Getting Started
Upload your first mission and see Alloy generate a report end-to-end
Alloy is data-first — everything starts with getting your mission data into the platform. Once it's in, Alloy handles parsing, metadata extraction, AI analysis, and report generation automatically.
Quick start: Browser upload
Supported file types
- MCAP (
.mcap) — the standard for ROS 2 and robotics logging - ROS bags (
.bag) — ROS 1 bag files - CSV (
.csv) — tabular telemetry or sensor data - ZIP archives (
.zip) — Alloy extracts and previews contents before upload
Folder upload: When you upload a folder, Alloy uses the folder name as the mission name. Handy when your data is already organized into directories.
Multiple files: Select multiple files in a single upload. If they belong to the same session, Alloy groups them into one mission — useful for multi-robot operations where you have a fleet of robots that ran together.
Other ways to get data in
For teams that store mission data in cloud storage, Alloy can automatically watch a bucket and ingest new files as they appear — no manual uploads needed.
- Alloy detects new files automatically and creates missions
- Each folder becomes a mission, with the folder name as the mission name
- Include a
metadata.jsonfile to attach structured metadata (operator, vehicle, location, etc.) - Data flows in continuously as new files land in the bucket
See the setup guides for AWS S3 and Google Cloud Storage.
If you're running Alloy's edge agent on your hardware, data uploads automatically.
Once provisioned, manage capture settings, view diagnostics, and monitor health from the Devices page.
Folder structure
Alloy maps your folder structure to missions — this applies to browser uploads, S3, GCS, and edge device uploads:
- Each folder at the top level becomes a separate mission
- The folder name becomes the mission name
- All files inside a folder are grouped into that mission
- Nested folders are flattened — all files within are included regardless of depth
my-data/
├── mission-2024-03-15/ → Mission: "mission-2024-03-15"
│ ├── field-notes.txt ← operator notes (used as AI context)
│ ├── robot1/
│ │ ├── recording.mcap
│ │ └── metadata.json
│ ├── robot2/
│ │ ├── recording.mcap
│ │ └── metadata.json
│ └── metadata.json ← mission-level metadataMetadata JSON
You can include a metadata.json file in any mission folder to attach structured metadata. This metadata becomes filterable in the Alloy mission library.
{
"operator": "Jane Smith",
"vehicle": "AUV-03",
"location": "Harbor East",
"firmware_version": "2.4.1",
"notes": "Post-maintenance checkout dive, calm conditions"
}All fields are optional and flexible — use whatever key-value pairs make sense for your workflow. These values appear as filter options in the mission library sidebar.
What happens during processing
After your data arrives (by any method), Alloy runs it through the ingestion pipeline:
Processing time depends on file size, but most missions complete in a few minutes. You'll see a processing indicator on the Missions page.
Viewing your results
Once processing finishes, your mission appears with a View report button. The report includes a narrative summary, key events, metrics, timeseries plots, maps, trajectory visualizations, and anomaly highlights. See Missions for a full breakdown of report components.