> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.roboticks.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Frequently Asked Questions

> Answers to common questions about Roboticks - GitHub App, requirements, traceability, runners, pricing, security, certification.

# Frequently Asked Questions

## What Roboticks is

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What is Roboticks?">
    Audit-grade test CI for ROS2. We link every safety, functional, and performance requirement to a passing test, on every PR, every release, and every regulation update. We produce tamper-evident evidence packs your auditor can ingest.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What is Roboticks not?">
    * **Not a certified toolchain.** We assemble evidence; we don't replace your notified body. See [the disclaimer page](/standards/disclaimer).
    * **Not a requirements management system.** Jama, Polarion, codeBeamer, and DOORS keep that lane — we integrate via ReqIF.
    * **Not a field observability platform.** Foxglove and Formant own runtime; we own pre-ship and re-verification.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I need to change my test code?">
    Lightly. You add `@confirms("REQ-014")` decorators (Python) or `ROBOTICKS_CONFIRMS(...)` macros (C++) to the tests you want linked to requirements. Existing pytest/gtest tests keep working unchanged.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I have to use ROS2?">
    The SDK's assertion helpers (`assert_topic_published`, `assert_service_response`, etc.) target rclpy/rclcpp, so ROS2-native testing is where Roboticks adds the most value. The platform itself is ROS-version-agnostic — anything that emits JUnit XML with the `@confirms` properties is linkable.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## GitHub & integrations

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Does Roboticks support GitLab?">
    Not for the MVP. GitLab support is a post-MVP item; we're tracking demand. For GitLab today, run tests in your existing CI and push results to Roboticks via the CLI (`rbtk test cloud --no-github`).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What permissions does the GitHub App need?">
    Contents (read), Checks (write), Pull Requests (write), Workflows (read), Metadata (read). Full list at [GitHub App → Permissions](/github-app/permissions). We don't request admin, repo write, or actions write.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I use Roboticks with Jama / Polarion / DOORS?">
    Yes via [ReqIF](/requirements/reqif). One [ReqIF connector](/integrations/jama) per requirements-management system. The first one is included on Team, additional are \$149/month each.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I bring my LDRA / Polyspace / Coverity reports?">
    Yes via the [BYO connector model](/integrations/byo-connectors). \$149/connector/month. OSS scanners (cppcheck, clang-tidy, Bandit, Semgrep, trivy, syft) are bundled in paid tiers at no extra charge.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Runners & execution

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Hosted vs self-hosted runners — which should I use?">
    Use [hosted](/runners/overview) when you don't want to manage infrastructure or you need on-demand GPU sim. Use [self-hosted](/runners/installation) when you have your own hardware, you want to avoid sim-minute billing, or you're regulated and need [air-gapped mode](/runners/air-gapped). Most teams use both — self-hosted for steady-state ROS2 tests, hosted for occasional GPU sim.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What does a sim minute cost?">
    \$0.10/min on the Team tier (500 included). Volume discounts on Enterprise. Self-hosted compute is **always free** — only MCAP/log storage counts. See [Pricing](/pricing).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Which simulators do you support?">
    Gazebo Harmonic and Webots, both hosted (on GPU instances) and self-hosted (declare the engine in your runner config). See [Testing → Sim Runners](/testing/sim-runners).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Air-gapped mode — what's the catch?">
    Enterprise tier only. The runner connects only to the Roboticks platform; never to GitHub. You push tests via the CLI. See [Air-gapped runners](/runners/air-gapped).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Requirements & traceability

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What requirement source formats do you support?">
    ReqIF (Polarion, Jama, codeBeamer, DOORS exports), PDF (LLM-extracted with human review), inline YAML in your repo, manual entry in the dashboard. See [Requirements → Upload](/requirements/upload).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What if a requirement changes after a release?">
    Requirements are [immutably snapshotted per-release](/requirements/snapshotting). Editing afterwards creates a new version; the prior release keeps verifying against the old text. See [Release Scoping](/evidence/release-scoping).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can a requirement be confirmed by tests in different repos?">
    Yes. Coverage is the union of confirming tests across all linked repos in a project. The matrix has a per-repo toggle but defaults to aggregated. See [Multi-repo coverage](/traceability/multi-repo).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Evidence & retention

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How long are evidence packs retained?">
    Default 10 years (90 days hot + remainder on Glacier Deep Archive). Configurable up to 25 years on Enterprise. The EU Product Liability Directive sets the minimum effective period. See [Archive policy](/evidence/archive).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I prove an evidence pack hasn't been tampered with?">
    Every pack stores the previous pack's SHA-256 hash plus an Ed25519 signature. Run `rbtk evidence verify-chain --release v1.4.0` to verify the chain end-to-end. See [Hash chain](/evidence/hash-chain).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What format does my auditor want?">
    PDF is the lingua franca; ReqIF is what their requirements tool can re-ingest; ZIP is the raw bundle. We ship all three. See [Formats](/evidence/formats).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Pricing & limits

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What's in the Free tier?">
    1 project, 3 repos (1 private), 3 seats, 30 sim minutes/month (hard cap), 5 GB hot storage (MCAPs expire after 30 days), 25 requirements ingested/month, browse-only standards catalog, PDF+ZIP evidence packs (no ReqIF). Good for evaluating on a small public repo. See [Pricing](/pricing).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Are test runs billed?">
    Never. Test runs are soft-metered for analytics and abuse-detection only. The three billed dimensions are sim minutes (hosted only), hot storage, and archive storage.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do you offer free academic / open-source plans?">
    Yes — the [Sponsored tier](/pricing#sponsored--academic). All Team features at no cost. Manual approval, annual re-approval.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Security & residency

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Where is my data stored?">
    Three regions: `us-east-1` (US production), `eu-west-1` (EU production), `us-east-1` (development). Pick at sign-up. EU-residency is part of the EU Machinery Regulation 2027 readiness story.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does Roboticks have SSO?">
    Yes, on Enterprise. SAML 2.0 and OIDC. See your account manager.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is the SDK source-available?">
    Yes. MIT-licensed at [github.com/roboticks-io/roboticks-sdk](https://github.com/roboticks-io/roboticks-sdk). The runner binary is at [github.com/roboticks-io/roboticks-runner](https://github.com/roboticks-io/roboticks-runner) (Apache 2.0).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Certification & qualification

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Is Roboticks a certified tool?">
    No. We're audit-readiness tooling, not a certified toolchain. We do not currently pursue tool qualification (DO-178C, ISO 26262-8 TCL); see [the disclaimer](/standards/disclaimer). Tool qualification is on the year-2+ roadmap.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Will my notified body accept Roboticks evidence?">
    The evidence pack is a structured representation of test results, traceability links, and supporting artifacts — the same content a notified body would expect to see, organised the way they typically want it. Verify with your specific assessor; bring sample packs to the kick-off meeting. See [Customer Handoff](/evidence/customer-handoff).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Still have questions?

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  <Card title="Email us" icon="envelope" href="mailto:hello@roboticks.io">
    [hello@roboticks.io](mailto:hello@roboticks.io)
  </Card>

  <Card title="Join the community" icon="discord" href="https://discord.gg/roboticks">
    Discord
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