Understand the workspace

Opening the simulator (or a real robot) lands you in VS Code in the browser. Three areas matter:

1. The editor (center)

Regular VS Code — file explorer on the left, editor tabs, and a terminal (Ctrl+`). Your files live in ~/physicar_ws.

• app.physicar in the file explorer is a bookmark — click it to open the robot console as an editor tab.

2. The PhysiCar app (app.physicar tab)

The robot's own console:

• Sensor panels — camera view, lidar scan, IMU values, odometry, with a Reset at the bottom of the sensor column.
• Control — drive the robot with on-screen controls or the keyboard.
• VNC — the robot's desktop screen (for GUI apps like RViz).
• MYAPP — your own robot web app, once you build one (MyApp).

3. The PhysiCar panel (right side)

The extension panel with four tabs:

• Agent — the AI tutor: Chat and Realtime voice (start here).
• Racing — the guided racing courses (start here).
• APIs — runnable command cards for every robot and simulator API.
• Profile — classroom, credits, sign out.

Check: you can see the file explorer, open app.physicar, and the panel shows the Agent tab → you're ready.

Simulator lifecycle & billing → Account & credits