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msw oe

Remote control of an Open Ephys GUI (v1+) over its HTTP API. Provided by the msw-open-ephys plugin; install with the oe extra (pip install "murineshiftwork[oe]"). The plugin registers an oe subcommand group with msw and also ships a standalone oe-remote console script with the same subcommands.

msw oe <command> [options]

Subcommands

Command Description
status Print the current GUI mode (IDLE / ACQUIRE / RECORD)
preview Start acquisition without writing to disk (ACQUIRE mode)
record Configure recording paths and start a recording session
stop Stop acquisition or recording and return the GUI to IDLE

Connection options

All subcommands accept:

Flag Default Description
-ip / --remote-ip localhost Open Ephys GUI host IP
-port / --remote-port 37497 Open Ephys HTTP API port
-d / --debug off Enable debug logging

record

record selects one of three recording modes automatically from the arguments you pass:

  • Standalone — no --acquisition-extension, no --child. Ephys is the only session.
  • Parent — --acquisition-extension set. Creates a named acquisition container folder and records the first session inside it. The acquisition path is cached so later sessions can join it with --child @last.
  • Child — --child <acq_path> or --child @last. Adds a session under an already-started acquisition container.
Flag Default Description
--subject _test_oe_controller Subject identifier
--session-extension (required) Session label appended to subject__datetime (e.g. pxi, intan_ttl)
--acquisition-extension "" Acquisition-container label (enables parent mode)
--child / --is-child-session-to "" Add this session under an existing acquisition folder; pass subject/acquisition_name or @last
--local-path /data Local base data directory
--remote-path E:\OE_DATA\ Remote base data directory as seen by the Open Ephys GUI

On a successful record, the plugin:

  1. Puts the GUI into ACQUIRE, configures the recording directory and base text, then starts RECORD.
  2. Captures probe metadata live from the GUI's /api/processors endpoint (probe count, channel/stream layout) — best-effort, and never allowed to break the recording.
  3. Writes a session metadata JSON locally and, if an acquisition_manifest.yaml already exists in the acquisition folder, stamps the probe metadata under metadata.open_ephys in that manifest.
  4. Caches the acquisition path so subsequent --child @last sessions can attach.

Examples

# Check what the GUI is doing
msw oe status

# Standalone recording
msw oe record --subject mouse1 --session-extension pxi

# Parent acquisition (multi-modal session container)
msw oe record --subject mouse1 \
    --acquisition-extension ephys_multi_behavior \
    --session-extension pxi

# Add a child session to the most recent acquisition
msw oe record --subject mouse1 --session-extension intan_ttl --child @last

# Stop and return to IDLE
msw oe stop

See also