AiiDA Entry Points

This document contains a list of entry point groups AiiDA uses, with an example usage for each. For the examples we assume the following plugin structure for a plugin that supports a code (example: mycode):

aiida-mycode/           - distribution folder
   aiida_mycode/        - toplevel package (from aiida_myplug import ..)
      __init__.py
      calcs/
         __init__.py
         mycode.py      - contains MycodeCalculation
      parsers/
         __init__.py
         mycode.py      - contains MycodeParser
      data/
         __init__.py
         mydat.py       - contains MyData (supports code specific format)
      commands/
         __init__.py
         mydat.py       - contains visualization subcommand for MyData
      workflows/
         __init__.py
         mywf.py        - contains a basic workflow using mycode
      ...
   setup.py             - install configuration
   ...

Note that the structure inside aiida_mycode/ is freely choosable. A very simple plugin might look like:

aiida-mysimple/
   aiida_mysimple/
      __init__.py
      simpledata.py
   setup.py

The plugin has to tell AiiDA where to look for the classes to be used as calculations, parsers, transports, etc. This is done inside setup.py by way of the entry_points keyword argument to setup():

setup(
   ...
   entry_points={
      <Entry Point Group>: [
         <Entry Point Specification>,
         ...
      ],
      ...
   },
   ...

It is given as a dictionary containing entry point group names as keywords. The list for each entry point group contains entry point specifications.

A specification in turn is given as a string and consists of two parts, a name and an import path describing where the class is to be imported from. The two parts are sparated by an = sign:

"mycode.mydat = aiida_mycode.data.mydat:MyData"

We strongly suggest to start the name of each entry point with the name of the plugin, ommitting the leading ‘aiida-‘. In our example this leads to entry specifications like "mycode.<any.you.want> = <module.path:class>", just like the above example. Exceptions to this rule are schedulers, transports and potentially data ones. Further exceptions can be tolerated in order to provide backwards compatibility if the plugin was in use before aiida-0.9 and its modules were installed in locations which does not make it possible to follow this rule.

Below, a list of valid entry points recognized by AiiDA follows.

aiida.calculations

Entry points in this group are expected to be subclasses of aiida.orm.JobCalculation. This replaces the previous method of placing a python module with the class in question inside the aiida/orm/calculation/job subpackage.

Example entry point specification:

entry_points={
   "aiida.calculations": [
      "mycode.mycode = aiida_mycode.calcs.mycode:MycodeCalculation"
   ]
}

aiida_mycode/calcs/mycode.py:

from aiida.orm import JobCalculation
class MycodeCalculation(JobCalculation):
   ...

Will lead to usage:

from aiida.orm import CalculationFactory
calc = CalculationFactory('mycode.mycode')

aiida.parsers

Aiida expects a subclass of Parser. Replaces the previous approach consisting in placing a parser module under aiida/parsers/plugins.

Example spec:

entry_points={
   "aiida.calculations": [
      "mycode.mycode = aiida_mycode.parsers.mycode:MycodeParser"
   ]
}

aida_mycode/parsers/myparser.py:

from aiida.parsers import Parser
class MycodeParser(Parser)
   ...

Usage:

from aiida.parsers import ParserFactory
parser = ParserFactory('mycode.mycode')

aiida.data

Group for Data subclasses. Previously located in a subpackage of aiida/orm/data.

Spec:

entry_points={
   "aiida.data": [
      "mycode.mydata = aiida_mycode.data.mydat:MyData"
   ]
}

aiida_mycode/data/mydat.py:

from aiida.orm import Data
class MyData(Data):
   ...

Usage:

from aiida.orm import DataFactory
params = DataFactory('mycode.mydata')

aiida.workflows

For AiiDA workflows. Instead of putting a workflow somewhere under the aiida.workflows package, it can now be packaged as a plugin and exposed to aiida as follows:

Spec:

entry_points={
   "aiida.workflows": [
      "mycode.mywf = aiida_mycode.workflows.mywf:MyWorkflow"
   ]
}

aiida_mycode/workflows/mywf.py:

from aiida.work.workchain import WorkChain
class MyWorkflow(WorkChain):
   ...

Usage:

from aiida.orm import WorkflowFactory
wf = WorkflowFactory('mycode.mywf')

aiida.cmdline

For subcommands to verdi commands like verdi data mydata. This was previously not possible to achieve without editing aiida source code directly. AiiDA expects each entry point to be either a click.Command or click.CommandGroup.

Plugin support for commands is possible due to using click.

Note

In aiida-0.9, the subcommand in question is not yet exposed to verdi. There is a aiida-verdi package that is being developed to implement such functionality (experimental yet). The command will then be called verdi-exp data mydata instead.

Spec:

entry_points={
   "aiida.cmdline.data": [
      "mydata = aiida_mycode.commands.mydata:mydata"
   ]
}

aiida_mycode/commands/mydata.py:

import click
@click.group()
mydata():
   """commandline help for mydata command"""

@mydata.command('animate')
@click.option('--format')
@click.argument('pk')
create_fancy_animation(format, pk):
   """help"""
   ...

Usage:

$ verdi data mydata animate --format=Format PK

aiida.tools.dbexporters

If your plugin adds support for exporting to an external database, use this entry point to have aiida find the module where you define the necessary functions.

aiida.tools.dbimporters

If your plugin adds support for importing from an external database, use this entry point to have aiida find the module where you define the necessary functions.

aiida.tools.dbexporters.tcod_plugins

If you want to support exporting your plugin classes to tcod, use this entry point for your BaseTcodtranslator subclass.

Spec:

entry_points={
    "aiida.tools.dbexporters.tcod_plugins": [
        "myplugin.mycalc = aiida_myplugin.tcod_plugins.mycalc:MycalcTcodtranslator"
    ]
}

<{}>

aiida.schedulers

For scheduler plugins. Note that the entry point name is not prefixed by the plugin name. This is because typically a scheduler should be distributed in a plugin on its own, and only one plugin per scheduler should be necessary.

Spec:

entry_points={
   "aiida.schedulers": [
      "myscheduler = aiida_myscheduler.myscheduler:MyScheduler"
   ]
}

aiida_myscheduler/myscheduler.py:

from aiida.scheduler import Scheduler
class MyScheduler(Scheduler):
   ...

Usage: The scheduler is used in the familiar way by entering ‘myscheduler’ as the scheduler option when setting up a computer.

aiida.transports

Like schedulers, transports are supposed to be distributed in a separate plugin. Therefore we will again omit the plugin’s name in the entry point name.

Spec:

entry_points={
   "aiida.transports": [
      "mytransport = aiida_mytransport.mytransport:MyTransport"
   ]
}

aiida_mytransport/mytransport.py:

from aiida.transport import Transport
class MyTransport(Transport):
   ...

Usage:

from aiida.transport import TransportFactory
transport = TransportFactory('mytransport')

Jus like one would expect, when a computer is setup, mytransport can be given as the transport option.