frametop

Install the Frametop Hand Recorder

The Hand Recorder records your hands with the Steam Frame’s tracking cameras for Frametop’s open hand dataset (DeeJanuz/frametop-hands on Hugging Face). These are the Konsole commands to install it.

Fixed in Frametop 0.2.1 (October 5, 2026): the recorder now works on headsets without the Arcturus color passthrough module too. If you installed it earlier and the camera check stopped with “Not all of the headset’s tracking cameras are running (ft-camd publishes only 2 of 4 mono cameras …)”, run the commands under Update.

Join the Frametop Discord for questions and help with recording.

For now the recorder runs inside Frametop’s desktop, so these steps install Frametop first. A standalone recorder that runs from the SteamVR dashboard without Frametop is planned.

Before you start

You must be 18 or older, and for now you can’t take part if you live in Illinois, Texas or Washington (USA). The consent text explains what’s recorded and what you agree to. The recorder shows it again before your first session.
You need a Steam Frame on the stable SteamOS release (not the beta), an internet connection, and a keyboard (Bluetooth, or the on-screen one).
You need a sudo password. If you’ve never set one, run passwd in Konsole first.
Recordings are several gigabytes per round, and uploading one needs about the same again free while it runs. df -h ~ shows your free space.

Open Konsole

In the launcher, choose Launch a program → Desktop.
In the application menu, open System → Konsole.

1. Install Frametop

curl -fsSL https://frametop.github.io/frametop/get.sh | bash -s -- --stable

This clones Frametop into ~/frametop and runs its installer. The first run downloads 1–2 GB. The installer asks a few questions (gaze mode, the eye tracker, the Bluetooth fixes); the defaults are fine. At the end SteamVR restarts, which closes Konsole. If Frametop is already installed, this updates it.

2. Install the Hand Recorder

After SteamVR restarts, choose Launch a program → Desktop again, open Konsole, and run:

~/frametop/hands/rec/install.sh

This builds the camera broker, the hand tracker and the headset panel (the first build takes a few minutes), asks for your sudo password once to let the camera broker read the cameras, and adds Frametop Hand Recorder to the application menu.

3. Record

Open Frametop Hand Recorder from the desktop’s application menu. It walks you through the consent text, a short checklist, the recording, a review of what you recorded, and the upload to Hugging Face. Nothing leaves the headset until you press Upload.

Update

curl -fsSL https://frametop.github.io/frametop/get.sh | bash -s -- --stable
~/frametop/hands/rec/install.sh

Run the second command after SteamVR has restarted, as in the install.

Uninstall

~/frametop/hands/rec/install.sh uninstall

This removes the menu entry. With your sudo password, it also takes back the camera broker’s permission to read the cameras. If you also installed Frametop’s live hand tracking, the camera broker keeps that permission, because live hand tracking still uses it. Your recordings stay in ~/.local/share/frametop/hands/contrib; delete that folder to remove them. To remove Frametop as well, follow Uninstall in the README.

Help

Ask in the Frametop Discord, the Frametop issues, or the dataset’s discussion page. All three are public.

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