diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d88d7365..8579cb4d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -152,6 +152,16 @@ pip install -ve .
 
 ```
 
+### RCS Asset Cache
+
+RCS resolves its asset directory from the `RCS_PREFIX` environment variable. When it is unset, RCS defaults to `~/.rcs`.
+
+On import, RCS checks whether that path exists. If it does not, it downloads the matching asset archive from GitHub into that location automatically.
+
+```shell
+export RCS_PREFIX=/path/to/rcs-assets
+```
+
 ### Via PyPI/pip
 
 *Coming soon...*
diff --git a/docs/getting_started/index.md b/docs/getting_started/index.md
index cdfac035..72ef4747 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started/index.md
+++ b/docs/getting_started/index.md
@@ -36,6 +36,16 @@ pip install -ve .
 
 For a docker deployment, see the `docker` folder in the repository.
 
+## RCS Asset Cache
+
+RCS resolves its asset directory from the `RCS_PREFIX` environment variable. If `RCS_PREFIX` is not set, it defaults to `~/.rcs`.
+
+On import, RCS checks whether that path exists. If it does not, it downloads the matching asset archive from GitHub into that location automatically.
+
+```shell
+export RCS_PREFIX=/path/to/rcs-assets
+```
+
 ## Basic Usage
 
 The python package is called `rcs`.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index ca7d0c3d..2ffc4658 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ requires = [
 build-backend = "scikit_build_core.build"
 
 [project]
-name = "rcs"
+name = "rcs_core"
 version = "0.7.1"
-description = "A Lean Ecosystem for Robot Learning at Scale"
+description = "A lean, ROS-free sim-to-real framework for training and deploying Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models and RL agents. Native MuJoCo Gymnasium wrappers with synchronous execution for Franka, UR5e, xArm, and SO101."
 dependencies = [
   "websockets>=11.0",
   "requests~=2.31",
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ dependencies = [
   "etils[epath]>=1.7.0",
   "glfw~=2.7",
   "pyopengl~=3.1.9",
-  "pynput>=1.7.7",
   "pillow>=10.3",
   "python-dotenv>=1.0.1",
   "opencv-python~=4.10.0.84",
@@ -39,6 +38,9 @@ dependencies = [
   "simplejpeg",
   "mujoco==3.2.6",
   "pin==3.7.0",
+  # pin 3.7.0 currently resolves against older urdfdom/tinyxml SONAMEs at runtime
+  "cmeel-urdfdom<5",
+  "cmeel-tinyxml2<11",
   "greenlet",
   "duckdb",
   "pandas",
@@ -74,6 +76,8 @@ dev = [
 build_deps = [
   "mujoco==3.2.6",
   "pin==3.7.0",
+  "cmeel-urdfdom<5",
+  "cmeel-tinyxml2<11",
 ]
 
 [tool.cibuildwheel]
diff --git a/python/rcs/camera/sim.py b/python/rcs/camera/sim.py
index a374bc97..d508165a 100644
--- a/python/rcs/camera/sim.py
+++ b/python/rcs/camera/sim.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 from rcs._core.sim import SimCameraConfig
 from rcs._core.sim import SimCameraSet as _SimCameraSet
 from rcs.camera.interface import BaseCameraSet, CameraFrame, DataFrame, Frame, FrameSet
+from rcs.sim import egl_bootstrap
 
 from rcs import sim
 
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.cameras = cameras
         self.physical_units = physical_units
 
+        egl_bootstrap.require("simulation camera rendering")
         super().__init__(simulation, cameras, render_on_demand=render_on_demand)
         self._sim: sim.Sim
 
diff --git a/python/rcs/sim/egl_bootstrap.py b/python/rcs/sim/egl_bootstrap.py
index 57884bde..9aa2d95a 100644
--- a/python/rcs/sim/egl_bootstrap.py
+++ b/python/rcs/sim/egl_bootstrap.py
@@ -10,12 +10,15 @@
 import os
 
 _egl_available = False
+_egl_error = None
 _addr_make_current = None
 _egl_display = None
 _egl_context = None
 
 name = ctypes.util.find_library("EGL")
-if name is not None:
+if name is None:
+    _egl_error = "Could not find libEGL via ctypes.util.find_library('EGL')."
+else:
     try:
         import mujoco.egl
         from mujoco.egl import GLContext
@@ -26,8 +29,28 @@
         _egl_display = int(mujoco.egl.EGL_DISPLAY.address)
         _egl_context = int(_ctx._context.address)
         _egl_available = True
-    except Exception:
-        pass
+    except Exception as exc:
+        _egl_error = f"Failed to initialize MuJoCo EGL context: {exc!r}"
+
+
+def is_available() -> bool:
+    return _egl_available
+
+
+def failure_reason() -> str | None:
+    return _egl_error
+
+
+def require(feature: str = "offscreen rendering"):
+    if _egl_available:
+        return
+    reason = _egl_error or "unknown EGL initialization failure"
+    message = (
+        f"EGL is required for {feature}, but it is not available. {reason} "
+        "If you do not need rendering, run RCS without simulation cameras/viewers. "
+        "If you do need headless rendering, install the system EGL/OpenGL runtime libraries."
+    )
+    raise RuntimeError(message)
 
 
 def bootstrap():
diff --git a/src/rcs/utils.cpp b/src/rcs/utils.cpp
index d348375b..18a4e58b 100644
--- a/src/rcs/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/rcs/utils.cpp
@@ -18,6 +18,14 @@ void bootstrap_egl(uintptr_t fn_addr, uintptr_t dpy, uintptr_t ctx) {
 }
 
 void ensure_current() {
+  if (g_makeCurrent == nullptr || g_display == EGL_NO_DISPLAY ||
+      g_context == EGL_NO_CONTEXT) {
+    throw std::runtime_error(
+        "EGL rendering was requested, but EGL was not bootstrapped. "
+        "This usually means libEGL or the MuJoCo EGL context is unavailable. "
+        "Run without cameras/viewers if you do not need rendering, or install "
+        "the required system EGL/OpenGL runtime libraries.");
+  }
   if (!g_makeCurrent(g_display, g_surface, g_surface, g_context))
     throw std::runtime_error("eglMakeCurrent failed");
 }