feat(blueprints): running modules by themselves

[paul-nechifor]

Problem

Can't run modules by themselves.

Closes DIM-570

Solution

Make dimos run accept multiple arguments which can be either blueprints or modules.

Breaking Changes

• Removed --extra-module.

How to Test

Start the echo:

uv run dimos topic echo /cmd_vel

Start the keyboard_teleop module:

uv run dimos run keyboard-teleop

Press WASD in the keyboard_teleop window and see how /cmd_vel updates.

Or run it as part of a different blueprint:

uv run dimos run unitree-go2 keyboard-teleop

Contributor License Agreement

• I have read and approved the CLA.

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

Added a scratch blueprint (empty blueprint with no modules) to enable running individual modules dynamically via CLI, and refactored the CLI to accept multiple blueprints/modules as arguments instead of requiring a single blueprint with --extra-module flags.

• Created dimos/core/scratch.py with an empty blueprint using autoconnect()
• Unified CLI interface: dimos run scratch keyboard-teleop instead of dimos run --extra-module keyboard_teleop scratch
• Standardized all module names to kebab-case for consistency
• Added get_by_name() helper that automatically detects whether a name is a blueprint or module
• Improved error messages with difflib-based suggestions for typos
• Added test assertion to prevent name collisions between blueprints and modules

Confidence Score: 5/5

• Safe to merge - clean refactoring with improved UX
• Well-structured changes that simplify the CLI interface while maintaining backward compatibility through the autoconnect pattern. The addition of name uniqueness validation and improved error handling strengthens the codebase.
• No files require special attention

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
dimos/core/scratch.py	Added empty blueprint definition using autoconnect() with no modules
dimos/robot/cli/dimos.py	Simplified run command to accept multiple blueprints/modules as variadic arguments, removing the enum and --extra-module option
dimos/robot/get_all_blueprints.py	Added unified get_by_name() function, improved error handling with suggestions, and fixed kebab-to-snake case conversion for module lookups

Flowchart

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
    A[User runs: dimos run arg1 arg2 ...] --> B[For each argument]
    B --> C{get_by_name}
    C -->|Found in all_blueprints| D[get_blueprint_by_name]
    C -->|Found in all_modules| E[get_module_by_name]
    C -->|Not found| F[_fail_unknown with suggestions]
    D --> G[Return Blueprint]
    E --> H[Return Blueprint from module]
    F --> I[Exit with error]
    G --> J[autoconnect all blueprints]
    H --> J
    J --> K[blueprint.build]
    K --> L[dimos.loop]

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[leshy]

should we name it empty or something? idk to make it clear what it is

idk in general if we should just have dimos run support module names as well, or a list of blueprints AND modules, always good to collapse the abstraction layers

[paul-nechifor]

should we name it empty or something? idk to make it clear what it is

idk in general if we should just have dimos run support module names as well, or a list of blueprints AND modules, always good to collapse the abstraction layers

I named it scratch like FROM scratch, the root image in Docker.

But yeah, actually unifying the blueprints and modules sounds better. I'll do that.

[greptile-apps]

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