Make dimos pip-installable

[paul-nechifor]

New stuff

• I've copied rxpy_backpressure in since it's so small.
• I've tested the release of dimos-lcm to test PyPI.
• Replaced our go2-webrtc-connect clone with the original.
• I'm currently cloning the dev repo in order to get LFS files when using pip install dimos. I need to switch to main when we release.
• Added fresh instructions in README_installation.md .

---

Old stuff

Now you can:

pip install dimos
dimos-robot --robot-ip 192.168.x.xxx run unitree-go2

or with uv:

uv add dimos
uv run dimos-robot --robot-ip 192.168.x.xxx run unitree-go2

or even better, no need to install:

uvx --from dimos dimos-robot --robot-ip=192.168.x.xxx run unitree-go2

Or even better, rename dimos-robot to dimos (#740) and it becomes just:

uvx dimos --robot-ip=192.168.x.xxx run unitree-go2

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[leshy]

This is amazing, but some issues,

Do we need a check if LFS is installed? with pip you don't get our readme etc and very possible user doesn't have LFS

I think this git clone will pull full LFS and we need to GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1 when checking out.

(is there some way to check out only part of the repo, only refs? idk)

[paul-nechifor]

This is amazing, but some issues,

Do we need a check if LFS is installed? with pip you don't get our readme etc and very possible user doesn't have LFS

I think this git clone will pull full LFS and we need to GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1 when checking out.

(is there some way to check out only part of the repo, only refs? idk)

• Your code already checks for git-lfs being installed. :) I've added a check for git as well since people who would install through PyPI might not have it.
• Added GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1. It's possible to checkout just the refs, without a working directory, but then where do you store the files? I don't think size will be a big issue because it currently uses --depth 1.

[spomichter]

@paul-nechifor i assume this hasnt been tested on mac

[paul-nechifor]

It hasn't, but we can do the checks once the Mac PRs are merged.

[spomichter]

@greptile

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Overview

Greptile Summary

This PR enables pip installation of dimos by restructuring data file access patterns and package configuration.

• Modified dimos/utils/data.py to automatically clone the repository to a user data directory when running as an installed package (rather than from source)
• Updated dimos/simulation/mujoco/model.py to use the get_data() utility instead of relative paths for data directory access
• Added RPC timeout extension (1200s) for "start" calls to accommodate longer module startup times when dependencies need to be downloaded
• Configured pyproject.toml with explicit package-data paths and removed the numpy <2.0.0 upper bound constraint
• Added MANIFEST.in to properly exclude development artifacts from source distributions
• Added documentation for pip and uv installation workflows

Confidence Score: 4/5

• This PR is safe to merge with minor considerations around user experience for first-time pip users.
• The changes are well-structured and follow good patterns for making a package pip-installable. The data directory handling is platform-aware and has proper fallbacks. The only minor concern is the SSH URL for cloning which requires users to have SSH keys configured, though this may be intentional for a private repository.
• Pay attention to dimos/utils/data.py - the SSH-based git clone URL may affect users without SSH keys configured.

Important Files Changed

File Analysis

Filename	Score	Overview
dimos/utils/data.py	4/5	Added platform-specific data directory detection and automatic repo cloning for pip-installed packages. Uses SSH URL for cloning which is appropriate for private repos.
dimos/simulation/mujoco/model.py	5/5	Refactored to use get_data() utility instead of relative paths, enabling pip-installed package support.
dimos/protocol/rpc/spec.py	4/5	Added special case timeout (1200s) for "start" RPC calls to handle long module startup times.
pyproject.toml	5/5	Updated package configuration for pip installability: explicit package-data paths, removed numpy upper bound, added node_modules exclusion.
MANIFEST.in	5/5	New file controlling sdist package contents, excluding dev files, tests, and build artifacts.
docs/package_usage.md	5/5	New documentation for pip and uv installation instructions with CLI usage examples.

Sequence Diagram

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant CLI as dimos-robot CLI
    participant Data as dimos/utils/data.py
    participant FS as File System
    participant Git as Git

    User->>CLI: dimos-robot run unitree-go2
    CLI->>Data: get_data("mujoco_sim")
    Data->>FS: Check DIMOS_PROJECT_ROOT/.git exists
    alt Running from git repo
        Data-->>CLI: Return repo data path
    else Running as pip package
        Data->>FS: Get user data directory
        Data->>FS: Check if repo already cloned
        alt Repo not cloned
            Data->>Git: git clone --depth 1 dimos repo
            Git-->>Data: Clone complete
        end
        Data-->>CLI: Return cloned repo data path
    end
    CLI->>CLI: Load simulation models/assets

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[spomichter]

@paul-nechifor Have we tested this via the pypi test sandbox just to make sure it all works

[paul-nechifor]

@paul-nechifor Have we tested this via the pypi test sandbox just to make sure it all works

No. I tested it locally by generating the wheel, installing it in a blank venv and running it.

But I'll do this too.

[paul-nechifor]

I've tested publishing to https://test.pypi.org . It doesn't work currently because it doesn't allow dependencies which are not on PyPI. So it only works after I remove these packages:

"rxpy-backpressure @ git+https://github.com/dimensionalOS/rxpy-backpressure.git",
"go2-webrtc-connect @ git+https://github.com/dimensionalOS/go2_webrtc_connect.git",
"clip @ git+https://github.com/openai/CLIP.git",
"dimos-lcm @ git+https://github.com/dimensionalOS/dimos-lcm.git@3aeb724863144a8ba6cf72c9f42761d1007deda4",
"contact-graspnet-pytorch @ git+https://github.com/dimensionalOS/contact_graspnet_pytorch.git",
"detectron2 @ git+https://github.com/facebookresearch/detectron2.git@v0.6",
"torch @ https://pypi.jetson-ai-lab.io/jp6/cu126/+f/564/4d4458f1ba159/torch-2.8.0-cp310-cp310-linux_aarch64.whl",
"torchvision @ https://pypi.jetson-ai-lab.io/jp6/cu126/+f/1c0/3de08a69e9554/torchvision-0.23.0-cp310-cp310-linux_aarch64.whl",
"onnxruntime-gpu @ https://pypi.jetson-ai-lab.io/jp6/cu126/+f/4eb/e6a8902dc7708/onnxruntime_gpu-1.23.0-cp310-cp310-linux_aarch64.whl",
"xformers @ https://pypi.jetson-ai-lab.io/jp6/cu126/+f/731/15133b0ebb2b3/xformers-0.0.33+ac00641.d20250830-cp39-abi3-linux_aarch64.whl",

Solution:

• dimos-lcm is something we can release

• for rxpy-backpressure and go2-webrtc-connect we could use the official releases. Is there a reason they're forked?

• for the jetson dependencies (torch, torchvision, onnxruntime-gpu, and xformers), I think we should remove these. We need a separate way of installing these. Maybe we should just have a requirements_jetson.txt and tell people to pip install that?

• and for the rest (clip, contact-graspnet-pytorch, and detectron2), I don't know what to do. Maybe we should also tell people to install them separately.

[leshy]

* Your code already checks for `git-lfs` being installed. :) I've added a check for `git` as well since people who would install through PyPI might not have it.

ah perfect

* Added `GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1`. It's possible to checkout just the refs, without a working directory, but then where do you store the files? I don't think size will be a big issue because it currently uses `--depth 1`.

yes SKIP_SMUDGE is the intended way to check out dimos

[leshy]

Replaced our go2-webrtc-connect clone with the original.

we are back at the clone, legions lidar processing is too slow
legion1581/unitree_webrtc_connect#46

until this is merged (never given the other PRs) we have to use my fork

[leshy]

just legion stuff

[leshy]

pip install unitree-webrtc-connect-leshy published

[paul-nechifor]

pip install unitree-webrtc-connect-leshy published

Should we not wait for Legion?

[leshy]

pip install unitree-webrtc-connect-leshy published

Should we not wait for Legion?

I just dont know when he'll update this and want to keep moving, we can update once he updates