Skip to content

Synapse Utility Commands

The util synapse commands provide a desktop GUI workflow for tuning chemical synapses without using Jupyter.

bmtool util synapse --help

Interactive Synapse Tuner (Desktop GUI)

Launch a Tk desktop interface backed by bmtool.synapses.SynapseTuner.

bmtool util synapse tune --config ./simulation_config.json

By default, BMTool will prompt you to choose which synapse variables should appear as sliders before opening the GUI.

Common Usage

# Start with a specific network
bmtool util synapse tune --config ./simulation_config.json --network network_to_network

# Start with a specific connection
bmtool util synapse tune --config ./simulation_config.json --connection Exc2PV

# Record additional synaptic variables
bmtool util synapse tune --config ./simulation_config.json --other-vars Use,tau_f,tau_d

# Skip the interactive picker and provide slider vars directly
bmtool util synapse tune --config ./simulation_config.json --slider-vars tau1,tau2,Use --no-select-sliders

Options

  • --config: BMTK simulation config file. If omitted, BMTool uses the util-level config value.
  • --network: Optional initial network from the config.
  • --connection: Optional initial connection name from the config.
  • --current-name: Synaptic current variable name to record (default: i).
  • --other-vars: Comma-separated list of additional synapse variables to record and plot.
  • --slider-vars: Comma-separated list of variables to use as sliders.
  • --select-sliders/--no-select-sliders: Enable/disable the interactive slider selection prompt.

Notes

  • This command is config-driven in v1 and focuses on chemical synapse tuning.
  • If your environment cannot open desktop windows (for example, headless servers), run this command from a machine with GUI support.