# `repositories/*.repos` files

Autoware uses **multiple Git repositories** managed through a meta-repository approach.

The `autoware` repository itself **does not contain the full source code**. Instead, it references many separately maintained repositories.

These files reside under [autoware/repositories](<https://github.com/autowarefoundation/autoware/blob/main/repositories>) directory.

- `autoware.repos`

  ---

  Holds the references to essential autoware repositories.

- `autoware-nightly.repos`

  ---

  This sets some of the `autoware.repos` repositories to their development branch. For most of them, this branch is `main`.

- `tools.repos`

  ---

  Mainly holds the reference to [autowarefoundation/autoware\_tools](<https://github.com/autowarefoundation/autoware_tools.git>) repository.

- `tools-nightly.repos`

  ---

  Sets the tools repository to the main branch.

- `simulator.repos`

  ---

  Holds the reference to [tier4/scenario\_simulator\_v2](<https://github.com/tier4/scenario_simulator_v2.git>) repository.

- `simulator-nightly.repos`

  ---

  The nightly counterpart of `simulator.repos`. In Autoware 2.0.0, it lists no repositories.

- `extra-packages.repos`

  ---

  Holds optional repositories. Right now holds the references to [tier4/pacmod\_interface](<https://github.com/tier4/pacmod_interface.git>) and [tier4/tamagawa\_imu\_driver](<https://github.com/tier4/tamagawa_imu_driver.git>).

- `autoware-index.repos`

  ---

  Generated locally from the [Autoware Index](<../../installation/autoware/autoware-index/index.md>) registry of community packages. It is user-specific and not tracked by git.

## How to use `.repos` files

### Prerequisites

Autoware uses [vcs2l](<https://github.com/ros-infrastructure/vcs2l>) to construct workspaces.

You can install it with `sudo apt install python3-vcs2l`.

### Configurations

Always first pull the `autoware.repos` since it holds the essential repositories.

```bash
vcs import src < repositories/autoware.repos
```

For most cases, this will be enough.

If you want to use the nightly versions of the repositories, also pull the `autoware-nightly.repos` file. (It requires `autoware.repos` to be pulled first.)

```bash
vcs import src < repositories/autoware-nightly.repos
```

If you want to use the other repositories such as scenario simulator or the tools, pull the corresponding `.repos` files.

### Managing repositories

Generally, the following command should be enough to update all the repositories.

```bash
vcs pull src
```

But if some repositories have not-committed changes, you may need to manage them manually.

> [!TIP]
>
> You can run `vcs status src` to check the status of the repositories.

> [!NOTE]
>
> **`vcs help`**
>
> The available commands are:
>
> ```text
> branch     Show the branches
> custom     Run a custom command
> delete     Remove the directories indicated by the list of given repositories.
> diff       Show changes in the working tree
> export     Export the list of repositories
> import     Import the list of repositories
> log        Show commit logs
> pull       Bring changes from the repository into the working copy
> push       Push changes from the working copy to the repository
> remotes    Show the URL of the repository
> status     Show the working tree status
> validate   Validate the repository list file
> ```
>
> You can call them with `vcs <command> src`.