dynalab-core/docs/API.md

DynaLab Core API

Core is the Python interface for running a DynaLab Core instance, inspecting connected signals and their current values, recording incoming data, and creating derived signals. Connectors provide data to a running core using the DynaLab protocol.

Warning

DynaLab Core is in alpha. Its public API may change between releases.

Quick Start

Create a configuration, construct the core, then start it. Always stop the core when the application exits so its server and worker threads are shut down.

from dynalab_core import Core
from dynalab_core.config import CoreConfig

core = Core(CoreConfig(host="127.0.0.1", port=58763))

try:
    core.start()
    core.wait()  # Blocks until stop() is called or a timeout expires.
finally:
    core.stop()

Core does not currently implement the context-manager protocol. Use try/finally when the core may be started.

Configuration

CoreConfig is defined in dynalab_core.config.

from dynalab_core.config import CoreConfig

config = CoreConfig(
    host="127.0.0.1",  # Default
    port=58763,         # Default; must be in the range 0 through 65535
)

Field	Type	Default	Description
host	str	"127.0.0.1"	Address on which the core server listens.
port	int	58763	TCP port on which the core server listens.

CoreConfig.bind_str() -> str returns the configured address in "host:port" form.

Lifecycle

Core(config: CoreConfig)

Creates a core and starts its internal input worker. The network server is not started until start() is called.

start() -> None

Starts the configured server and begins accepting connector connections. This method returns after the server start sequence completes.

Call start() once per Core instance. Calling it in any state other than the initial state raises CoreStateMismatchError. Server startup failures, such as an address already in use, are propagated by the underlying server.

wait(timeout: float | None = None) -> None

Blocks until stop() is called or until timeout seconds have elapsed. Omit timeout to wait indefinitely. This is useful for keeping a command-line application alive without a busy loop.

stop() -> None

Stops the server, disconnects connectors, signals the input worker to stop, and stops all bound derive units. It also releases any call currently blocked in wait().

Call this during application shutdown, including when startup or runtime work raises an exception. A stopped core cannot be started again.

Signals

Signals are registered by connectors during their protocol handshake. A signal is described by SignalDescriptor from dynalab_core.protocols.packets.handshake.

from uuid import UUID

from dynalab_core.protocols.packets.handshake import SignalDescriptor

signal = SignalDescriptor(
    id=UUID("2d60a378-f37c-4c37-867b-c68f5116598b"),
    name="Engine RPM",
    type="number",
    min_value=0.0,
    max_value=6000.0,
    unit="rpm",
    timeout_ms=2_000,
)

Field	Type	Default	Description
id	UUID	Required	Stable, unique signal identifier.
name	str	Required	Human-readable signal name.
type	"number" or "binary"	Required	Signal value category. Values are represented as float by the current data API.
min_value	float | None	None	Optional lower bound.
max_value	float | None	None	Optional upper bound.
unit	str | None	None	Optional display unit.
timeout_ms	int	2000	How long a received value remains live.
origin	"source" or "derived"	"source"	Whether a connector or a derive unit produces the signal.

get_signal_descriptor(signal_id: UUID) -> SignalDescriptor | None

Returns the descriptor for signal_id, including a derived-signal output, or None when no matching signal is registered. Use a UUID, not its string representation.

get_all_signal_descriptors() -> list[SignalDescriptor]

Returns descriptors for every signal currently registered by connected connectors. The list is empty when no connectors have completed a handshake.

Connector membership is dynamic: a disconnected connector's signals are no longer returned.

Live Values

After a connector sends a value, Core retains its latest value until the signal's timeout_ms has elapsed. A stale, unknown, or not-yet-received value is represented by None.

get_live_value(signal_id: UUID) -> float | None

Returns the latest non-stale value for one signal.

rpm = core.get_live_value(signal_id)
if rpm is not None:
    print(f"Engine speed: {rpm:.0f} rpm")

get_all_live_values() -> dict[UUID, float]

Returns a snapshot mapping signal IDs to their latest non-stale values. Signals without a current value are omitted.

for signal_id, value in core.get_all_live_values().items():
    print(signal_id, value)

Incoming data timestamps use the monotonic-nanosecond timebase. See Protocol timestamps when implementing a connector.

Recording

Recording captures incoming connector values in an in-memory buffer.

start_recording() -> None

Clears the current recording buffer, records a new UTC start timestamp, and begins capturing subsequent values.

Important

Starting a recording discards any values captured by a previous recording.

stop_recording() -> None

Stops capture, normalizes the recorded data, and creates a processing buffer containing the completed recording and its signal manifest.

Important

Stopping a recording replaces the previous processing buffer. Persist or process it before stopping another recording.

There is currently no public Core method for retrieving or writing the completed processing buffer. The .dlpak writer is implemented by the internal DLPak type; applications relying on it must use private state and therefore should expect that integration to change.

Derived Signals

A derive unit calculates a new value whenever one of its input signals receives an update and all inputs have non-stale live values. Define the calculation as a Python source string and bind it with bind_derive_unit().

bind_derive_unit(function, input_signals, output_signal) -> UUID

from uuid import uuid4

from dynalab_core.protocols.packets.handshake import SignalDescriptor

processing_function = """
from dynalab_core.protocols.packets.data import ValueDescriptor
from dynalab_core.protocols.packets.handshake import SignalDescriptor

def add(left: ValueDescriptor, right: ValueDescriptor, output: SignalDescriptor) -> ValueDescriptor:
    return ValueDescriptor(
        signal_id=output.id,
        value=left.value + right.value,
        timestamp=left.timestamp,
    )
"""

output_signal = SignalDescriptor(
    id=uuid4(),
    name="Total",
    type="number",
    origin="derived",
)

unit_id = core.bind_derive_unit(
    processing_function,
    input_signals=[left_signal, right_signal],
    output_signal=output_signal,
)

function must define exactly one Python function. Its parameters must be:

1. Zero or more ValueDescriptor parameters, in the same order as input_signals.
2. One final SignalDescriptor parameter for output_signal.
3. A return annotation of ValueDescriptor.

The parameter annotations must use the imported ValueDescriptor and SignalDescriptor classes shown above. The source string is executed with exec(), so only bind code from trusted sources.

The returned UUID identifies the bound unit. Binding invalid source or more than one function raises CoreMultipleFunctionsFoundError; an invalid function signature raises DeriveUnitInvalidSignatureError.

unbind_derive_unit(unit_id: UUID) -> None

Stops and removes the derive unit identified by unit_id. Passing an unknown or already unbound ID has no effect.

The returned ID is no longer valid after unbinding. Create and bind a new unit to resume derived-value processing.

Exceptions

Core-specific exceptions are defined in dynalab_core.errors.

Exception	Raised when
CoreStateMismatchError	start() is called after the core has already started or stopped.
CoreMultipleFunctionsFoundError	A derive-unit source string does not define exactly one function.
DeriveUnitInvalidSignatureError	A derive function's annotations or parameter order are invalid.