## Omniverse Kit Kernel

[NVIDIA Omniverse Kit™](https://docs.omniverse.nvidia.com/prod_kit/prod_kit/overview.html) is a toolkit for building native Omniverse applications and microservices. It is built on a base framework known as Carbonite that provides a wide variety of functionality through a set of light-weight plugins. Carbonite plugins are all authored with C interfaces for persistent ABI compatibility. A Python interpreter is provided for scripting and customization.

Omniverse Kit is designed to be the premiere foundation for new Omniverse-connected tools and microservices. It can be run headless to create a microservice, or with a UI. The UI is generated dynamically with Python allowing full customization. Omniverse Kit native UI widgets are written with Dear Imgui.

Omniverse Kit comes with a default UI that allows it to act as a USD inspector, editor, layout tool and viewer. Customized UI’s may look nothing like the default. NVIDIA expects to ship sets of customizations that are more appropriate to specific target industries and user communities.

Omniverse Kit based applications built with UI can provide rendering windows. The standard rendering interface for applications using USD is part of the USD distribution and known as Hydra. Any Hydra-compliant renderer can be connected to a Omniverse Kit rendering window. Available Hydra-compliant renderers include NVIDIA’s Omniverse Omniverse RTX Renderer, AMD’s ProRender and Intel’s OspRay.

## Usage with Kit App Template

To use Kit Kernel from NGC with [Kit App Template](https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/kit-app-template):

1. Download Kit Kernel from NGC and extract to a folder, e.g. for windows x86_64 release: `c:/temp/kit-kernel-windows-x86_64-release`

2. In your Kit App Template project, in the `./tools/deps` folder, create a `kit-sdk.packman.xml.user` file.

    Example XML file:

    ```xml
    <project toolsVersion="5.6">
        <dependency name="kit_sdk_${config}" linkPath="../../_build/${platform}/${config}/kit">
            <source path="c:/temp/kit-kernel-${platform}-${config}" />
        </dependency>
    </project>
    ```

This will link your project to Kit Kernel in your local folder.

## Suggested readings

- [Release Notes](https://docs.omniverse.nvidia.com/prod_kit/prod_kit/release-notes.html)
- [Documentation](https://docs.omniverse.nvidia.com/prod_kit/prod_kit/overview.html)
- [Python SDK](https://docs.omniverse.nvidia.com/py/kit/index.html)
- [NVIDIA Forums](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/c/omniverse)

## Get Help
Access Omniverse Knowledge Base articles and submit support cases with [Enterprise Support Services](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/support/enterprise/).

Explore detailed guides for deploying and managing NVIDIA Omniverse applications at [NVIDIA Omniverse Docs Hub](https://docs.nvidia.com/omniverse/index.html).

Manage your software licenses at the [NVIDIA Licensing Portal](https://ui.licensing.nvidia.com/login).

Join the developer and user community to share knowledge, ask questions, and connect with experts:

- [NVIDIA Omniverse Dev Community](https://developer.nvidia.com/omniverse/community)
- [NVIDIA Omniverse Discord Server](https://discord.com/invite/XWQNJDNuaC)
- [NVIDIA Omniverse Forums](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/c/omniverse/300/)

## Governing Terms

NVIDIA Omniverse is governed by the [NVIDIA Agreements | Enterprise Software | NVIDIA Software License Agreement](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/agreements/enterprise-software/nvidia-software-license-agreement/)
and [NVIDIA Agreements | Enterprise Software | Product Specific Terms for Omniverse](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/agreements/enterprise-software/product-specific-terms-for-omniverse/).

By downloading or using NVIDIA Omniverse, you agree to the NVIDIA Omniverse terms.

kit-kernel-linux

Omniverse Kit Kernel is a slimmed down version of the Omniverse Kit SDK containing only the essentials to run the Kit runtime.

Kit Kernel - Linux