed
for that delivery path and feature set. Implement the render path first, layer
interaction and UI behavior on top of it, and finish by capturing validation
evidence from references/validation.md.
Read Order
- Read
references/routing.mdto choose the delivery path and focused references. - Read
references/conventions.mdbefore implementing camera, input, selection, viewport, streaming protocol, scene loading, or environment behavior. - For broad viewer requests, read
references/usd-viewer-app/README.md. - If the delivery path is unclear, read
references/streaming-vs-local/README.md. - If the prompt includes layout, panels, controls, inspectors, status, or UX,
read
references/viewer-ux-workflow/README.mdand then the focused viewer UI references. This applies to React/WebRTC, Tauri, Electron,ovui,ovwidgets, and Dear ImGui apps; "frontend" means user-facing UI, not only browser UI. - For viewport interaction, read
references/viewer-input-routing/README.mdbeforereferences/camera-controls/README.md,references/native-picking-selection/README.md, orreferences/object-selection/README.md. - For new viewer apps or ovrtx work, read the
ovstagereferences before renderer, scene loading, stage management, camera, selection, or transform write references. - For NVCF self-hosted deployment, read
references/cloud-deployment/nvcf-self-hosted.mdbefore the selected cloud-deployment and streaming references. - Read only the focused capability references needed for the requested app.
- Use
references/validation.mdto capture review evidence before handoff.
Non-Negotiables
- Use
ovrtxfor all USD and 3D rendering. - Browser apps display an
ovstreamWebRTC video stream plus UI. The browser does not render USD geometry. - Do not substitute WebGL, Three.js, Babylon.js, PlayCanvas, A-Frame, model-viewer, react-three-fiber, glTF browser viewers, or other client-side 3D renderers.
- If local validation cannot run because the GPU/runtime environment is absent,
scaffold the
ovrtxpath and document the runtime requirement. Do not add a browser-renderer fallback. - Keep user USD files unmodified. Viewer cameras, render products, render vars, settings, selection metadata, and runtime state belong in session/composite layers, OVStage runtime state, or app state.
- Keep one owner for
renderer.step(), stage mutation, native picking, selection writes, OVStage publication, and live attribute writes. - Use OVStage runtime writes for interchangeable transform animation, material/effect attributes, visibility toggles, physics pose samples, and reversible viewer-owned state. Keep native OVRTX APIs for rendering, pick queues, and selection outline visualization.
- Keep dependency acquisition in
references/dependencies/README.mdand deployment choices inreferences/cloud-deployment/README.md; do not duplicate package locations or deployment setup.
Focused Reference Families
- Entry points and recipes:
references/usd-viewer-app/README.md,references/streaming-viewer-recipe/README.md,references/ovui-local-viewer-recipe/README.md,references/streaming-vs-local/README.md,references/electron-shm-viewer/README.md,references/ovwidgets-editor-shell/README.md. - Rendering and stage:
references/ovstage-runtime/README.md,references/ovstage-population/README.md,references/ovstage-data-plane/README.md,references/ovstage-ovrtx-integration/README.md,references/ovrtx-rendering/README.md,references/stage-loading/README.md,references/stage-management/README.md,references/render-settings/README.md,references/aov-switching/README.md,references/stage-hierarchy/README.md,references/stage-queries/README.md,references/stage-attribute-reads/README.md,references/camera-auto-select/README.md,references/camera-picker/README.md,references/prim-transform-safety/README.md,references/usd-sample-data/README.md. - Delivery and runtime:
references/streaming-server/README.md,references/streaming-client/README.md,references/streaming-messages/README.md,references/streaming-lifecycle/README.md,references/local-viewer/README.md,references/tauri-local-viewer/README.md,references/cpp-native-viewer/README.md,references/headless-shm-cli/README.md,references/viewer-backend-interface/README.md,references/webgl-shm-transport/README.md. - Viewer UI/UX:
references/viewer-ux-workflow/README.md,references/viewer-layout-patterns/README.md,references/viewer-control-patterns/README.md,references/viewer-data-view-patterns/README.md,references/viewer-feedback-status/README.md. - Interaction:
references/viewer-input-routing/README.md,references/camera-controls/README.md,references/object-selection/README.md,references/native-picking-selection/README.md,references/selection-feedback/README.md,references/physics-simulation/README.md,references/selection-animation/README.md,references/transform-manipulator/README.md,references/gl-viewport-overlay/README.md,references/ovui-library/README.md,references/prim-pick-effects/README.md,references/prim-info-display/README.md,references/viewport-overlays/README.md,references/physics-simulation/README.md. - Infrastructure:
references/dependencies/README.md,references/windows-native-setup/README.md,references/cloud-assets/README.md,references/cloud-deployment/README.md,references/cloud-deployment/nvcf-self-hosted.md,references/cloud-deployment/nvcf-viewer-container-contract.md,references/cloud-deployment/gpu-container-runtime.md,references/cloud-deployment/container-image-build.md,references/cloud-deployment/webrtc-network-diagnostics.md,references/troubleshooting/README.md. - AI/Agent:
references/a2ui-scene-copilot/README.md. - CAE/CFD visualization:
references/cae-cfd-visualization/README.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/data-and-operators.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/cae-data-ingestion.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/temporal-playback.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/usd-authoring-and-materials.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/ovstage-render-and-camera.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/ovui-controls.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/glyphs.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/volume-rendering.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/driving-cae-viz-via-ovstage.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/emitter-and-seed-sources.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/streaming-cae-viewer.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/rtwt-blueprint-recreation.md,references/cae-cfd-visualization/coordinate-systems-and-up-axis.md.
Build Workflow
- Classify the prompt by delivery path, target user, required capabilities, runtime environment, validation needs, and explicit constraints.
- Select a small reference set. Start with the recipe or routing reference, then add focused capabilities such as camera, picking, hierarchy, properties, render settings, transform tools, cloud assets, or deployment.
- Read selected references before writing app code. Follow their build order, import order, data-channel contracts, and renderer ownership rules.
- Implement the OVStage population/data-plane path and core render path first, then input routing and camera, then selection and data panels, then scene/settings features, then packaging or deployment.
- Treat the selected references as the behavior contract for API shape, compatibility, and generated project structure.
- Capture validation evidence before calling the viewer ready.
Examples
- For a browser viewer request, use the streaming recipe references plus camera, picking, hierarchy, properties, render settings, and stream-status references.
- For a local workstation viewer request, use the local or native delivery references plus renderer setup, stage loading, viewport input, and validation.
- For a "visualize CAE/CFD data in realtime" request, treat CAE/CFD as a layer,
not a standalone app: first pick the delivery path
(
references/streaming-vs-local/README.md), build the base viewer with the matching recipe (references/ovui-local-viewer-recipe/README.mdorreferences/streaming-viewer-recipe/README.md), then layerreferences/cae-cfd-visualization/README.md(data → operators → USD authoring → scene) and wire controls viareferences/cae-cfd-visualization/driving-cae-viz-via-ovstage.md.
Completion Checklist
- Selected references match the user's intent and delivery path.
- No code path uses a browser-side 3D renderer for USD.
- The generated app has one clear owner for render stepping and stage mutation.
- User USD files remain untouched by viewer-owned session data.
- Camera, input, selection, scene loading, and stream behavior follow
references/conventions.md. - Setup/build/run results and visual interaction evidence are captured with
references/validation.md.
ovstage References
For all new viewer applications, read these before renderer, scene, interaction, or delivery references:
references/ovstage-runtime/README.md— runtime ownership, ordinals, publication, and recovery.references/ovstage-population/README.md— composed USD population and scene generations.references/ovstage-data-plane/README.md— queries, writes, transforms, and runtime DTOs.references/ovstage-ovrtx-integration/README.md— attached renderer loop and runtime integration contract.
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