docs/content/getting-started/configure-the-viewer/navigating-the-viewer.md
This page will walk you through the basics of navigating the Rerun Viewer.
By default, the Rerun Viewer uses heuristics to automatically determine an appropriate layout for your data. However, you'll often want precise control over how your data is displayed. Blueprints give you complete control over the Viewer's layout and configuration. For a conceptual understanding of blueprints, see Blueprints.
This guide covers three complementary ways to work with the viewer:
.rbl filesThe Rerun Viewer is fully configurable through its UI, making it easy to experiment with different layouts.
The Viewer consists of:
The blueprint defines what appears in the viewport. All changes you make to the viewport are actually changes to the blueprint.
The viewport contains views arranged hierarchically using containers. Containers come in four types:
Click the "+" button at the top of the blueprint panel to add containers or views.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> </picture>If a container (or the viewport) is selected, a "+" button also appears in the selection panel.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> <source media="(max-width: 480px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/add_view_selection_panel/2daf01c80dcd2496b554e4376af702c7713a47dc/480w.png"> </picture>Drag and drop items in the blueprint panel to reorganize the hierarchy. You can also drag views directly in the viewport using their title tabs.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> <source media="(max-width: 480px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/drag_and_drop_viewport/8521fda375a2f6af15628b04ead4ba848cb8bc27/480w.png"> </picture>Use the eye icon to show or hide any container, view, or entity:
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> </picture>Use the "-" button to permanently remove an element:
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> </picture>Select a view or container and edit its name at the top of the selection panel.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> <source media="(max-width: 480px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/rename/9dcb63d36f1676568fb106ee55ab110438b63fa9/480w.png"> </picture>Select a container and change its type using the dropdown in the selection panel.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> <source media="(max-width: 480px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/container_kind/f123f2220d9e82d520af367b7af020179a4de675/480w.png"> </picture>Right-click on any element in the blueprint panel for quick access to common operations:
<picture> </picture>Context menus support multi-selection (Ctrl+click or Cmd+click), enabling bulk operations like removing multiple views at once.
Each view displays data based on its entity query. You can modify what appears in a view interactively.
Use the eye icon next to any entity to control its visibility.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> </picture>Click the "-" button next to an entity to remove it from the view.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> </picture>With a view selected, click "Edit" next to the entity query in the selection panel to visually add or remove entities.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> <source media="(max-width: 480px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/add_remove_entity/4c5e536d4ca145058a8bc59a0b32267821663f06/480w.png"> </picture>Select one or more entities (in existing views or in the time panel's streams), right-click, and choose "Add to new view" from the context menu.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> <source media="(max-width: 480px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/add_to_new_view/87f2d5ffb3ef896c82f398cd3c3d1c7321d59073/480w.png"> <source media="(max-width: 768px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/add_to_new_view/87f2d5ffb3ef896c82f398cd3c3d1c7321d59073/768w.png"> <source media="(max-width: 1024px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/add_to_new_view/87f2d5ffb3ef896c82f398cd3c3d1c7321d59073/1024w.png"> </picture>The view's origin will automatically be set based on the selected data.
Select an entity within a view to control which visualizers are used and override component values.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> <source media="(max-width: 480px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/visualizers/826c026c9e26b5fa4f899214f488f13d363816fc/480w.png"> <source media="(max-width: 768px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/visualizers/826c026c9e26b5fa4f899214f488f13d363816fc/768w.png"> </picture>When selecting a view, you can also set default component values that apply when no value has been logged.
<picture style="zoom: 0.5"> <source media="(max-width: 480px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/component_defaults/4c0e3ea9d0aa3cbc0eb2f0c444b4a58a765a674d/480w.png"> <source media="(max-width: 768px)" srcset="https://static.rerun.io/component_defaults/4c0e3ea9d0aa3cbc0eb2f0c444b4a58a765a674d/768w.png"> </picture>See Visualizers and Overrides for detailed information.
Once you've configured your layout, you can save it as a blueprint file (.rbl) to reuse across sessions or share with your team.
To save your current blueprint, go to the file menu and choose "Save blueprint…":
<picture> </picture>Blueprint files are small, portable, and can be version-controlled alongside your code.
Load a blueprint file using "Open…" from the file menu, or simply drag and drop the .rbl file into the Viewer.
Important: The blueprint's Application ID must match the Application ID of your recording. Blueprints are bound to specific Application IDs to ensure they work with compatible data structures. See Application IDs for more details.
Blueprint files make it easy to ensure everyone on your team views data consistently:
.rbl fileThis is particularly valuable for:
You can also define blueprints entirely from code using the Blueprint API. This is ideal for creating reproducible layouts, generating views dynamically based on your data, or integrating blueprint configuration into your logging pipeline.
For a complete guide, see Build a blueprint programmatically and the Blueprints concept page.