Installation Guide

System Requirements

Warning

This package is Windows-only and will not work on Linux or macOS due to its use of Windows-specific APIs and process management features.

Required:

Windows 10 or Windows 11
Python 3.8 or higher
Git (for repository management)

Optional Dependencies:

Bonsai (required for running experiments)
Visual Studio Build Tools (for compiling certain dependencies)

Pre-Installation Setup

Install Python

Download and install Python 3.8+ from python.org

Note

Make sure to check “Add Python to PATH” during installation.
Install Git

Download and install Git from git-scm.com
Install Bonsai (if running experiments)

Download and install Bonsai from bonsai-rx.org

Installation Methods

Development Installation (Recommended)

For users who want to modify the code or contribute to development:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/AllenNeuralDynamics/openscope-experimental-launcher.git
cd openscope-experimental-launcher

# Install in development mode with all dependencies
pip install -e .[dev]

Standard Installation

For users who just want to use the package:

pip install openscope-experimental-launcher

From Source

# Download and install from source
pip install git+https://github.com/AllenNeuralDynamics/openscope-experimental-launcher.git

Verifying Installation

Test that the installation was successful:

import openscope_experimental_launcher
print(openscope_experimental_launcher.__version__)

# Test basic functionality
from openscope_experimental_launcher.base.experiment import BaseExperiment
experiment = BaseExperiment()
print("Installation successful!")

Development Dependencies

If you installed with [dev], you’ll have access to additional tools:

# Run tests
pytest tests/ -v

# Check code quality
flake8 .

# Format code
black .

# Sort imports
isort .

# Build documentation
cd docs
make html

Troubleshooting

Common Issues:

ImportError: No module named ‘win32api’
```
pip install pywin32
```
Permission Errors during Installation

Run the command prompt as Administrator or use:
```
pip install --user openscope-experimental-launcher
```
Git not found

Make sure Git is installed and added to your PATH environment variable.

Getting Help:

Check the Troubleshooting Guide page for common issues
Open an issue on GitHub
Contact the Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics team

Next Steps

After installation, see the Quick Start Guide guide to run your first experiment.