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Omniverse Realtime Viewer

OpenAIOfficialCreated by NVIDIA OmniverseDistributed by OpenAI

  • Skill
  • Meta (authoring, orchestration, planning, memory)
  • Software development
  • Apache-2.0
  • Medium risk
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From the author

Use as the top-level router for Omniverse Realtime Viewer USD app requests and focused viewer reference documents.
— the description by NVIDIA Omniverse

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

The Omniverse Realtime Viewer skill acts as a central orchestrator for developing USD-based viewer applications. It provides a structured approach to selecting implementation recipes, enforcing architectural conventions, and managing dependencies. By utilizing a set of focused reference documents, it guides developers through the lifecycle of building, configuring, and validating viewer applications, ensuring consistent behavior across different delivery paths such as local workstations or streaming environments.

What it does

  • Routes development requests to specific implementation recipes based on the target delivery path.
  • Enforces architectural rules for USD rendering, stage management, and UI integration.
  • Provides guidance on camera selection, input handling, and viewport interaction.
  • Standardizes the integration of AOV switching and render product configuration.
  • Facilitates the capture of validation evidence for viewer readiness.
  • Maintains separation between user-provided USD files and application-specific session state.

When to use it

  • When initiating the development of a new USD viewer application within the Omniverse ecosystem.
  • When determining the appropriate delivery path for a viewer, such as local native or streaming.
  • When needing to implement consistent camera, selection, or UI behavior across viewer projects.
  • When integrating advanced rendering features like AOV switching into an existing viewer.

Advantages

  • Ensures architectural consistency across diverse viewer implementations.
  • Provides a clear, modular path for adding specific capabilities like input routing or data display.
  • Promotes clean separation of concerns between stage data and viewer-owned state.
  • Standardizes the validation process for consistent delivery.

Usage examples

“I need to build a browser-based viewer for USD files.”
The agent will route you to the streaming viewer recipe, providing guidance on WebRTC stream setup, UI integration, and viewport interaction.
“How do I implement AOV switching in my local USD viewer?”
The agent will provide the AOV switching reference, detailing how to map render vars and update the display state on the server.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/openai/omniverse-realtime-viewer/download

  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip omniverse-realtime-viewer.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by NVIDIA Omniverse

<!-- 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

  1. Read references/routing.md to choose the delivery path and focused references.

  2. Read references/conventions.md before implementing camera, input, selection, viewport, streaming protocol, scene loading, or environment behavior.

  3. For broad viewer requests, read references/usd-viewer-app/README.md.

  4. If the delivery path is unclear, read references/streaming-vs-local/README.md.

  5. If the prompt includes layout, panels, controls, inspectors, status, or UX, read references/viewer-ux-workflow/README.md and 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.

  6. For viewport interaction, read references/viewer-input-routing/README.md before references/camera-controls/README.md, references/native-picking-selection/README.md, or references/object-selection/README.md.

  7. Read only the focused capability references needed for the requested app.

  8. Use references/validation.md to capture review evidence before handoff.

Non-Negotiables

  • Use ovrtx for all USD and 3D rendering.

  • Browser apps display an ovstream WebRTC 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 ovrtx path 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 or app state.

  • Keep one owner for renderer.step(), stage mutation, native picking, selection writes, and live attribute writes.

  • Keep dependency acquisition in references/dependencies/README.md and deployment choices in references/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/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/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/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.

  • Infrastructure: references/dependencies/README.md, references/windows-native-setup/README.md, references/cloud-assets/README.md, references/cloud-deployment/README.md, references/troubleshooting/README.md.

Build Workflow

  1. Classify the prompt by delivery path, target user, required capabilities, runtime environment, validation needs, and explicit constraints.

  2. 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.

  3. Read selected references before writing app code. Follow their build order, import order, data-channel contracts, and renderer ownership rules.

  4. Implement the core render path first, then input routing and camera, then selection and data panels, then scene/settings features, then packaging or deployment.

  5. Treat the selected references as the behavior contract for API shape, compatibility, and generated project structure.

  6. 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.

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.

Files

references/streaming-lifecycle/README.md

Streaming Lifecycle

Triggers

Use this skill for on_connection not firing, messages dropped, messageType envelope, data channel not ready, Loading stage, previous session already running, or ICE hang.

Use this when the stream connects but state/messages/video do not behave correctly.

Register Before Start

ovstream can fire callbacks immediately after start(). Register first:

server = ovstream.Server(ovstream.ServerType.WEBRTC)
server.on_connection = on_connection
server.on_message = on_message
server.on_input = on_input
# Optional for composed text input:
# server.on_unicode = on_unicode
server.start(config)

Late registration silently drops early connection events.

Unwrap Frontend Envelope

The browser library may wrap app messages:

{"messageType":"json","messageRecipient":"app","data":"{\"event_type\":\"openStageRequest\",\"payload\":{\"url\":\"scene.usd\"}}"}
def on_message(raw: str):
    try:
        msg = json.loads(raw)
    except json.JSONDecodeError:
        return
    if "messageType" in msg and "data" in msg:
        try:
            msg = json.loads(msg["data"]) if isinstance(msg["data"], str) else msg["data"]
        except json.JSONDecodeError:
            return
    if not isinstance(msg, dict) or "event_type" not in msg:
        return
    event_type = msg.get("event_type")
    payload = msg.get("payload", {})
    dispatch(event_type, payload)

Without this, handlers see messageType instead of event_type and do nothing.

Proactive State Push

If a client connects after the server already loaded a stage, push initial state. Wait briefly for the data channel.

def on_connection(connected: bool):
    if connected and current_stage:
        threading.Thread(target=_push_initial_state, daemon=True).start()

def _push_initial_state():
    time.sleep(0.3)
    root_path = current_stage_root_path or "/World"
    send({"event_type": "openStageResult", "payload": {
        "url": current_stage,
        "result": "success",
        "root_prim_path": root_path,
    }})
    send({"event_type": "getChildrenResult", "payload": {"prim_path": root_path, "children": root_children}})

This prevents a permanent "Loading stage..." UI when the frontend missed the original open result.

Initial Stage Authority

Initial state from the server is authoritative. If push_initial_state() sends an openStageResult for the currently loaded stage, the frontend should update its selected scene from that message rather than issuing a new openStageRequest for its own dropdown default on every WebRTC connect.

When the current stage and frontend default disagree, a connect-time frontend request can reload the wrong stage. Use both protections:

  • Frontend: do not issue a default openStageRequest on WebRTC connect. Only send openStageRequest for explicit user scene switches, file opens, and resets.

  • Server: if an openStageRequest path matches the already-loaded stage after normalization, send a fast success openStageResult and current root children without reloading.

openStageResult should also include root_prim_path so the frontend starts hierarchy and selection requests from the actual scene root, not a hardcoded /World.

{"event_type":"openStageResult","payload":{"url":"scene.usd","result":"success","root_prim_path":"/stage"}}

Same-stage fast success should still refresh the client state:

def _handle_open_stage(self, payload):
    url = resolve_scene_url(payload.get("url", ""))
    same_stage = (
        self.server.current_stage_url
        and os.path.normcase(os.path.abspath(url))
        == os.path.normcase(os.path.abspath(self.server.current_stage_url))
    )
    if same_stage:
        root_path = self.server.current_stage_root_path or "/World"
        self.send_message("openStageResult", {
            "url": self.server.current_stage_url,
            "result": "success",
            "root_prim_path": root_path,
        })
        children = self.server._pxr.get_children(root_path)
        self.send_message("getChildrenResult", {"prim_path": root_path, "children": children})
        return

    # Otherwise start the real load path, preferably on a background thread.

Exact Event Names

Common mismatches:

WrongCorrect
openedStageResultopenStageResult
getChildrenResponsegetChildrenResult in current app
stageSelectionUpdatestageSelectionChanged

Always verify active frontend onCustomEvent routing.

WebRTC Direct Config Issues

For local development, bypass external STUN/ICE:

config.webrtc_signal_port = 49100
config.webrtc_public_ip = "127.0.0.1"

The frontend must not set mediaServer or mediaPort; media is UDP and negotiated through SDP. Use only the standalone ovstream Direct fields from streaming-client: server and signalingPort. OKAS, Kubernetes, or another orchestrator may provide the endpoint and manage lifecycle, but the browser WebRTC config must not add Kit/OVC/NVCF/GFN profile fields, sign-in URLs, custom signaling paths, or auth/session fields.

Validation Boundary

Do not use a one-shot headless browser screenshot as the sole proof that WebRTC video works. It can capture the DOM before ICE/SDP negotiation, data-channel open, or the first decoded video frame. For generated viewers, collect validation in two layers:

  • Server proof: /healthz returns 200 ok, the server logs the first converted frame, and dependency verification passed.

  • Browser proof: a real or Playwright-driven browser session performs the same user action as the UI, waits for the video element to report nonzero decoded dimensions and connected app state, then captures a screenshot or validation report.

If browser negotiation fails but the server proof passes, report it as a browser/WebRTC validation blocker rather than changing renderer architecture or adding a client-side renderer fallback.

Reconnects And Send Guard

Aggressive reconnect can flood logs with Previous session is already running.

const config = { server: host, signalingPort: 49100, maxReconnects: 5, reconnectDelay: 3000 };

server.send_message() may no-op or raise during disconnected windows. Check server.is_client_connected first.

server.send_message() can still fail during a disconnect race after the connected check. Wrap outbound sends and drop failures at debug level instead of crashing the render loop:

def send_event(server, event_type: str, payload: dict) -> None:
    if not server.is_client_connected:
        return
    try:
        server.send_message(json.dumps({"event_type": event_type, "payload": payload}, default=str))
    except Exception:
        logger.debug("Dropping event during disconnect: %s", event_type, exc_info=True)

One Frame Then Black

If the browser shows one rendered frame, then turns black, and the server logs connected=True followed by connected=False within about a second, inspect frontend lifecycle before changing renderer code.

Common cause: the React effect that calls AppStreamer.connect() depends on a stateful routeEvent/message handler. Receiving openStageResult, getChildrenResult, or status messages updates state, recreates the callback, runs effect cleanup, and cleanup calls AppStreamer.terminate(false).

Fixes:

  • Make the connect effect depend only on stable connection config such as host and signalingPort.

  • Keep message routing in a stable callback or ref-backed dispatcher.

  • Catch rejected AppStreamer.sendMessage() Promises during reconnect windows.

  • Avoid development React.StrictMode until duplicate connect/cleanup behavior is explicitly guarded.

  • Add explicit z-index to DOM overlays above the <video> element so controls are not hidden by the video layer.

Callback Threading

on_input, on_unicode, on_message, and on_connection are called from ovstream/StreamSDK internal threads. Keep handlers fast; dispatch slow USD queries or scene loads to your own queue/thread when needed.

Async Stage Loading

Never run _load_stage() synchronously on the ovstream message callback thread. Large stages can spend tens of seconds compiling shaders or resolving assets; WebRTC video/control liveness can fail after roughly 7 seconds without frames or heartbeats.

Handle openStageRequest by starting a background load thread and returning/loading-state updates promptly. Guard renderer mutation with stage_lock, but keep the render loop alive:

  • During load, acquire stage_lock non-blocking in the render loop.

  • If the lock is unavailable, skip renderer.step() for that tick.

  • Continue streaming the last successfully encoded frame so WebRTC stays connected.

  • Send the final openStageResult only after the load has committed current stage state, including root_prim_path.

See also: streaming-server, streaming-client, streaming-messages.

Requirements and compatibility

Written for: OpenAI Codex

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

The author says: 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.

Security

What our scanner noticed· Medium risk

  • Large base64-encoded blobs
  • Instructions that use the network

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by
NVIDIA Omniverse
Publisher
OpenAI (Official)
Distributed by
OpenAI
Source
openai/plugins · plugins/nvidia/skills/omniverse-realtime-viewer · commit d420d13
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (written by AutoGineer)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

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