Installation Guide

System Requirements

Warning

This package targets Windows systems (tested on Windows 10/11) due to use of Windows-specific 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)

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

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__)

You can also run a minimal smoke test using the repo entry point:

python run_launcher.py --param_file params/example_minimalist_params.json