Setup¶

Intro¶

Welcome to Spyglass, a DataJoint pipeline maintained by the Frank Lab at UCSF.

Spyglass will help you take an NWB file from raw data to analysis-ready preprocessed formats using DataJoint to (a) connect to a relational database (here, MySQL), and (b) automate processing steps. To use Spyglass, you'll need to ...

1. Set up your local environment
2. Connect to a database

Local environment¶

Skip this step if you're ...

1. Running the tutorials on JupyterHub
2. A member of the Frank Lab members. Instead, ssh to a shared machine.

Tools¶

For local use, download and install ...

1. Python 3.9.
2. mamba as a replacement for conda. Spyglass installation is significantly faster with mamba.

   wget "https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest/download/Miniforge3-$(uname)-$(uname -m).sh"
   bash Miniforge3-$(uname)-$(uname -m).sh
   

3. VS Code with relevant python extensions, including Jupyter. Hold off on selecting your interpreter until after you make the environment with mamba.
4. git for downloading the repository, including notebooks.

See this DataJoint guide for additional details on each of these programs and the role they play in using the pipeline.

Suggested VSCode settings

Within the Spyglass repository, there is a .vscode folder with json files that specify limited settings and extensions intended for developers. The average user may benefit from the following fuller sets.

We recommending these incrementally so you get a feel for what each one does before adding the next, and to avoid being overwhelmed by changes.

1. extensions.json. By updating this file, you'll add to the 'Recommended' section of the extensions tab. Each extension page will provide more information on the uses and benefits. Some relevant concepts include...
   • Linting: Warning of potential problems
   • Formatting: Auto-adjusting optional coding styles to align across users
   • Debugger: Progressive running of code. Please search for tutorials
   • Autocompletion: Prompting for potential options when coding

{
    "recommendations": [
        // Python Extensions
        "charliermarsh.ruff", // Fast linter
        "donjayamanne.python-environment-manager", // Environment manager
        "kevinrose.vsc-python-indent", // Auto-indent when coding
        "ms-python.black-formatter", // Opinionated formatting
        "ms-python.debugpy", // Debugger
        "ms-python.isort", // Opinionated formatter for imports
        "ms-python.pylint", // Linter to support a DataJoint-specific linter
        "ms-python.python", // Language support for Python
        "ms-python.vscode-pylance", // Additional language support
        // Jupyter
        "ms-toolsai.jupyter", // Run notebooks in VSCode
        "ms-toolsai.jupyter-keymap", // Allow key-bindings
        "ms-toolsai.jupyter-renderers", // Display images
        // Autocompletion/Markdown
        "github.copilot", // Auto-suggest with copilot LLM
        "github.copilot-chat", // Add chat-box for questions to LLM
        "visualstudioexptteam.intellicode-api-usage-examples", // Prompt package options
        "visualstudioexptteam.vscodeintellicode", // Prompt Python-general options
        "davidanson.vscode-markdownlint", // Linter for markdown
        "streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker", // Spell checker
        // SSH - Work on remote servers - Required for Frank Lab members
        "ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh",
        "ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-edit",
        "ms-vscode.remote-explorer",
    ],
    "unwantedRecommendations": []
}

2. settings.json. These can be places just in Spyglass, or added to your user settings file. Search settings in the command panel (cmd/ctrl+shift+P) to open this file directly.

{
    // GENERAL
    "editor.insertSpaces": true, // tab -> spaces
    "editor.rulers": [ 80 ], // vertical line at 80
    "editor.stickyScroll.enabled": true, // Show scope at top
    "files.associations": { "*.json": "jsonc" }, // Load JSON with comments
    "files.autoSave": "onFocusChange", // Save on focus change
    "files.exclude": {  // Hide these in the file viewer
      "**/__pycache*": true, // Add others with wildcards
      "**/.ipynb_ch*": true, 
    },
    "files.trimTrailingWhitespace": true, // Remove extra spaces in lines
    "git.enabled": true, // use git 
    "workbench.editorAssociations": {  // open file extension as given type
      "*.ipynb": "jupyter-notebook", 
    },
    // PYTHON
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter", // use black
    "[python]": {
        "editor.formatOnSave": true,
        "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
        "editor.codeActionsOnSave": { "source.organizeImports": "always"},
    },
    "python.analysis.autoImportCompletions": false, // Disable auto-import
    "python.languageServer": "Pylance", // Use Pylance
    "pylint.args": [ // DataJoint linter optional
        // "--load-plugins=datajoint_linter", // Requires pip installing
        // "--permit-dj-filepath=y", // Specific to datajoint_linter
        "--disable=E0401,E0102,W0621,W0401,W0611,W0614"
    ],
    // NOTEBOOKS
    "jupyter.askForKernelRestart": false, // Prevent dialog box on restart
    "jupyter.widgetScriptSources": ["jsdelivr.com", "unpkg.com"], // IPyWidgets
    "notebook.output.textLineLimit": 15, // Limit output
    "notebook.lineNumbers": "on", // Number lines in cells
    "notebook.formatOnSave.enabled": true, // blackify cells
    // AUTOCOMPLETION
    "editor.tabCompletion": "on", // tab over suggestions
    "github.copilot.editor.enableAutoCompletions": true, // Copilot
    "cSpell.enabled": true, // Spellcheck
    "cSpell.language": "en,en-US,companies,python,python-common",
    "cSpell.maxDuplicateProblems": 2, // Only mention a problem twice
    "cSpell.spellCheckDelayMs": 500, // Wait 0.5s after save
    "cSpell.userWords": [ "datajoint", "longblob", ], // Add words
    "cSpell.enableFiletypes": [ 
      "!json", "markdown", "yaml", "python" // disable (!) json, check others
    ],
    "cSpell.logLevel": "Warning", // Only show warnings, can turn off
    // MARKDOWN
    "[markdown]": { // Use linter and format on save
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "DavidAnson.vscode-markdownlint",
        "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    },
    "editor.codeActionsOnSave": { "source.fixAll.markdownlint": "explicit" },
    "rewrap.reformat": true, // allows context-aware rewrapping
    "rewrap.wrappingColumn": 80, // Align with Black formatter
}

The DataJoint linter is available at this repository.

Installation¶

In a terminal, ...

1. Navigate to your project directory.
2. Use git to download the Spyglass repository.
3. Navigate to the newly downloaded directory.
4. Create a mamba environment with either the standard environment.yml or the environment_position.yml, if you intend to use the full position pipeline. The latter will take longer to install.
5. Open this notebook with VSCode

Commands for the steps above ...

cd /your/project/directory/ # 1
git clone https://github.com/LorenFrankLab/spyglass/ # 2
cd spyglass # 3
mamba env create -f environment.yml # 4
code notebooks/00_Setup.ipynb # 5

Next, within VSCode, select the kernel that matches your spyglass environment created with mamba. To use other Python interfaces, be sure to activate the environment: conda activate spyglass

Considerations¶

1. Spyglass is also installable via pip and pypi with pip install spyglass-neuro, but downloading from GitHub will also download other files, like this tutorial.
2. Developers who wish to work on the code base may want to do an editable install from within their conda environment: pip install -e /path/to/spyglass/

Optional Dependencies¶

Some pipelines require installation of additional packages.

Spike Sorting¶

The spike sorting pipeline relies on spikeinterface and optionally mountainsort4.

conda activate <your-spyglass-env>
pip install spikeinterface[full,widgets]
pip install mountainsort4

LFP¶

The LFP pipeline uses ghostipy.

WARNING: If you are on an M1 Mac, you need to install pyfftw via conda BEFORE installing ghostipy:

conda install -c conda-forge pyfftw # for M1 Macs
pip install ghostipy

Decoding¶

The Decoding pipeline relies on jax to process data with GPUs. Please see their conda installation steps here.

Database¶

You have a few options for databases.

1. Connect to an existing database.
2. Run your own database with Docker
3. JupyterHub (database pre-configured, skip this step)

Your choice above should result in a set of credentials, including host name, host port, user name, and password. Note these for the next step.

Note for MySQL 8 users, including Frank Lab members

Using a MySQL 8 server, like the server hosted by the Frank Lab, will require the pre-release version of DataJoint to change one's password.

cd /location/for/datajoint/source/files/
git clone https://github.com/datajoint/datajoint-python
pip install ./datajoint-python

Existing Database¶

Connecting to an existing database will require a user name and password. Please contact your database administrator for this information.

For persistent databases with backups, administrators should review our documentation on database management.

Running your own database with Docker¶

• First, install Docker.

• Add yourself to the docker group so that you don't have to be sudo to run docker.

• Download the docker image for datajoint/mysql:8.0.

  docker pull datajoint/mysql:8.0
  

• When run, this is referred to as a 'Docker container'

• Next start the container with a couple additional pieces of info...

  • Root password. We use tutorial.
  • Database name. Here, we use spyglass-db.
  • Port mapping. Here, we map 3306 across the local machine and container.

  docker run --name spyglass-db -p 3306:3306 -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=tutorial datajoint/mysql:8.0
  

• For data to persist after terminating the container, attach a volume when running:

  docker volume create dj-vol
  docker run --name spyglass-db -v dj-vol:/var/lib/mysql -p 3306:3306 -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=tutorial datajoint/mysql
  

Docker credentials are as follows:

• Host: localhost
• User: root
• Password: tutorial
• Port: 3306

Config¶

Spyglass will load settings the 'custom' section of your DataJoint config file. The code below will generate a config file, but we first need to decide a 'base path'. This is generally the parent directory where the data will be stored, with subdirectories for raw, analysis, and other data folders. If they don't exist already, they will be created relative to the base path specified with their default names.

A temporary directory is one such subfolder (default base-dir/tmp) to speed up spike sorting. Ideally, this folder should have ~500GB free.

The function below will create a config file (~/.datajoint.config if global, ./dj_local_conf.json if local). See also DataJoint docs. Local is recommended for the notebooks, as each will start by loading this file. Custom json configs can be saved elsewhere, but will need to be loaded in startup with dj.config.load('your-path').

To point Spyglass to a folder elsewhere (e.g., an external drive for waveform data), simply edit the resulting json file. Note that the raw and analysis paths appear under both stores and custom. Spyglass will check that these match on startup and log a warning if not.

In [ ]:

import os
from spyglass.settings import SpyglassConfig

# change to the root directory of the project
if os.path.basename(os.getcwd()) == "notebooks":
    os.chdir("..")

SpyglassConfig().save_dj_config(
    save_method="local",  # global or local
    base_dir="/path/like/stelmo/nwb/",
    database_user="your username",
    database_password="your password",  # remove this line for shared machines
    database_host="localhost or lmf-db.cin.ucsf.edu",  # only list one
    database_port=3306,
    set_password=False,
)

import os from spyglass.settings import SpyglassConfig # change to the root directory of the project if os.path.basename(os.getcwd()) == "notebooks": os.chdir("..") SpyglassConfig().save_dj_config( save_method="local", # global or local base_dir="/path/like/stelmo/nwb/", database_user="your username", database_password="your password", # remove this line for shared machines database_host="localhost or lmf-db.cin.ucsf.edu", # only list one database_port=3306, set_password=False, )

Legacy config

Older versions of Spyglass relied exclusively on environment variables for config. If spyglass_dirs is not found in the config file, Spyglass will look for environment variables. These can be set either once in a terminal session, or permanently in a unix settings file (e.g., .bashrc or .bash_profile) in your home directory.

export SPYGLASS_BASE_DIR="/stelmo/nwb"
export SPYGLASS_RECORDING_DIR="$SPYGLASS_BASE_DIR/recording"
export SPYGLASS_SORTING_DIR="$SPYGLASS_BASE_DIR/sorting"
export SPYGLASS_VIDEO_DIR="$SPYGLASS_BASE_DIR/video"
export SPYGLASS_WAVEFORMS_DIR="$SPYGLASS_BASE_DIR/waveforms"
export SPYGLASS_TEMP_DIR="$SPYGLASS_BASE_DIR/tmp"
export KACHERY_CLOUD_DIR="$SPYGLASS_BASE_DIR/.kachery-cloud"
export KACHERY_TEMP_DIR="$SPYGLASS_BASE_DIR/tmp"
export DJ_SUPPORT_FILEPATH_MANAGEMENT="TRUE"

To load variables from a .bashrc file, run source ~/.bashrc in a terminal.

Managing Files¶

kachery-cloud is a file manager for collaborators to share files. This is an optional dependency for collaborating teams who don't have direct access to one another's disk space, but want to share a MySQL database instance. To customize kachery file paths, see dj_local_conf_example.json.

To set up a new kachery instance for your project, contact maintainers of this package.

Connecting¶

If you used either a local or global save method, we can check the connection to the database with ...

In [ ]:

import datajoint as dj

dj.conn()  # test connection
dj.config  # check config

from spyglass.common import Nwbfile

Nwbfile()

import datajoint as dj dj.conn() # test connection dj.config # check config from spyglass.common import Nwbfile Nwbfile()

If you see an error saying Could not find SPYGLASS_BASE_DIR, try loading your config before importing Spyglass.

import datajoint as dj
dj.config.load('/your/config/path')

from spyglass.common import Session

Session()

# If successful...
dj.config.save_local() # or global

Up Next¶

Next, we'll try introduce some concepts